Two young brothers are delighted after their toy pirate ship travelled hundreds of miles from Scotland to Scandinavia.
Eight-year-old Ollie Ferguson and sibling Harry, five, first launched their Playmobil ship from Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, at the end of May.
It sailed about 390 miles to Denmark, where it was found by a family who sent it on its way.
Eight-year-old Ollie Ferguson and sibling Harry, five (Family handout)
Its next stop was Sweden, where it ended up in a tree and it then travelled on to Norway, where it was found by nature officials.
The boys’ father MacNeill Ferguson said: “Everyone that has picked it up has been really kind and sent us photos and looked after it. People are really getting into the spirit of it.
“The boys have enjoyed it and every time we get a message telling us where it has landed we get on the computer and work out where it went, so they are tracking its progress on the map and it gives them an understanding of how big the world is.”
Ollie and Harry prepare to launch their pirate ship (Family handout)
The ship, named Adventure, needed some adaptations before it was ready to tackle the North Sea.
With the help of their father, the boys added a counterweight to help it stay upright and then filled it with polystyrene to help it stay afloat.
After it passed trials in a swimming pool, they took it to the coast and launched it into the waves.
It carries a message asking anyone who finds the boat to send them a picture and launch Adventure back into the sea.
The Adventure sets sail for its trip to Scandinavia (Family handout)
Mr Ferguson, 44, is pleased it has travelled so far.
He said: “I was concerned that the currents along the coast would take it down the north-east coast of Scotland, so I was over the moon when it made a beeline for Scandinavia.
“It reached Denmark and then Sweden, where it was picked up by a lady who was sailing her own boat and found it in a tree. She was really kind and remade the sails for it.
“Then it was picked up by a Norwegian conservation vessel, they got in touch with some beautiful photos.”
The story has attracted interest in the Norwegian press and Adventure is now being taken aboard the Christian Radich, a Norwegian full-rigged ship, which will carry the Playmobil vessel down to Cape Verde and then launch it, giving it the chance to sail thousands of miles across the Atlantic.
The boys launched the pirate ship as part of their bucket list of 500 adventures which they are working their way through, with their exploits charted on the Facebook page “The days are just packed” at https://www.facebook.com/tdajp/
They have carried out 207 so far, with one highlight being sending Lego figures “into space” with a high-altitude weather balloon which took the characters 20 miles above the Moray Firth, while they have also been bouldering and made tea from snow.
Other items on the list include build an igloo, go troll hunting and build a waterslide.
Parents MacNeill and Vicki Ferguson came up with the idea to provide the boys with excitement and interesting alternatives to screen time.
The couple, from Turriff, Aberdeenshire, have also set up The Marvellous Adventure Club which provides outdoor learning experiences for adults and children.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article