Update 7/11/2024

LEGO® Icons 10335 The Endurance has been officially announced by The LEGO Group so be sure to get all the details.

The murmurings have started again!  The voices are claiming this year’s LEGO Black Friday release is a ship, inspired by The Endurance. That be the ship in which Sir Ernest Shackleton embarked upon his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition between 1914 and 1917… “Embarked” because he didn’t return with it….

The following information has not been officially confirmed:

Spoiler alert!  The Endurance run into a spot of bother along the way…

10335 The Endurance Ship will contain 3,500-4,500 pieces, retail for US$259.99 / £219.99 / €259.99 in Europe and be released on 29 November, 2024.

It will be accompanied by a 232 piece Gift With Purchase (set number 40729), although no further details are available at this time.

Remember, this all be rumour so these details may change… or prove to be fiction… just like that Eldorado Fortress remake rumour.

Where Did This Information Originate From?

The Classic Pirates knows a lad who knows a lad…

The Instagram rumour posts have been immortalised in picture frames

That lad being Itavixbrix on Instagram, who reposted the information shared by brick_clicker, also via Instagram.

What Is The Endurance?

It be a ship from maritime history!

Sir Ernest Shackleton procured a three-masted barquentine named Polaris in 1914 after one of its original commissioners, Adrien de Gerlache flittered his finances away on booze.

Ho ho ho! We’re not like that stupid Titanic – we can sail through ice!

Shackleton promptly renamed the vessel “Endurance” and proceeded to recruit a crew of 27 men. He warned them; the pay isn’t great, the weather abysmal, and a safe return… well, let’s not go into detail about that… but he did promise them honour and recognition – so how could an adventurous sailor refuse?

Later that year they embarked upon their voyage toward the Antarctic under the command of Captain Frank Worsley.

This is an actual photograph of The Endurance trapped in ice

In January 1915 tragedy struck just 322km/200 miles from their destination when The Endurance became lodged in polar pack ice. No matter how much blood, sweat and tears they poured into their efforts, the crew failed to dislodge the ship from its icy incarceration.  After ten months of turbulence, drifting and pressure, The Endurance could endure no more!  The elements had taken their toll and the ice beneath breaking… so down the ship went… glug! glug! glug!

Shackleton inspects the wreckage just moments before The Endurance sank

Don’t worry, all the crew lived to tell the tale. Long before the ship’s final destruction, they escaped to Elephant Island using the ship’s lifeboats. A heroic rescue effort ensured they all arrived home safely, complete with records and photographs of the expedition.

The BBC reports…

But those pesky historians can’t let ships stay sunk, can they?  From 2001 onward, a number of unsuccessful attempts were made to locate the Endurance’s wreckage. It wasn’t until July 2021 when an expedition named Endurance22 finally made some leeway on board the South African research vessel S. A. Agulhas II.

Captain clam at the helm!

Launched by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust, and with help of amicable mermaids, the Endurance22 team located the remains of the ship in the Weddell Sea, on 5 March, 2022.

The team stated that the wreck was in remarkably good nick and went into a frenzy documenting it with their Ultra High definition equipment. Honouring their promise not to dredge up old junk the  protected historic site and monument declaration set forth in the Antarctic Treaty System, no part of the wreck was salvaged.

So, it still lies in the depths as plunder for the taking!

Mini Documentary

If yer a history nutter buff, Cambridge University has put together a little documentary for yer viewing pleasure.

2024 National Geographic Documentary

And for the elite historians, National Geographic released a documentary featuring The Endurance on 1 November, 2024.

This charming presentation recounts The Endurance’s voyage, demise, and modern rediscovery, complete with audio and video clips recorded during the historic voyage.

Official Synopsis

In a legendary feat of leadership and perseverance, polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton kept his crew of 27 men alive for over a year despite the loss of their ship in frigid pack ice. Over a century later, a team of modern-day explorers sets out to find the sunken ship. From National Geographic Documentary Films and directed by Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin and Natalie Hewit, ENDURANCE tells the inspiring stories of these two landmark expeditions, bound by their shared grit and determination.

If yer can’t watch embedded videos, be sure to view the trailer on YouTube.

How Is It Relevant to LEGO Pirate Fans?

Yer don’t need to be a seasoned historian to realise a ship commissioned during the early twentieth century be a completely different era from the Golden Age of Piracy of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

This be a wooden model – but imagine it’s made from LEGO

Sure, The Endurance may have flown sails and floated upon a wooden hull, but this particular vessel was steam powered, a technology that rose to prominence during the nineteenth century, decades after the sun had set upon the Golden Age.

This wooden model be available from OcCre online modeling store

Nonetheless, the LEGO Pirates theme attracts ship enthusiasts of all eras and The Endurance shares many characteristics with LEGO Pirate Ships. So with a little tinkering and rejigging, it could possibly be retrofitted to resemble a more authentic tall ship worthy of Captain Redbeard’s fleet.

It looks very sleek without all the ice

Concerns

Some of the biggest concerns raised by AFOLs is whether the ship will be minifigure scale, or if it will include minifigures, rigging and fabric sails.  Some have postulated it may be a display piece like 10294 LEGO® Titanic* and lack the accoutrements many LEGO Pirate fans desire.

That would perhaps deter fans who prefer LEGO sets able to covertly blend among their classic set collection.

* LEGO.com affiliate link provided for your convenience.

The Wooden Model

Here be a video overview of the OcCre wooden model:

If you’re unable to view the above video watch it upon YouTube.

LEGO Ideas

The Endurance already be known to some AFOLs and a couple have taken stabs at submitting their concepts to LEGO Ideas. Unsuccessfully mind you, so if this rumour be true, it will be the first official LEGO set based on the historic ship.

Here are some LEGO Ideas submissions that didn’t quite make it…

“HMS Endurance (Shackleton Expedition)” by jbmakemson with 1,138 supporters

“HMS Endurance” by SuperSpruce101 with 3,363 supporters

Are these builds true to the photos and wooden models you may observe above?

Could The LEGO Group knock it out of the ice park with a 3,500-4,500 piece set?

What Do Yer Think?

If The Endurance was released as an official LEGO set would you be interested in acquiring one? To display as per the instructions? Or perhaps convert into something more piratey? Or would you prefer to save yer gold for a ship more authentic to LEGO Pirates?

Can The LEGO Group provide this design with justice?

Join us in the LEGO Pirates Forum so you don’t miss details of the upcoming set… and to share yer thoughts on The Endurance.