“My Dear Samuel…” May 16, 1994

This found letter discovered between pages an old book, was written Wednesday, May 16th, 1894 near Greenland and was postmarked almost 3 months later in Philadelphia on August 7, 1894. Page 3 of the letter notes the sailing ship the writer was on getting stuck in drift ice, and on June 9th seeing “the green ray as the sun set we have no night now.”

Close-up of the embossed seal on the letter. It looks like a capital dome, but I cannot make out the lettering above it.

Peripatectic Cats: Mrs. Chippy, Nigeraurak, and Trim

Image courtesy of Peggy Nelson’s Twitter novel Shackleton

“When Ernest Shackleton set out for Antarctica in 1914, his carpenter, Harry ‘Chippy’ McNish, brought along a tabby who was quickly named ‘Mrs. Chippy,’ though he proved to be a male. When the Endurance was crushed by pack ice, Shackleton ordered the ‘weakling’ cat to be shot, a decision for which McNish never forgave him. Cat and carpenter were reunited in 2004, when a life-size bronze statue of Mrs. Chippy was added to McNish’s grave in Wellington…"

Read the rest of the Futility Closet post here to learn about the cats Nigeraurak and Trim. An excellent little post from the Twitter novel Shackleton by artist Peggy Nelson can be found here.

I also recommend the slim volume, Mrs. Chippy's Last Expedition: The Remarkable Journal of Shackleton's Polar-Bound Cat by Caroline Alexander.