A Memento of Trafalgar

A Union flag, believed to be the only one remaining that flew at the Battle of Trafalgar, is shortly to be sold, with a pre-sale estimate of £15,000. After the battle in 1805, the flag was presented to Lt. James Clephan by the crew of his ship, HMS Spartiate, and it has remained in his family ever since. James Clephan was pressganged into the Navy in 1794, when he was 26, and was promoted to first lieutenant after Trafalgar. By his retirement in 1840 he had reached the rank of captain. The tattered flag is covered in holes caused by splinter fragments and is said still to smell of gunpowder.