The lost vessel of Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, the Endurance, was reportedly found today this week after being crushed by sea-ice and sinking in 1915.
All of the human crew survived, though the sink was not without tragedy.
A Glasgow born kitty was taken aboard the ship by Harry “Chippy” McNish, who was a master carpenter and shipwright.
The cat gained the name Mrs Chippy after the crew noticed it following Harry around the boat like a needy wife.
Somehow, one month into the expedition, it was discovered that Mrs Chippy was in fact a male - though the name had stuck by then.
He was a tough tiger-striped tabby, and though Harry didn’t plan on taking him onboard he was found curled up in one of his toolboxes before departing on the voyage - which the carpenter found too cute to leave behind.
The cat's owner Harry was born in 1874 in Port Glasgow and was brought onboard because of his skillset, which proved incredibly useful.
Ernest was reportedly happy to have a feline friend onboard, as a good mouser could keep the ship's rodents in check.
As most cats tend to do, Mrs Chippy did cause a bit of trouble.
In the black waters of the South Atlantic, he leaped for freedom from a cabin porthole.
The ship's officer of the watch heard the cat’s cries and turned the vessel around to pick him up, one of the feline's nine lives now used up.
When Endurance became trapped in packed ice Harry was responsible for much of the work that ensured the crew’s survival, modifying a small accompanying boat to help get some of the crew to fetch help.
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Sadly, Mrs Chippy would not survive the incident.
After it became clear the ship wasn't moving anytime soon, Ernest made the decision that some of the animals onboard would not survive.
In his book South published in 1919, Ernest writes: “This afternoon Sallie’s three youngest pups, Sue’s Sirius, and Mrs Chippy, the carpenter’s cat, have to be shot.
“We could not undertake the maintenance of weaklings under the new conditions.
“Macklin, Crean, and the carpenter seemed to feel the loss of their friends rather badly.”
According to those onboard, Harry never forgave Ernest for the loss of Mrs Chippy.
The two men had a growing resentment for one another, with Harry standing up to the leader of the ship's orders more and more throughout the rest of the journey.
Harry was snubbed for recommendation of the award of a Polar Medal, which may in part be due to his dislike for Ernest after the loss of Mrs Chippy.
Once the voyage was over, Harry settled in Wellington, New Zealand, until his death in 1930.
In June 2004, the New Zealand Antarctic Society commissioned a life-sized sculpture of Mrs Chippy atop Harry’s grave.
His grandson Tom told local media: “I think the cat was more important to him than a Polar Medal.”
Harry and Mrs Chippy weren’t the only Glaswegian influence onboard Endurance.
Ernest was first employed by William Beardmore, the founder of a firm of naval ship builders based in Glasgow.
After working as his personal assistant for a year, Ernest embarked on a British Antarctic Expedition, which William acted as a guarantor on.
In 1908 Ernest discovered and climbed a glacier just 97 miles from the South Pole, and named it the Beardmore Glacier.
