Description

LA LICORNE (THE UNICORN) from THE ADVENTURES OF TIN TIN

FULLY BUILT AND READY TO DISPLAY MUSEUM QUALITY SHIP MODEL

Dimension approx.: 34″ (high) x 11″ (wide) x 28″ (high)
The model is already built. THIS IS NOT A MODEL SHIP KIT

In the age of King Louis XIV, when the fleur‑de‑lis flew proudly over the seas, there sailed a warship whose name would echo far beyond her years: La Licorne. She was a graceful, three‑masted vessel of the French Royal Navy, carved with the ornate splendor of the Sun King’s court and crowned at her bow with a unicorn figurehead that seemed almost alive in the spray of the Atlantic. Under the command of Sir Francis Haddock, a stern but honorable officer, she cut through the waves with the confidence of a ship built for both beauty and battle.

For months she patrolled the trade routes, her 50 guns a silent promise of protection. But the calm of her service ended the day the black‑sailed ship of Red Rackham, the most feared pirate of the Caribbean, rose over the horizon. Rackham’s crew descended upon La Licorne with the fury of a storm. Cannon fire shattered the air, and smoke rolled across the decks as the two ships locked in deadly combat.

Sir Francis fought with the resolve of a man defending more than a ship — he defended his honor, his king, and the lives entrusted to him. When Rackham boarded La Licorne, the two captains met in a duel that became legend. Steel rang against steel until Sir Francis struck the final blow, ending the pirate’s reign of terror. But victory came at a cost. Rackham’s surviving men swarmed the ship, and Sir Francis knew La Licorne could not be saved. Rather than let her fall into pirate hands, he made a fateful choice: he ordered her scuttled. The sea swallowed her slowly, her proud figurehead disappearing beneath the waves as Sir Francis escaped in a small boat, carrying with him the secret of the treasure Rackham had amassed.

Centuries passed. The story of La Licorne faded into a family legend, whispered through the Haddock line until it reached the ears of Captain Archibald Haddock, a man who never expected his ancestor’s tale to be anything more than a romantic myth. But when Tintin, the young reporter with a talent for uncovering truth, stumbled upon a model of the ship — one of three identical replicas — the old legend stirred again.

Hidden inside each model was a fragment of a parchment, a clue left by Sir Francis himself. Only when the three scrolls were reunited did the full message reveal itself: the coordinates of the sunken La Licorne, and with it, the lost treasure of Red Rackham.

Driven by curiosity and the thrill of discovery, Tintin and Captain Haddock embarked on a journey that led them across oceans and into the depths of history. Though the treasure was not found in the wreck itself, the adventure brought them to Marlinspike Hall — the true inheritance of the Haddock family — and restored the legacy of Sir Francis and his beloved ship.

La Licorne, though lost to the sea, lived on in the courage of her captain, the mystery of her models, and the adventure she sparked centuries later. In the world of Tintin, she remains one of the most evocative symbols of the past — a ship of wood and canvas transformed into a legend of loyalty, sacrifice, and the enduring pull of the unknown.