Restored navy warship's flag to go on display

The flag will be unveiled at a gala event attended by the Princess Royal in September

The last bit of funding needed to fully restore and display a flag from a sunken Royal Navy warship has been raised.

HMS Captain capsized during a storm off the coast of Spain in 1870 with nearly her entire crew of 500 men lost and the University of Wolverhampton has been part of efforts to research the location of the ship and preserve the flag.

The flag itself will go on display at a gala later in September, attended by the Princess Royal, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence and historian Dan Snow MBE.

The unveiling coincides with an imminent marine survey expedition which is using advanced scanning technology to locate the wreck of the ship, the university said.

Announcing in August that the restoration was finished, the university said it needed to raise a further £2,190 to complete the display case and transport the flag for its unveiling at the gala, at the Royal Geographical Society on 23 September - and those extra funds have now been raised.

The loss of the ship off Cape Finisterre was a national catastrophe at the time and is memorialised at St Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey.

The flag was plucked from the water and later sent to a church in Bedfordshire, which was the seat of the Burgoyne family and where the ship's captain, Hugh Burgoyne, hailed from.

The location of the flag and its restoration was funded by the university's Centre for Historical Research, the Faculty of Arts, Business and Social Sciences Small Grant Scheme and a public-backed Find the Captain Project.

Finding the ship itself would be "a historic moment in naval archaeology" and, if successful, the team will announce the results from their marine survey at the gala.

Dr Howard Fuller, project manager, said: "The unveiling of HMS Captain's flag is not only a tribute to those lost at sea but a celebration of the university's leadership in historical research and preservation."