Rare Battle of Trafalgar flag unfurled on Trafalgar Day

21 Oct 2015

The union flag flown by HMS Minotaur in the thick of the fighting on 21 October 1805 has gone on display, after hanging for almost a century in a Kent church.

Stepping on to the deck of the Victory shortly after daybreak on 21 October, Nelson saw enemy masts crowding the horizon. It was an encounter that he had been determined to engineer, and which he exploited as fully as possible. He understood the altered realities of war in the Napoleonic era: in his words, it was ‘annihilation that the Country wants, and not merely a splendid victory’. His tactics were rigorously directed to that end, and had been communicated to his captains long before. So, too, was his order that each ship should fly a union flag for ease of recognition.

Turner’s Battle of Trafalgar

Nelson directed his fleet to form two divisions. He commanded one, with Captain Mansfield’s Minotaur towards the rear of the line; the second was led by Admiral Collingwood. Sailing straight at the enemy, the aim was to smash through and dislocate their formation, precipitating a close-range, pell-mell engagement. However, approaching at barely walking pace it took hours of nerve-shredding anticipation before the two forces met, and still longer for the Minotaur to join the action given her position.

Positions of the British Fleet at 9am

Battle raged into the early afternoon, when a squadron under the French admiral Dumanoir threatened to mount a counter-attack. By this time Nelson was mortally wounded and many British vessels, including Victory and Temeraire, were severely damaged. Ships including the Minotaur saw the danger and moved in to unravel Dumanoir’s intentions. With this menace neutralised, Minotaur then engaged the Spanish vessel Neptuno, which surrendered after a fierce contest.

Nelson shot by a French sniper

At the close of the Napoleonic War, Stephen Hilton, master’s mate of the Minotaur, returned to the village of Selling in Kent with both the vessel’s union flag and a captured ensign from the Neptuno. He was buried in the churchyard of St Mary’s in Selling, and his descendants presented the flags to that church in the 1930s. It is, therefore, hugely exciting that the Minotaur’s Union flag is now prominently displayed in our permanent gallery: Navy, Nation, Nelson. We are profoundly fortunate that its many custodians from 1805 until today have collectively made this possible.

Flag being installed in the gallery, behind Nelson’s Trafalgar uniform.

Before the flag could be installed it had to go through an in-depth conservation process. We’ll be talking to our conservation team in the coming weeks to see how they prepared a 200 year old flag for display. To mark Trafalgar Day we’re also ‘live’ tweeting the battle as it happened, follow @NMMGreenwich for more. 

Textiles Conservator Nicola Yates with the flag.