Harry McNish

Henry McNish (11 September 187424 September 1930), often referred to as Harry McNish or by the nickname Chippy, was the carpenter on Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917. He was responsible for much of the work that ensured the crew's survival after their ship, the Endurance, was destroyed when it became trapped in pack ice in the Weddell Sea. He modified the small boat, James Caird, that allowed Shackleton and five men (including McNish) to make a voyage of 800 miles across the perilous Southern Ocean to fetch help for the rest of the crew.

After the expedition he returned to work in the Merchant Navy and eventually emigrated to New Zealand, where he worked on the docks in Wellington until poor health forced his retirement. He died destitute in the Ohiro Benevolent Home in Wellington.

Early life Harry "Chippy" McNish was born in 1874 in the former Lyons Lane near the present site of the library in Port Glasgow, Inverclyde, Scotland. He was part of a large family, being the third of eleven children born to John and Mary Jane (née Wade) McNish. His father was a journeyman shoemaker. McNish held strong socialist views, was a member of the United Free Church of Scotland and detested bad language. He married three times: in 1895 to Jessie Smith, who died in February 1898; in 1898 to Ellen Timothy, who died in December 1904; and finally to Lizzie Littlejohn in 1907. McNeish, The McNeish spelling is common, notably in Shackleton's and Frank Worsley's accounts of the expedition and on McNish's headstone, but McNish is also widely used, and appears to be the correct version. On a signed copy of the expedition photo his signature appears as "H. MacNish", but his spelling is in general idiosyncratic, as revealed in the diary he kept throughout the expedition. There also is a question regarding McNish's nickname. "Chippy" was a traditional nickname for a shipwright; both this and the shorter "Chips" (as in wood chips from carpentry) seem to have been used.

Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition

Endurance The aim of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition was to be the first to cross the Antarctic continent from one side to the other. McNish was apparently attracted by Shackleton's advertisement for the expedition (although there are doubts as to whether the advertisement ever appeared ):

The crew have their hair cut aboard Endurance. McNish is on the left shaving Greenstreet's head. Endurance trapped in pack ice. McNish's work prevented it flooding, but he could do nothing to stop it being crushed. McNish suffered from piles and rheumatism in his legs. He was regarded as somewhat odd and unrefined, but also highly respected as a carpenterFrank Worsley, the captain of the Endurance, refers to him as a "splendid shipwright". The pipe-smoking Scot was, however, the only man of the crew that Shackleton was "not dead certain of". His Scots accent was described as rasping like "frayed cable wire".

During the initial stage of the voyage to Antarctica from Buenos Aires, he was kept busy with a number of routine tasks. He worked on the pram dinghy Nancy Endurance; made a small chest of drawers for Shackleton; specimen shelves for the biologist, Robert Clark; and instrument cases for Leonard Hussey, the meteorologist; and put up wind screens to protect the helmsman. He constructed a false deck, extending from the poop-deck to the chart-room to cover the extra coal that the ship had taken on board. He also acted as the ship's barber. As the ship pushed into the pack ice in the Weddell Sea it became increasingly difficult to navigate. McNish constructed a six-foot wooden semaphore on the bridge to enable the navigating officer to give the helmsman directions, and built a small stage over the stern to allow the propeller to be watched in order to keep it clear of the heavy ice.

The pressure from the ice caused Endurance to start to take on water. To prevent the ship from flooding McNish built a cofferdam, caulking it with strips of blankets and nailing strips over the seams, standing for hours up to his waist in freezing water as he worked. He could not prevent the pressure from the ice crushing the ship though and was experienced enough to know when to stop trying. Once the ship had been breached he was put in charge of rescuing the stores from what had been The Ritz. With McNish in charge it took only a couple of hours to open the deck far enough to retrieve a good quantity of provisions.

On the ice McNish's cat, Mrs Chippy, had to be killed after the ship was destroyed. During his watch one night while the crew were camped on the ice, a small part of the ice floe broke away and he was only rescued due to the quick intervention of the men of the next watch who threw him a line allowing him to jump back to safety. Shackleton reported that McNish calmly mentioned his narrow escape the next day after further cracks appeared in the ice. After the loss of the Endurance, four of the sled dogs and Mrs Chippy, the cat McNish had brought on board, were shot on Shackleton's order due to his belief that keeping them alive in such harsh conditions would be an unnecessary drain on the crew's scarce resources, they would suffer from being underfed, and the crew could utilize the dog meat. McNish never forgave Shackleton for having his cat killed.

McNish proposed building a smaller craft from the wreckage of the ship, but was overruled, with Shackleton instead deciding to head across the ice to open water pulling the ship's three lifeboats. McNish had been suffering with piles and homesickness from almost before the voyage had begun, and once the ship was lost his frustration began to grow. He vented his feelings in his diary, targeting his tent-mates' language: McNish's assertion would have normally been correct: duty to the master (and pay) normally stopped when a ship was lost, but the articles the crew had signed for the Endurance had a special clause inserted in which the crew agreed "to perform any duty on board, in the boats, or on the shore as directed by the master and owner". Consequently, McNish really had no choice but to comply: he could not survive alone and could not continue with the rest of the party unless he obeyed orders.

McNish used the mast from the Stancomb Wills, to strengthen the Caird’s keel and build up the small 22 foot (6.7 m) long boat, so it would withstand the seas during the 800 mile (1480 km) trip. He caulked it using a mixture of seal blood and flour, and, using wood and nails taken from packing cases and the runners of the sledges, he built a makeshift frame which was then covered with canvas. Shackleton was worried the boat "bore a strong likeness to stage scenery", only giving the appearance of sturdiness. He later admitted that the crew could not have lived through the voyage without it. They landed in Cave Cove on King Haakon Bay; it was on the wrong side of the island, but it was a relief for all of them to make land; McNish wrote in his diary:

Later life, memorials and records McNish's grave in Karori Cemetery with the statue of Mrs Chippy which was added by the New Zealand Antarctic Society. His last name is here spelled "McNeish". After the expedition McNish returned to the Merchant Navy, working on various ships. He often complained that his bones permanently ached due to the conditions during the journey in the James Caird; he would reportedly sometimes refuse to shake hands because of the pain. However, his grave remained unmarked for almost thirty years; However, in 2004 the grave was tidied and a life size bronze sculpture of McNish's beloved cat, Mrs Chippy, was placed on his grave by NZAC, having been paid for by public subscription. His grandson, Tom, believes this tribute would have meant more to him than receiving the Polar Medal. The island was renamed McNish Island in 1998 after his birth certificate was presented to the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee.

In popular culture McNish was portrayed by Leonard Maguire in the 1983 television series Shackleton, by Ken Drury in the 2002 television miniseries Shackleton, and by William Hemming in the 2012 documentary Shackleton's Captain.