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Can a little toy ship survive for months in the open sea?

That's the incredible story of Adventure 2 (also called A2), a Playmobil toy boat that was freed in the ocean in 2020. 

The record-breaking quest was completed by the Lewis brothers Fynn, Jax and Kai (respectively aged three, seven and 10 years old, all from Trinidad and Tobago), in collaboration with Ollie and Harry Ferguson (14 and 12, UK). 

On 8 March 2024, during a special certificate presentation with the Ferguson and Lewis families, Adventure 2 was officially recognized as the most travelled toy ship EVER, smashing the previous record. 

"You've done something truly inspiring, your story was everywhere," said Craig Glenday, Editor-in-Chief of Guinness World Records, about the epic journey. "It's such a grand idea."

The certificate presentation took place aboard the RRS Discovery in Dundee, Scotland, in collaboration with the Dundee Heritage Trust.

Adventure 2's odyssey began after the world lost contact with the previous record-breaking ship, Adventure, built by Ollie and Harry in 2017. 

The live tracker on the ship went silent in May 2019 and, as the weeks went by, it seemed impossible to rescue it. 

However, determined to continue Adventure's worldwide quest, a family from Trinidad contacted the Ferguson brothers during lockdown to kick off a "second phase". 

Harry and Ollie sent the Lewis family another Playmobil ship - the same model as Adventure - and set up several video calls to show them how to modify the boat so it could face the daunting open sea.

In September 2020, Adventure 2 was officially launched from a support vessel called Normand Installer installing some subsea assets. 

The Normand Installer was working about 119 km (74 miles) north of Georgetown, Guyana, near where the first toy ship was lost.

"We saw the first boat in the press. The whole concept inspired us," said Keith Lewis, father of Fynn, Jax and Kai, to Guinness World Records. 

"Adventure's first voyage inspired us to get in touch."

I have three boys of a similar age as Harry and Ollie, and I wanted them to have some experience with that. So it was a great, great experience. - Keith Lewis

The vessel also carried a message in a bottle instructing whoever found it to snap a picture, contact the families and return it to the sea.

"We need to thank the COAST (Caribbean Oceanography Aquaculture and Subsea Technology) Foundation for covering the cost of the tracking," said Ollie and Harry's dad Mac Ferguson to Grampian Online, "and for their help getting the tracker tuned in to suit our adventure and OPEX for their kind help in keeping our website up and running so we can share the live map."

Favoured by the current, the pirate ship sailed on as expected through the Caribbean Sea and was propelled by the current through the waves of the Gulf of Mexico.

The ship was found again in Miami, Florida, by young Ellie Alvarez and her father Ulises in March 2021. 

Thanks to the live-tracking website, it was possible to follow the progress made by the ship as it drifted down the east coast of the USA, and then out into the Atlantic Ocean.

We have to rely on the currents, so we have to choose the best places to release the boat into the water to take advantage of those - Mac Ferguson

Constant GPS coordinates and collaboration ensured the expedition's success. 

In Belize, fans of the journey decided to meet the toy ship before it reached the shore and brought it to safety, fearing it could collide with the barrier reef and sink.

Along the journey, Adventure 2 was also modified to improve its chances of survival. 

The pirate ship was welcomed in Captain Shark's boatyard in San Pedro, Belize, for a quick maintenance stop before heading to Belize City. 

At the boatyard, the Playmobil boat was repaired and modified with a brand-new, heavy-duty keel: the upgrade would allow the currents to set the vessel's course rather than it just drifting away from place to place. 

From September 2020 to 19 November 2021, Adventure 2 racked up an incredible 15,439 km (9,593.34 mi) before the battery ran out.

In 2018, Ollie and Harry's Adventure set the first record for the most travelled toy ship. 

The first version of the Playmobil vessel covered a whopping 6,072.47 km (3,773.26 miles) after sailing from Turriff, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. 

True to its name, after being released into the sea, Adventure followed the currents and proudly floated away to Scandinavia. 

Then, the toy ship drifted toward the coast of Mauritania, continuing across the southern Atlantic and finally finishing its record-breaking journey in 2018. 

In May 2019, the ship's signal was lost around 30 miles off Barbados.

The Adventure's epic travels spanned between 28 May 2017 and 12 May 2018, and encouraged the Lewis family to pick up that journey with a second phase.

The first record was shocking, and the second one was very unexpected - Ollie

However, the Ferguson siblings are always hungry for new challenges. 

Always seeking new thrills, the Scottish brothers are working their way through an ambitious bucket list of 500 quests to complete before they are 18, and are currently in the middle of another epic odyssey. 

"We have finished about 450," the boys say. "One of the highlights was flying a plane." 

Their latest feat is named Project Erubus and includes building scaled replicas of Royal Navy warships HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. 

I feel like this project will break the record again if the battery lasts - Harry

The replicas were sent on a thrilling journey of over 20,000 km (10,799.14 nautical miles) sailing the waves of the Southern Ocean and following the circumpolar current around the coastline of Antarctica. 

The two brothers live in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, with their mother Vicki and father Macneill. 

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