The Simon’s Town Museum has a new addition to its Antarctic exhibition – a model of the Endurance… built from Lego.
The model, which also includes a replica of the James Caird lifeboat, was donated by Dr Ortwin Bock, a 91-year-old retired physician from Vredehoek and long-time Lego enthusiast.
Dr Bock has been building Lego Technic models for over 10 years.
“I’ve been a hobbyist all my life,” he said.
His interest in hobbies that involve working with his hands has been a lifelong passion, starting with jewellery-making and semi-professional book repair.
Dr Bock and his wife, Mary, moved to Cape Town in the 1960s, shortly after he completed his medical studies at Oxford.
The couple, who married in Yorkshire in 1962, have three children and six grandchildren spread across Scotland, Bulgaria, America and South Africa.
Ms Bock said she admired her husband’s dedication.
“In addition to keeping him occupied, his creative skills still constantly amaze me,” she said.
The Endurance model, with more than 3 000 pieces, was bought as a set in November last year.
Dr Bock worked on it for half an hour twice a day.
The ship’s remarkable history had inspired him to tackle this particular model, he said.
Built in 1912, the Endurance carried Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew on the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition from 1914 to 1917.
The ship became trapped in pack ice and sank in 1915, though Sir Shackleton and his 27-man crew survived.
The wreck of the Endurance was rediscovered in 2022 by the search team Endurance22, with the assistance of the South African icebreaker SA Agulhas II, under the command of Master Mariner Captain Knowledge Bengu.
Dr Bock said space limitations had prompted his decision to donate the model.
“We don’t have any place to store any more models,” he joked.
Donating his Lego creations is not new to him. In 2017, he donated several models to HTS Bellville Technical High School.
At the time, he noted that students could take apart the fully assembled models and reassemble them to study their technical designs.
In addition to the Endurance, Dr Bock has built a variety of other complex models, including motorcars, racing cars, trains and a 10 000-piece Titanic, which stands proudly on display in the Bock home.
Tazneem Wentzel, education officer at the Simon’s Town Museum, was thrilled with the donation.
“We were very excited when we received the email from Dr Bock and learned what he was building. We have an Antarctic exhibition, and the model of the Endurance will find its home in this section.
“We know that the learners who visit the museum will really enjoy this addition. We are very grateful,” Ms Wentzel said.
Dr Bock isn’t slowing down. He is already eyeing his next project – a model of the Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden. He hopes the Botanical Society of South Africa will accept it once completed.
Meanwhile, he also enjoys gifting Lego sets to his grandchildren for Christmas, spreading his passion for creativity across generations.
