Mrs Chippy's last expedition
Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914 expedition to Antarctica is regarded as one of the most perilous in history. After sailing halfway around the world, Shackleton's ship Endurance became trapped in a quick-freezing sea of ice. Over the course of ten long months, the ice thickened around the ship until its hull was crushed and the ship went down. All twenty-nine crew members were pushed to their limits to survive... including the level-headed, quick-thinking Mrs. Chippy, the ship's robust (male) cat. Mrs. Chippy was no ordinary polar explorer, as evidenced from this magnificent diary. Mrs. Chippy worked as a carpenter's mate with shipwright Harry "Chips" McNeish. But his vital duties went much further: monitoring the noisy sled dogs, climbing the rigging to survey the ice, watching for birds and penguins, and, essential to the expedition's success, patrolling the hold for stray mice. Illustrated with authentic photographs and closely based on the true events of Shackleton's journey, Mrs. Chippy's Last Expedition is a supurbly written cat memoir that will take its place in the annals of fine expeditionary literature.