Walk to Mrs Chippy

— Posted inUncategorized — 2 min read

Had a first walk of the year today. Actually the first walk for some time. The purpose of today's walk was to pay a visit to Mrs Chippy and her master. …

Mrs Chippy's master was a seaman called Harry McNeish. He was a ship's carpenter. Not just any ship. McNeish was the ship's carpenter, the chippy, on the Endurance, Earnest Shackleton's ship for his 1914 Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Apparently Mrs Chippy was so called because she followed McNeish around everywhere in the ship. I do not know what name McNeish had initially given to Mrs Chippy.

Anyone with some knowledge about the early twentieth century Antarctic expeditions knows what sad fate awaited the brave loyal Mrs Chippy. When Endurance was lost and the crew started their desperate march on ice,Shackleton decided they could only take the essentials, but no animals. (They had many sled dogs, too.) He ordered dogs shot. He is said to have then taken Mrs Chippy away from McNeish and shot her himself.

A kiwi folklore I heard a couple of times has it, in his death bad, McNeish was said to have uttered his famous last words, 'Shackleton shot my cat! …'

This was my third visit to McNeish grave, which is well known to the locals as "the one with the cat on". I continued to walk on further 80 minutes following roughly the same route as this walk in 2010.

:coffee:

FYI
New Zealand Antactica Society's article about Mrs Chippy
Wikipedia article on Mrs Chippy

PS
I just bumped into this sentence in the above Wikipedia article, 'One month after the ship set sail for Antarctica it was discovered that, despite her name, Mrs. Chippy was actually a male, but by that time the name had stuck.' 😆 Now I've read it, I suddenly remembered I heard this before. Nonetheless I will continue to call Mrs Chippy "she". :p

[UPDATE]
Found more Mrs Chippy related articles 🙂
BBC
Famous Felines site
Review of the book Mrs Chippy's Last Expedition 1914 – 1915 (by Caroline Alexander)

Join the Conversation

  1. You have a preference for cats. 🙂 It is a nice story about the male Mrs. Chippy. But, why was this your FIRST walk of this year? You was injured or to busy to walk outside?

  2. I've been busy. Also weather wasn't great. The highest temp in Wellington in January was 22.7°C. That's not summer temperature even in Wellington. 🙁

  3. 😆 But you're in middle of winter. We are supposed to be in middle of summer! :cry:You have a good evening. I'd better go off start working. Have two deadlines today.

  4. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    22.7°C

    A dream at the moment for me. :love: This week it will snow here. We'll see, if it will become true. It is good to make new photos. :whistle:

  5. What an interesting tale, it is a shame 'Mrs' Chippy cashed his chips though..

  6. (humorous) to die – "He cashed in his chips shortly before his ninetieth birthday."

  7. Yes. It is. I learned about Shackleton's expedition from a book called "Endurance" I borrowed from Wellington Library back in 1998 or 1999. Mrs Chippy's story was only a small part but left some impression in me. Later when I was on a club day trip on walkways around here and passing through the cemetery, a guy took us to McNeish' grave and told us about his famous last words. I've always wanted to share McNeish and Mrs Chippy's story ever since I started blogging about Wellington walks. ;)Originally posted by darkesthour:

    cashed his chips

    :confused:

  10. No wonder I get headaches now and then. Too many chips making my head heavy. 😆

  11. Originally posted by darkesthour:

    knowledge for its own sake maybe?

    :yes: Accumulation of the "chips" 😀

  12. Probably of no use to you whatsoever, but knowledge for its own sake maybe?

  14. Another work order has just arrive. There goes my plan for tomorrow! 😥

  18. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    Are you coming to Wellington?

    Notr that I know of… :DOriginally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    There goes my plan for tomorrow

    Thats the problem with plans :faint:

  19. Originally posted by darkesthour:

    Thats the problem with plans

    They tend to go uncontrolled. 🙁

  21. Well, the weather now looks to turn custard tomorrow. So it wasn't that big loss after all. I can count more chips in my account to cash in 😀

  22. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    Are you coming to Wellington? …..

    Originally posted by darkesthour:

    Notr that I know of…

    Curious question from me: Have you two ever met in person – for a walk in a beautiful landscape? 😎

  23. No, we haven't. However in New Zealand it's not strange to discover a link with someone in the most unexpected manner. I won't be surprised if I know someone who knows DH. 😉

  24. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    I won't be surprised if I know someone who knows DH.

    Me neither! 🙂

  25. Poor chipless Mr. Mrs. Chippy. :awww:Actually I've always admired Shackleton's leadership in such dire circumstances. He had to make such difficult calls.

  28. Originally posted by debplatt:

    I've always admired Shackleton's leadership in such dire circumstances. He had to make such difficult calls.

    Me, too. The "Boss" has been one of my heroes. :yes:Originally posted by darkesthour:

    He could have kept the dogs and cat and shot the people..

    :rolleyes: Talking about difficult calls …

  30. As a cat person, I've no idea as to what makes a leader at all. :pWindy sleepless night followed by wet morning and cold wet afternoon. :(How's it in your neck of woods?

  31. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    As a cat person, I've no idea as to what makes a leader at all.

    Indeed, we live to serve our feline masters :happy: Today is soggy and horrible, a nice fine drizzle and the temperature has dropped again.

  33. Originally posted by darkesthour:

    Today is soggy and horrible, a nice fine drizzle and the temperature has dropped again.

    Sounds like what we had last evening. Still cloudy and cool but no rain. Tomorrow will be much better, I hope. I'll try put in some work today so that I can free up tomorrow. Head down, butt up. You have a good indoor day, DH. TTFN

  34. Thanks for this new piece of the Shackleton story. I got interested in Shackleton when I was following the South Aris expedition, which recreated the journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia.

  35. Thanks for the link to South Aris expedition. Did they make a doco out of that? Have a vague memory of seeing that on TV a long time ago. Could be a false memory.I saw a feature length TV drama about the Endurance expedition, in which Kenneth Branagh played the Boss pretty well. 🙂

  36. I can't remember, it was 15 years ago. I think RTE (Irish national broadcaster) might have done something on it, but whole thing was a fairly small affair. But last week I was watching a very interesting documentary about Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition. Seems that a hut full of equipment and supplies was left behind, perfectly preserved in the Antarctic conditions – including a case full of whisky. After 100 years, the case was recovered and a master whisky blender (his nose is insured by Lloyds) was brought in to recreate the blend.

  37. I think there has been a surge of interests in historic polar expeditions in past 20 years or so, with new expeditions trying to retread the forbearer's footsteps. That statue on McNeish's grave itself was placed only recently.Originally posted by Mickeyjoe-Irl:

    After 100 years, the case was recovered and a master whisky blender (his nose is insured by Lloyds) was brought in to recreate the blend.

    I saw that on the news, too. 😀 :cheers:Only a couple of months ago I saw a little story about Robert Falcon Scott's grandson going to Antarctica to repair his famous granddad's hut.http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/6197091/Grandson-helps-to-conserve-Scotts-hut

  38. 💡 I think I saw the same piece, I remember them showing Scott's "room" in the hut.

  39. Would be so cool to have such a grandfather and a name like "Falcon", wouldn't it? 😀

  41. So Shackleton wanted heavy ballast in James Caird although Worsley didn't. The Boss being bossy, huh? 😆

  42. Am currently watching a NZ made docu-drama titled Shackleton's Captain, about the remarkable Captain Frank Worsley of Endurance. Very very good. :)Worsley has successfully navigated the boats to Elephant Island and taken all of the men to safety. Now what's next …

  43. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    Now what's next …

    There will be the passage to South Georgia and then the trek across the island to the whaling station.

  44. Yes. The show covered all that. (Those were commercial time tweetsish comments about show's progress. :lol:)The show itself was started as Worsley giving his lecture on Endurance expedition to distinguished gentlemen and ladies in London, intermixed with photo and video shoots by Frank Hurley and brief segments of dramatisation. Was cleverly done, not being "dramatic" at all. I hope it becomes globally available soon.

  45. When one leaves a game of poker, MM, one cashes in one's chips … chips being tokens representing pre-agreed amounts of money for different colours. Usually, poker is not played using real money, though sometimes it is. There are usually three levels of betting tokens, starting with "penny-nickel-dime" or "nickel-dime-quarter", going up to whatever amounts one is prepared to risk.

  46. Originally posted by derWandersmann:

    When one leaves a game of poker, MM, one cashes in one's chips

    Ah, that where the expression comes from. Thanks for the headup, dW. :)Originally posted by darkesthour:

    He could have kept the dogs and cat and shot the people..

    One of the guys who were watching the show and tweeting at the same time tweeted,

    Damn, that's the problem these days, you can't carry a revolver for HR problems anymore #ShackletonsCaptain #McNeish

    😆 😆 Wasn't you in disguise, was it, DH?

  48. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    Yes. The show covered all that. (Those were commercial time tweetsish comments about show's progress. :lol:)

    💡 I see now. I assumed it was the end of that episode and you were wondering about next week.It sounds like a really good show, I'll certainly be keeping an eye out for it.

  50. Originally posted by Mickeyjoe-Irl:

    It sounds like a really good show, I'll certainly be keeping an eye out for it.

    It was, and I certainly hope the people outside NZ can see it. I realised we haven't befriended yet. So sent a friend request. 😉

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