Mrs. Chippy, a tiger-striped tabby, was taken on board Endurance by Harry McNish, the carpenter nicknamed "Chippy" (as in chips of wood, chips or chippy being a standard British nickname for a carpenter or for a man named Carpenter [1] ), as a ship's cat. 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. He was described as "full of character" by members of the expedition and impressed the crew by his ability to walk along the ship's inch-wide rails in even the roughest seas. tabbyHarry McNish [1]ship's catAntarcticarails

27 October The end came at last about 5pm - she was doomed, no ship built by human hands could have withstood the strain of the ice - I ordered all hands on to the floe and as the floe near us was cracking we started to sledge all the gear. Shackleton’s Diary