Articles in Famous Felines are written by Patrick Roberts Copyright © 2003-08 Purr 'n' Fur UK Certain features on these pages use JavaScript

[ Home | Famous | Featuring | Fabled | Folios | Fun | Philately | Fragments | Flotsam ]

Antarctic Cats

This is a companion to our account on a separate page of Mrs Chippy, who accompanied
Ernest Shackleton and his crew on the Endurance on their voyage to the Antarctic in 1914.
Another very well-known ship's cat, though not in Antarctic waters, was Simon.

Left-click thumbnails for enlargements (JavaScript should be enabled),
but please allow all images to load before doing so, or some may not display
(if this happens, use Refresh from your toolbar to reload the page)

Mrs Chippy was not the only cat to have taken part in polar exploration.

The first to spend a winter in the Antarctic was Nansen, a black-and-white kitten that sailed on the Belgian sailing ship Belgica in 1897, under the command of Captain Adrien de Gerlache on the first completely scientific expedition. Nansen was brought aboard by the Norwegian cabin boy Johan Koren, and was named of course after his country's great Antarctic explorer Fridtjof Nansen. He became a great favourite of the crew; but when the ship became trapped in the ice and had to spend the entire winter there, Nansen's personality gradually changed; he became ill at ease, ate little, slept more and was angry and unfriendly if disturbed — he seemed to become almost deranged. Despite the best efforts of the crew he died on 22 June, midwinter's day, but whether it was the demoralising permanent cold and darkness that caused his death is unclear. He is featured in a book by the ship's doctor, Frederick Cook, Through the First Antarctic Night.

When Robert Falcon Scott sailed to the Antarctic in the brand-new, purpose-built Discovery in 1901 there were two cats on board accompanying the 38 men; they were Blackwall and Poplar (presumably named after those districts of London). Blackwall, a tabby and white, soon attached himself to Scott, spending most nights on the captain's bunk along with Scamp, his black Aberdeen terrier. Poplar was a black cat belonging to American stoker Arthur Quartley; the cats got on well together and would share their favourite warm spot by the stove.

Discovery became stuck in the Antarctic ice for two whole winters in 1902 and 1903 before being released early in 1904 by rescue ships Terra Nova and Morning, using dynamite to blast away the ice. Both ships had their own cats: on Morning were a black female called Night and her white kitten Noon, but at some point a grey tabby also appeared — and of course was called Morning! Unfortunately she was later lost overboard. For Terra Nova's cat Nigger, see below.

Regrettably Poplar fell prey to the ship's husky dogs during March 1904 and was killed, greatly upsetting her owner. However, Blackwall survived the two winters on the ice without mishap and was aboard when Discovery reached New Zealand on Good Friday, 1 April 1904.

While the Terra Nova was moored in London Docks in 1910, not long before she was due to leave, a little black kitten seems to have found his way on board, curled up in a warm corner and gone to sleep. When he emerged, little did he know he was on his way to the Antarctic! He turned out to be a great character; the men took him to their hearts, soon made him ship's mascot, and he became a source of great pleasure and entertainment for them. They named him Nigger.

He began using up his nine lives by falling overboard at sea at least twice, being rescued by the ship's boat and revived with a little brandy. Soon the crew had made him his own little hammock out of canvas, about 2 feet long and with his own small blanket and pillow. There is quite an art to getting into a hammock, but Nigger quickly mastered it and would contentedly sleep there, swinging to and fro between the bulkheads and quite oblivious to the fiercest storms and bad weather.

He was asleep in his hammock when an important admiral toured the ship while it was docked in Melbourne before continuing south. Nigger opened his eyes, stared at the great man, gave a huge yawn, stretched out one languid paw and went back to sleep. The admiral is said to have been quite amused.

The hammock had a lot of use during three Antarctic voyages, including the one to pick up the survivors of Scott's fateful journey to the South Pole. Sadly though, Nigger's luck ran out just before the end of this last voyage, when he was almost back in England. He was again washed overboard during a fierce storm in the English Channel; the ship's boat was launched, but this time he could not be found.

In 1921 Ernest Shackleton embarked on what turned out to be his final voyage, as he died during it. Leaving London in September, his ship Quest had on board an Alsatian dog called Query, which was later washed overboard during the journey back to England, and black ship's cat Questie. We have been able to find out nothing more about Questie — although he or she did survive the voyage — but there is one photo of the cat on the shoulder of Scout James Marr, a Scottish Scout who was chosen from among many applicants to be 'cabin boy' and general factotum. The photo comes from Marr's book describing the voyage, Into the Frozen South, published by Cassell of London in 1923. The image has been given a new lease of life, as it appears on a stamp from Tristan da Cunha commemorating the centenary of the Scouting movement (see our stamp review of September 2007).

The Penola was a small, three-masted schooner with auxiliary engines and also a De Havilland 'Fox Moth' light plane, equipped with skis and floats, which saw much use. From 1934 to 1937 it carried out the British Graham Land Expedition, a 'budget' expedition that had limited funds but in fact succeeded in achieving most of what it set out to do. The ship's cat was Peter, a tabby; but while Penola was provisioning in the Falkland Islands the dean of Stanley Cathedral presented the crew with another cat, called Lummo; he was white with a black 'crown', tail and part of his hindquarters.

The two cats got on well together, but Peter's health was not robust; he disliked the severe cold and in fact died during the first winter, in 1934. Lummo, though, didn't seem to mind the cold and would even curl up in the snow sometimes! He survived the whole 3-year voyage and returned to live with a crew member's family in Woking, Surrey, where he died during WW2.

Many of the above accounts are summarised from Val Lewis's excellent book, Ships Cats in War and Peace, published by Nauticalia in 2001.

There is now a second article recounting the stories of several Post-war Antarctic Cats.
You may also like to read about two further well-known ships' cats,
Mrs Chippy and Simon.

---

If you would like to comment please contact me,

Return to:
Famous Felines index

Other sections:
Featuring Felines
Fabled Felines
Feline Folios
Feline Fun
Feline Philately
Feline Fragments
Feline Flotsam

or visit the Purr 'n' Fur home page

'Catline' divider bar courtesy of CatStuff Graphics

Our featured feline at the head of the page is Simon of HMS Amethyst.
Able Seacat Simon remains the only cat ever to have been awarded the Dickin Medal for gallantry under enemy fire,
in what became known as the 'Yangtse Incident' (1949).
Read Simon's story.

Copyright © Patrick Roberts & Purr 'n' Fur UK 2003-08
All rights reserved
Images and content (whether original or used at Purr 'n' Fur with permission) may NOT be reproduced
at another website or otherwise copied or used without prior permission.
Direct linking (hotlinking) to ANY images on this site is strictly forbidden.
If you want something, !