In a private home in Mariehamn one can find one of the world’s finest and most detailed ship models. It was built by an Åland sailor in a POW camp during World War II with neither drawings nor tools at hand. How did he do it? Who was he? 

His name was Runar Husell. He began his life as a unusually stubborn and gifted foster child from Vårdö, and by the time of his untimely death he had become both a master mariner and a civil engineer. The film tells the story of his life – and of an important piece of Åland history. 

The model depicts the four-masted barque Ponape. It is 226 cm long and made in a 1:40 scale. All its tiny details – down to the millimetre-sized turnbuckle – are fully functioning. 

Script & direction Michale Hancock, 2017