“To a bagpiper’s lament, a cat that was part of Ernest Shackleton’s ill-fated 1914 Antarctic expedition has finally been reunited with its owner in a New Zealand graveyard.”
So ends the sad and sorry tale of Mrs Chippy.
Murdered by Sir Ernest.
According to an anonymous hack writing for the BBC, Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton “has become an example of brilliant leadership ability”. According to a report in the Telegraph by Paul Chapman, however, Shackleton’s ‘brilliance’ rested on the unacknowledged expertise of a humble carpenter by the name of Harry “Chippy” McNeish. While the BBC hack may attribute the safe return of Shackleton’s expedition to the South Pole in 1915 to “his skill as a leader of men”, according to the Telegraph report “[i]t was McNeish’s carpentry skills that ensured Shackleton’s boat, the James Caid, withstood the battering of some of the world’s roughest seas during its 800-mile journey to South Georgia. Unlike many other crew members he was not awarded the Polar Medal – the result, historians believe, of a bitter rift with Shackleton.”
Why the rift?
“Antarctic historians say McNeish never forgave Shackleton for having Mrs Chippy shot along with the sledge dogs when the crew became marooned on pack ice 350 miles from the nearest land.”
The moral of this story?
Sir Ernest was a rotten, incompetent, murdering bastard; Mrs Chippy was an innocent victim; and Harry McNeish is the latest to join a long list of neglected working class heroes with a heart.
The last word goes to McNeish’s grandson, Tom McNeish:
“I think he would be over the moon about the statue. The cat was more important to him than the Polar Medal.”
