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removed Category:Individual cats using HotCat - stet. Didn't notice it was already in a subcat

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{{Short description|Cat who accompanied Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox animal
| name = Mrs Chippy
| image = Mrschippy.jpg
| image_upright =
| caption = Mrs Chippy on the shoulder of crew member [[Perce Blackborow]]
| species = [[Cat]]
| breed = Felis catus
| gender = male
| birth_date =
| death_date = 29 October 1915
| death_place = Antarctica
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| years_active = 1914–1915
| known_for =
| owner = [[Harry McNish]]
| appearance = Mackerel tabby
| namedafter =
| website =
}}
'''Mrs Chippy''' was a male [[ship's cat]] who accompanied Sir [[Ernest Shackleton]]'s [[Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition]] of 1914–1917.<ref name="NML">{{cite web | title=Endurance: Shackleton's Antarctic adventure | website=National Museums Liverpool | date=June 11, 2020 | url=https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/whatson/merseyside-maritime-museum/exhibition/endurance-shackletons-antarctic-adventure | access-date=March 9, 2022}}</ref>

== Life ==
Mrs Chippy, a tiger-striped [[tabby cat|tabby]], was taken on board the ship used by the expedition's Weddell Sea party, {{ship||Endurance|1912 ship|2}}, as a [[ship's cat]] by carpenter and master shipwright [[Harry McNish|Harry "Chippy" McNish]] ("Chippy" being a colloquial British term for a carpenter).<ref>{{cite book |last=Partridge |first=Eric |editor-last=Beale |editor-first=Paul |title=A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English | year = 2002 | edition = 8 | publisher = Routledge | isbn = 978-0-415-29189-7 }}</ref> The cat acquired its name because, once aboard, it followed McNish around like an overly attentive wife.

One month after the ship set sail for [[Antarctica]] it was discovered that, despite its name, Mrs Chippy was actually a male. By that time, however, the name had stuck. He was described as "full of character" by members of the expedition and impressed the crew with his ability to walk along the ship's inch-wide [[Guard rail|rail]]s in even the roughest seas. In Captain [[Frank Worsley]]’s diary he describes Mrs Chippy climbing the rigging "... exactly after the manner of a seaman going aloft".

[[File:Harry McNeish Gravestone cat.jpg|thumb|upright|Bronze sculpture of Mrs Chippy on the grave of [[Harry McNish]] in Karori Cemetery which was added by the [[New Zealand Antarctic Society]]]][[File:Mrs Chippy (50457563797).jpg|thumb|Close up photo of the sculpture of Mrs Chippy in Karori Cemetery]]
Mrs Chippy’s voyage was not without incident. Storekeeper [[Thomas Orde-Lees]], in a diary entry dated 13 September 1914, relates that "An extraordinary thing happened during the night. The tabby cat jumped overboard through one of the cabin portholes and the officer on watch, [[Hubert Hudson|Lt. Hudson]], heard her screams and turned the ship smartly round & picked her up. She must have been in the water 10 minutes or more". The cat was retrieved by the ship’s biologist, [[Robert Clark (zoologist)|Robert Clark]], using one of his sample nets.

After the ''Endurance'' became trapped in pack ice and was destroyed, Shackleton decided that Mrs Chippy and four of the sled dogs that had been carried on board would not survive. In a diary entry dated 29 October 1915 he recorded:

{{blockquote|This afternoon Sallie's three youngest pups, Sue's Sirius, and Mrs. Chippy, the carpenter's cat, have to be shot. We could not undertake the maintenance of weaklings under the new conditions. [[Alexander Macklin|Macklin]], [[Tom Crean (explorer)|Crean]], and the carpenter seemed to feel the loss of their friends rather badly.<ref name="isbn0-451-19880-8">{{cite book |last=Shackleton |first=Ernest |author-link=Ernest Shackleton |title=South |date=1919 |publisher=Signet |location=New York |isbn=0-451-19880-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/southenduranceex00shac }}</ref>}}

McNish was very attached to Mrs Chippy and never forgave Shackleton for having him killed. McNish died, destitute, in [[Wellington]], New Zealand, in September 1930, and was buried with full naval honours in an unmarked grave in [[Karori Cemetery]]. The New Zealand Antarctic Society placed a headstone on the grave in 1959. To this they added a life-size bronze statue of Mrs Chippy in 2004, funded through public subscription, to complete a tribute and memorial to the carpenter and his much-loved cat.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3818613.stm|author=Kim Griggs|publisher=BBC|title=Antarctic hero 'reunited' with cat|date=21 June 2004|accessdate=5 April 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/127264668/mrs-chippy-the-tabby-visitors-to-karori-cemetery-love-to-see | title=MRS Chippy, the tabby visitors to Karori Cemetery love to see | date=5 January 2022 }}</ref>

In February 2011, Mrs Chippy and expedition member [[Perce Blackborow]] were featured on a postage stamp issued by the [[South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sgisland.gs/index.php/%28h%29South_Georgia_Newsletter,_February_2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141215232751/http://www.sgisland.gs/index.php/%28h%29South_Georgia_Newsletter,_February_2011|url-status=dead|archive-date=2014-12-15|title=South Georgia Newsletter, February 2011|date=February 2011|website=South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands|publisher=GSGSSI|access-date=15 February 2018 }}</ref>

== Cultural references ==
A novel by [[Caroline Alexander (author)|Caroline Alexander]], ''Mrs. Chippy's Last Expedition: The Remarkable Journal of Shackleton's Polar-Bound Cat'', was published by [[Bloomsbury Publishing|Bloomsbury]] in 1997. The book provides an account of Shackleton's [[Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition]], covering the period 15 January 1914 to 29 October 1915, in the form of a journal written from Mrs. Chippy’s point of view.<ref>{{cite book |first=Caroline |last=Alexander |title=Mrs. Chippy's Last Expedition: The Remarkable Journal of Shackleton's Polar-Bound Cat |date=1997 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=0-7475-3527-2}}</ref> The final entry recounts Shackleton instructing his crew, now camped on the ice pack following the destruction of their ship, that to ensure their survival "Anything that cannot pull its weight or is not useful to the Expedition must be put down". The book ends poignantly with Mrs Chippy (clearly unaware of the implications of Shackleton's order) relaxing in a tent, reminiscing over past adventures and, after being given a treat of a bowl of sardines, looking forward to assisting with the rest of the expedition.

Mrs Chippy was portrayed in the 2002 [[Channel 4]] mini-series ''[[Shackleton (TV serial)|Shackleton]]'', starring Kenneth Branagh, with the credits stating that the part was played by 'Mac'.

{{commons|File:Wolf_Howard._Mrs_Chippy.jpg|''Mrs. Chippy'', by Wolf Howard}}
The painting ''Mrs Chippy'' by [[Wolf Howard]] shows the cat "about to be shot", while in the background ''Endurance'' is depicted trapped in the ice and its crew can be seen launching a small open boat on a rescue mission.<ref>{{cite book| author = frank milner| title = the stuckists: punk Victorian| date = November 2004| isbn = 1-902700-27-9| page = 80 | publisher = National Museums Liverpool}}</ref> The painting was shown in ''[[The Stuckists Punk Victorian]]'' exhibition at the [[Walker Art Gallery]] during the 2004 [[Liverpool Biennial]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/exhibitions/stuckists/wolfhoward.aspx|title='Mrs Chippy', Wolf Howard|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150208215109/http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/exhibitions/stuckists/wolfhoward.aspx |archive-date=2015-02-08|work=[[National Museums Liverpool]]|access-date=8 April 2015}}</ref>

[[Kate Atkinson (writer)|Kate Atkinson]]’s novel ''[[Case Histories]]'' (2004) features a cat named Mrs. Chippy “after the cat on board Shackleton’s ship ''Endurance''.”

An opera for primary school children, ''Shackleton's Cat'' by Russell Hepplewhite, was commissioned by the [[English Touring Opera]] in 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://englishtouringopera.org.uk/productions/shackletons-cat|title=Shackleton's Cat|date=2015|website=English Touring Opera|access-date=15 February 2018 }}</ref>
A picture book titled ''Mrs Chippy the Cat'' by Susan Brocker and Raymond McGrath was published by [[Scholastic New Zealand]] in 2021.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://natlib.govt.nz/records/45390879?search%5Bi%5D%5Bcategory%5D=Books&search%5Bpath%5D=items&search%5Btext%5D=Raymond%2C+Susan|title=Mrs Chippy the cat. Book entry|website=National Library|access-date=30 March 2023|year=2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/mrs-chippy-the-cat-by-susan-brocker-and-raymond-mcgrath/EDO7NJ3J4M6FALQ67DFZXAE4PQ/ | title=MRS Chippy the Cat by Susan Brocker and Raymond McGrath | date=3 May 2024 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of individual cats]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.purr-n-fur.org.uk/famous/chippy.html Purr 'n' Fur: Mrs Chippy, of Shackleton's ''Endurance'']
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160808101017/http://www.lostandfond.co.uk/pet-tribute/mrs-chippy/mcneish/230 Lost and Fond: Tribute to Mrs Chippy]
* [http://www.thegreatcat.org/cats-20th-century-history-mrs-chippy/ The Great Cat: Cats in 20th Century History (Mrs. Chippy)]

{{Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition}}

[[Category:1915 animal deaths]]
[[Category:Animal sculptures in New Zealand]]
[[Category:Cat monuments]]
[[Category:Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition]]
[[Category:Ship's cats]]
[[Category:2004 sculptures]]
[[Category:Sculptures of cats]]
[[Category:Bronze sculptures in New Zealand]]
[[Category:Outdoor sculptures in Wellington City]]

Mrs Chippy - Revision history

imported>Grutness: removed Category:Individual cats using HotCat - stet. Didn't notice it was already in a subcat