The tabby cat jumped overboard through one of the cabin portholes and the officer on watch, Lt. Hudson, heard her screams and turned the ship smartly round & picked her up.

To this they added a life-size bronze statue of Mrs Chippy in 2004, funded through public subscription, to complete a tribute and memorial to the carpenter and his much-loved cat.

The book provides an account of Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, covering the period 15 January 1914 to 29 October 1915, in the form of a journal written from Mrs. Chippy’s point of view.

[7] The final entry recounts Shackleton instructing his crew, now camped on the ice pack following the destruction of their ship, that to ensure their survival "Anything that cannot pull its weight or is not useful to the Expedition must be put down".

The book ends poignantly with Mrs Chippy (clearly unaware of the implications of Shackleton's order) relaxing in a tent, reminiscing over past adventures and, after being given a treat of a bowl of sardines, looking forward to assisting with the rest of the expedition.

The painting Mrs Chippy by Wolf Howard shows the cat "about to be shot", while in the background Endurance is depicted trapped in the ice and its crew can be seen launching a small open boat on a rescue mission.