Part of HMS Victory flag fetches £300,000

Underwater ‘Tolkien realm’ is discovered

A LARGE fragment of the Union Flag believed to have been flown from Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson’s flagship during the Battle of Trafalgar has been sold for almost £300,000.

The historic piece was said to been one of two flags flown from HMS Victory when Lord Horatio Nelson was fatally shot by a French sniper in 1805.

Measuring 86cm by 92cm, the fragment formed part of the bottom-right or top-left quadrant of the Union flag.

It comprises eight panels of red, white and blue hand-woven woollen bunting, handstitched together with a hem turned over enclosing 46cm of twine crudely torn at the edges.

The fragment was offered by Sotheby’s at its Of Royal or Noble Descent sale in London yesterday.

Sotheby’s had given it an estimate of £80,000 to £100,000 but bidding in the room quickly saw it rise above the upper figure.

The final price, including premium and VAT, was £297,000. A SPECTACULAR underwater landscape likened to Tolkien’s fantasy realm of Mordor has been discovered by Scottish scientists.

The volcanic expanse of underwater peaks deep beneath the sea off southern Australia is formed of 26 ancient, buried lava flows up to 21 miles in length and 9.3 miles wide.

A team of geologists from Aberdeen University, who worked with Australian researchers, captured the structures using groundbreaking 3D seismic reflection data similar to the ultrasound technology used to scan unborn babies.

Images of the formations have been described as a “Tolkienesque” landscape similar to the evil land of Mordor from the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Study co-author Dr Nick Schofield, of Aberdeen’s School of Geosciences, said: “By using data acquired as part of oil exploration efforts, we have been able to map these ancient lava flows in unprecedented detail.”