Shackleton ship model brought from Ukraine to Cornwall
BBC By Johnny O'Shea
BBC News
A replica of a famous ship has made its way to a Cornish museum from the Ukrainian war zone where it was built.
The intricate model of Ernest Shackleton's Endurance was made by retired engineer Vitaliy Vrubel in his Dnipro home as war raged around him.
He and his wife were forced to flee when the conflict escalated, but his finished model lay in wait for the day it could be collected.
A former South African soldier rescued the replica which is now in Cornwall.
The build
The Shipwreck Treasure Museum in Charlestown commissioned Mr Vrubel to build the ship in 2022.
It saw a LinkedIn post from his daughter asking if anyone could store his beloved collection of model ships, skilfully created since his retirement as a rocket engineer.
The museum wanted a model of the Endurance for its Shackleton exhibition.
The Endurance was central to a story of heroism and endurance that has inspired people for more than 100 years.
The shop got stuck in ice in Antarctica in 1915, leaving Ernest Shackleton to cross the treacherous Southern Ocean, and traverse the island of South Georgia to get help for his crew, all 27 of whom survived for two years on the ice.
