Absolutely fabulous tongue in cheek look at history, telling the story of Shakleton's ill-fated 'Endurance' expedition from the perspective of the ship's cat. I've always been fascinated by the story of Shakleton's feat of endurance, no pun intended, and even bought a facsimile of Mrs. Chippy years ago - see picture at left - when KEMS and I were on our first holiday away together, and finding and reading this book not only taught us a lot, but brought back memories of those halcyon days.

Highly recommended.

From amazon.com:

"The carpenter has a very fine cat who is known as "Mrs. Chippie"...
-- from the diary of Commander F. A. Worsley, captain of Shackleton's Endurance

When Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship Endurance became trapped in the Antarctic ice, all twenty-nine members of the crew were pushed to their limits of survival, including Mrs. Chippy, the ship's estimable cat. Fortunately for posterity, Mrs. Chippy left a diary of the ordeal.

Closely based on the true events of Shackleton's heroic journey, and illustrated with authentic photographs taken by Frank Hurley, expedition photographer, Mrs. Chippy's Last Expedition is a firsthand account of one of the greatest adventures in history--from a unique point of view.

From Kirkus Reviews
A shaggy-cat tale, in which Alexander (The Way to Xanadu, 1994, etc.) gives us the feline perspective on travel and exploration in turn-of-the-century Antarctica. Mrs. Chippy is a cat--a tomcat, actually, but a very elegant one whose grace and manners and devotion to his master (Harry ``Chippy'' McNeish) inspired the joke that they are as good as married. Chippy McNeish is ship's carpenter aboard the Endurance, which set sail from London on August 1, 1914, on a voyage to the South Pole that was led by Sir Ernest Shackleton and the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Mrs. Chippy has her role to play, of course, and it is no small one: hunting mice, keeping watch on deck, and looking after the general well-being of her master and his crewmates. He tells his story through the pages of his journal, which record the daily rituals of weather, naps, navigation, and meals. Once they find themselves stranded in a sea of ice, however, the expedition is forced to encamp for the duration, hoping that their rations will hold out until the thaws--which, as it turned out, were nearly a year in coming. Mrs. Chippy keeps a more level head than most of his crewmates during this long confinement, and he may actually have been their salvation insofar as he injected a familiar note of domesticity and routine into the hardships of their situation (``I myself am very disciplined by nature and have set myself a strict winter regime: Wake at 2:00 p.m.; stretch, wash, take breakfast by the galley stove, greet shipmates, etc.''). By the end, when the ice floes break and the Weddell Sea is open once more, Mrs. Chippy is more popular than ever. Too cute for comfort: after about 20 pages of this, even cat- lovers may find themselves feeling pretty seasick. (12 b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review
"Now, I can't vouch for the authenticity of this newly found document, but I can say that Alexander has done a fine job...allowing the cat's (and her own) sense of humor to have full run." -- New York Times Book Review

About The Author
Caroline Alexander was born in Florida, of British parents and has lived in Europe, Africa and the Caribbean. She studied philosophy and theology at Oxford as a Rhodes scholar and has a doctorate in classics from Columbia University. She is the author of the best-selling The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition which has been translated into thirteen languages. She writes frequently for The New Yorker and National Geographic, and she is the author of four other books, including Mrs Chippy's Last Expedition, the journal of the Endurance's ship's cat."