Brickwrecks: Sunken Ships in LEGO® Bricks At The Historic Dockyard Chatham

Brickwrecks; Sunken Ships in LEGO® Bricks invites visitors of all ages to explore the tales of eight iconic shipwrecks, brought to life through eleven intricate, large-scale LEGO® models for a fantastic exhibition at The Historic Dockyard Chatham.

170,463 LEGO® bricks and 1,336.5 hours have gone into creating eight wrecks dating from the oldest known shipwreck in around 1300 BCE, to the iconic  RMS TITANIC shipwreck of 1912, to 100 years on and the wrecking of the RENA , a container ship wrecked on New Zealand’s Astrolabe Reef in 2011.

Stand-out stories from marine archeology and marine disasters feature heavily in the exhibition that’s travelled from Australia, via Sweden, to premiere in the UK for the first time at The Historic Dockyard Chatham.

Visitors will encounter renowned shipwrecks recreated with thousands of LEGO® bricks, including:

• ULUBURUN: The oldest known shipwreck, dating from the Bronze Age to around 1300 BCE, discovered off the coast of Turkey;
• SHINAN: A Chinese vessel that sank in 1323 near South Korea’s Shinan Islands;
• VASA: The iconic Swedish warship, sunk in Stockholm harbour in 1628;
• BATAVIA: A Dutch trading ship that met its end in 1629 off Western Australia’s coast;
• HMS PANDORA: Lost in 1791 while in pursuit of the Bounty mutineers on the Great Barrier Reef;
• HMS TERROR & HMS EREBUS: Both wrecked in 1848 while seeking the Northwest Passage;
• RMS TITANIC: The famed luxury liner that tragically sank in the North Atlantic in 1912;
• MV RENA: A Liberian container ship wrecked on New Zealand’s Astrolabe Reef in 2011.

These meticulously crafted models range from 1 to 3 meters in length, showcasing varying scales and details that capture the history of each wreck.

Nick Ball, Collections, Galleries and Interpretation Manager at The Historic Dockyard Chatham has been working closely with the lead creative on the project from Australia – Em Blamey – he says:

“Visitors can try out different archeology techniques, clean oil pollution from a penguin, and examine the wrecks in great detail.

“It’s not just historical wrecks that are recreated, the recent environmental disaster in 2011 caused by the wrecking of the cargo ship RENA, features in the exhibition.  The retelling of the story gave the team the chance to explain the oil spill, the wrecked cargo and share New Zealand’s worst maritime environmental disaster.”

Lead builder on the RENA LEGO® Brickwreck, Luke Cini, explained the process: “To begin any LEGO®

build, the first step is to research and gather images and inspiration for the project. It is important to have sufficient knowledge of what the subject matter is before beginning any design work.

“We had a flat piece of aluminium that we began the build on. This allowed us to start with a nice, solid, robust base. We mapped out where the RENA would sit and what pieces would work well with the angle we wanted the ship at. We found that having the ship on an angle of 75 degrees would fit perfectly with the factory LEGO® wedge plates, allowing us to neatly finish the edges of the ship into the water.

“We had a lot of fun adding in the small details once the main components of the build were complete. We included a block of cheese, which had fallen from the ship and which we had seen in a video.”

A ‘brickwrecked’ TITANIC is startling in its recreation from over 12,000 bricks by Brickman Ryan McNaught and his LEGO® building studio.

Paul Barnard, Deputy Chief Executive, Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, said:

“We are thrilled to bring this internationally renowned exhibition to Chatham in 2025. Brickwrecks brilliantly combines creativity, maritime archaeology, and engineering to bring the stories of eight legendary shipwrecks to life. Particularly relevant to the Historic Dockyard are the stories of HMS TERROR and HMS EREBUS, which were refitted here at Chatham before joining the Ross Expedition in 1839 and later embarking on the fateful Franklin Expedition in 1845.”

 An Interactive Experience of Innovation and Exploration

Beyond the LEGO® models, Brickwrecks offers interactive elements and multimedia exhibits that delve into the science of maritime archaeology, shipwreck exploration and their environmental impact. Visitors can try their hand at various archaeological techniques, learn about cutting-edge technology used in underwater discoveries, and build their own LEGO® creations inspired by the shipwrecks on display.

Brickwrecks: Sunken Ships in LEGO® Bricks is now on display at The Historic Dockyard Chatham until August 2025. Tickets, included in the Dockyard admission, are available at thedockyard.co.uk/brickwrecks.