Brothers launch model ships bound for Antarctica

Model ships built by two young Aberdeenshire brothers have been launched on what is planned to be an epic journey around the South Pole.

The mission to circumnavigate Antarctica, started by Harry and Ollie Ferguson, is thought to be a world first.

The schoolboys built one-metre (3.3ft) replicas of two scientific vessels.

It is estimated the journey of more than 12,500 miles (21,100km) could take up to two years.

The adventure has taken inspiration from the Ross scientific expedition of 1839-1943 involving HMS Erebus and HMS Terror.

The replicas - made from elm wood and fitted with tracking and monitoring devices - will follow the current around the coastline of Antarctica.

After the boats were completed, they were shipped to friends in the Falkland Islands until the family received official approval from authorities that they could be launched into the Southern Ocean.

During the journey, the boats will transmit back scientific data including ocean temperature.

Harry, 11, said: "It feels awesome. We've been trying to do it for two years now and we've finally got them in and it feels amazing.

"We're interested to collect data and also just trying to see what happens to the boats."

Ollie, 13, described it as a "challenging and ambitious" adventure.

The boys, from Turriff, previously sailed a Playmobil pirate ship thousands of miles across the Atlantic.

Their father, MacNeill Ferguson, explained: "The sheer amount of learning and skills the boys had to learn to make these boats, and to build them, and to test them, and the understanding of how all these things work, it's just a joy to see them learning in this way by doing stuff."