Ernest Shackleton personally killed the ship’s cat

Shackleton and Endurance

Sir Ernest Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was a famous polar explorer. He led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He failed to become the first to reach the south pole. That honour went to Amundsen a Norwegian who used dogs in 1911. Shackleton was knighted for getting to within 112 miles of the south pole in 1909².

Shackleton returned to Antarctica to try and cross it from sea to sea via the pole (1914-1917). Unfortunately he lost his ship, Endurance, in pack ice. The ship was crushed. He appears to have been less successful and less heroic than we are led to believe.

Apparently, this icon of British heroism was an appalling commander¹. Firstly he lost his ship, destroyed by the ice, as mentioned. He watched his ship “reduced to matchwood”¹. For a captain to lose his ship this way was an embarrassment.

He then proceeded to personally “murder” the ship’s cat, Mrs Chippy, because there was not enough food for the cat and the sailors. Mrs Chippy was actually a tomcat. Update from a comment dated November 6th, 2022: “Actually, Sir Shackleton did not personally kill the ship’s cat. The sad duty was carried out by 2nd in command, Frank Wild, acting under orders. The entire crew were greatly distressed over the loss of ship’s cat and dogs. All the journals and diaries recorded by the ship’s crew bears this fact out.”

Sailors don’t like the loss of the ship’s cats because it brings bad luck. It also has an effect on morale¹.

Well, as far as I am concerned, he is no hero to me, solely on the basis that he personally killed Mrs Chippy! Note: Having learned that he commanded the cat to be killed makes little difference to my opinion. It is the same difference: ordering someone to kill and doing it yourself. Certainly, in criminal law this is the case,

This is just a little snippet of cat history.

P.S. Please read Andrew’s lengthy comment by clicking on this link. It is great and adds detail to this article.

Associated: Cats in the Navy (by Elisa)

References:

Letters to the Times by Ralph lloyd-Jones 19th August 2013.
Wikipedia
Comment from Von Martin below

Please comment here using either Facebook or WordPress (when available).

Thank you for this, which I stumbled upon while Googling “Ernest Shackleton cat murderer”. This cat had formed a special bond with the ship’s carpenter, Harry McNish. After losing his ship, Shackleton had intended to to march his crew across the antarctic ice and it was on this march that he had decided that Mrs Chippy would consume too much food. He tricked McNish into going somewhere and killed Mrs Chippy while he was away.

When McNish returned, he was furious and upset. He refused to follow any further orders from Shackleton and gave as his reasons that Shackleton’s command was of the ship. Since he had lost that ship through his own incompetence, he was not in a position to give orders.

Shackleton’s march didn’t work out and he had to turn back after less than a day, so Mrs Chippy was murdered for no reason.

Despite this, it was McNish who built the small boat that allowed Shackleton to fetch help and it was McNish who sailed with him in that boat. When the whole saga was concluded, the vindictive and irrational Shackleton ensured that McNish was the only member of the expedition who didn’t receive the Polar Explorer medal from the British government.

McNish is buried in New Zealand and members of the New Zealand Antarctic Society who were also cat lovers have erected a bronze statue of Mrs Chippy on his grave. You can see a picture here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Chippy#/media/File:Harry_McNeish_Gravestone_cat.jpg

Shackleton is buried at Grytviken on South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic. One day I hope to go there so that I may scratch “Dirty cat murderer” into his gravestone.

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Comments

Ernest Shackleton personally killed the ship’s cat — 12 Comments

Von Martin on November 5, 2022 at 3:11 pm said:
Actually, Sir Shackleton did not personally kill the ship’s cat. The sad duty was carried out by 2nd in command, Frank Wild, acting under orders. The entire crew were greatly distressed over the loss of ship’s cat and dogs. All the journals and diaries recorded by the ship’s crew bears this fact out.
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- Michael Broad on November 6, 2022 at 8:18 am said:
  Thank you, Von Martin. I will add your comment to the article itself.
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Andrew on December 25, 2016 at 12:06 am said:
Thank you for this, which I stumbled upon while Googling “Ernest Shackleton cat murderer”. This cat had formed a special bond with the ship’s carpenter, Harry McNish. After losing his ship, Shackleton had intended to to march his crew across the antarctic ice and it was on this march that he had decided that Mrs Chippy would consume too much food. He tricked McNish into going somewhere and killed Mrs Chippy while he was away.
When McNish returned, he was furious and upset. He refused to follow any further orders from Shackleton and gave as his reasons that Shackleton’s command was of the ship. Since he had lost that ship through his own incompetence, he was not in a position to give orders.
Shackleton’s march didn’t work out and he had to turn back after less than a day, so Mrs Chippy was murdered for no reason.
Despite this, it was McNish who built the small boat that allowed Shackleton to fetch help and it was McNish who sailed with him in that boat. When the whole saga was concluded, the vindictive and irrational Shackleton ensured that McNish was the only member of the expedition who didn’t receive the Polar Explorer medal from the British government.
McNish is buried in New Zealand and members of the New Zealand Antarctic Society who were also cat lovers have erected a bronze statue of Mrs Chippy on his grave. You can see a picture here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Chippy#/media/File:Harry_McNeish_Gravestone_cat.jpg
Shackleton is buried at Grytviken on South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic. One day I hope to go there so that I may scratch “Dirty cat murderer” into his gravestone.
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- Michael Broad on December 25, 2016 at 8:31 am said:
  Fabulous comment, Andrew. Thanks a lot. I’ll refer to it in the article to point people to it. It is too good to miss. Happy Christmas.
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Barbara on August 20, 2013 at 2:56 pm said:
He was a nasty piece of work so I’m glad he missed his goal, I would like to knock his hat off with a big stick then beat him round the ears with it. Murderer!
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Ruth aka Kattaddorra on August 20, 2013 at 5:46 am said:
He was no hero to me either. Fancy killing Mrs Chippy, I hardly think what the poor cat ate would satisfy any sailor’s appetite!
He probably did it out of spite and I’m glad he only lived 48 years himself.
Being a ‘Sir’ doesn’t give anyone the privelege of a long life.
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- Michael on August 20, 2013 at 6:16 am said:
  It is an interesting little snippet of unknown cat history. It gives an insight to what went on.
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  - Marc on August 20, 2013 at 7:02 am said:
    He’s certainly ugly – I bet he couldn’t smile.
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    - Ruth aka Kattaddorra on August 20, 2013 at 9:28 am said:
      lol Marc yes he is ugly, by his mean face I should think he treated his sailors badly too as well as the poor cat.
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  - Marc on August 20, 2013 at 7:05 am said:
    Michael it turns out I can stop the automatic video but everytime a page loads it starts full volume. It’s an ad for Orange. I hate those shameless b**t*rds – they just make people hate them with automatically loading up sound on a web page – sadly I have my service with them. They don’t treat me well either. Its the ad on the right under the ‘subscribe’ function. I am viewing not in a browser but a reader – called net news reader, I prefer it for organizing subscriptions and posts.
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    - Michael on August 20, 2013 at 9:27 am said:
      Thanks for that Marc, I’ll check that immediately. It may be running a pop-up add. I’ll see.
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    - Michael on August 20, 2013 at 10:36 am said:
      I changed the advert. I use Google and Casale Media. I have signed up to Yahoo and added a Yahoo advert in place of the Casale Media one to see what happens. Thanks again.
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