This is the Lego® Icons 3,011 piece model of the Endurance – Ernest Shackleton’s legendary ship from the ill-fated Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition that set off in 1914.
The ship has been faithfully recreated with the correct hull design, deck layout, and rigging, making it one of the most accurate and detailed Lego models that we’ve featured. When completed it measures in at a relatively large 18.5 inches high, 31.5 inches long, and 9.5 inches wide.
This is the Lego® Icons 3,011 piece model of the Endurance – Ernest Shackleton’s legendary ship from the ill-fated Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition that set off in 1914.
History Speedrun: Ernest Shackleton And The Endurance
When Ernest Shackleton set out in 1914 aboard Endurance he aimed to lead the first expedition on a full crossing of Antarctica, coast to coast, via the South Pole. Born in Ireland in 1874 and raised in London, Shackleton had already served under Captain Scott on the Discovery Expedition and later led his own Nimrod Expedition in 1907.
By the time he launched the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, he was a seasoned explorer, well known by the press and general public, with a reputation for daring and charisma – he was exactly the kind of man people would follow into the unknown.
In order to assemble his crew, Shackleton is said to have run a newspaper advertisement that read “MEN WANTED – for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful, honor and recognition in case of success.” – though some historians have cast doubt on whether this ad ever really existed.
The Endurance was a three-masted barquentine built in Norway, the ship was stoutly timbered for ice work but it was still no match for what lay ahead – but then again, no ship was. She sailed from South Georgia in December of 1914 bound for the Weddell Sea. Within weeks the ship was trapped in the pack ice, stuck fast like an insect in amber.
Shackleton and his crew of 27 men endured months of drift, hoping for a summer thaw that never came. By October of 1915 the ice build up began to crush the hull, dooming the ship. Shackleton gave the order to abandon ship – three weeks later Endurance slipped beneath the surface, leaving the men marooned on the frozen sea with little more than tents, sled dogs, and some salvaged stores of food and whiskey – the two major food groups of any expedition.
In order to assemble his crew, Shackleton is said to have run a newspaper advertisement that read “MEN WANTED – for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful, honor and recognition in case of success.” – though some historians have cast doubt on whether this ad ever really existed.
They camped on the ice for months, drifting north until the ice floes began breaking apart. Shackleton then led the men into three open boats and, after a brutal journey through freezing seas, reached the barren refuge of Elephant Island. It was the first solid ground they’d stood on in nearly 500 days – but they were still far from safety.
Shackleton knew no ship would stumble upon them there, so he chose the five men with the best sailing skills and one lifeboat, the James Caird, and set sail for South Georgia – 800 miles away across the roughest waters on Earth.
Sixteen days later, and against all odds, they reached the island’s uninhabited southern coast. Shackleton, navigator Frank Worsley, and Tom Crean then trekked for 36 hours across glaciers and mountains to reach the whaling station at Stromness.
Over the next four months, Shackleton mounted multiple rescue attempts and as a result, every man of the Endurance crew survived. He finally returned home on the Chilean tug Yelcho in August of 1916.
Shackleton’s failure to cross the continent became one of history’s greatest survival stories instead – it was a study in leadership when faced with impossible odds. In 2022, more than a century after her loss, the wreck of Endurance was found upright on the seafloor, her nameplate still legible on the bow.
The Lego® Icons Endurance
This is the Lego® Icons model of the Endurance – the ship sailed by Ernest Shackleton and his crew on the 1914 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition with the goal of crossing the continent of Antarctica from coast to coast via the South Pole.
This model consists of 3,011 pieces and once assembled it faithfully recreates the ship – and becomes an ideal addition to the mantle place, shelf, or desk as a display piece.
This model consists of 3,011 pieces and once assembled it faithfully recreates the ship – and becomes an ideal addition to the mantle place, shelf, or desk as a display piece. It contains more detail than initially meets the eye – you can turn the ship’s wheel to operate the rudder, and you can remove the deck sections to see the port and starboard cabins, and the ship’s steam engine.
It measures in at over 18.5 inches (47 cm) high, 31.5 inches (80 cm) long, and 9.5 inches (24 cm) wide, and though it’s designed for those over 18, it would be manageable by most teens, or by kids working along side a parent. If you’d like to order one you can visit the official Lego store here.
Images courtesy of Lego
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
