A giant tricolor captured in a French warship by Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson returns to light after over 100 years. It was captured after the Battle of the Nile, when the fleet of Bonaparte was annihilated by that young rear admiral of the first appointment that will make the history of the Royal Navy.
The sign de La Généreux, which reaches more or less the size of a tennis court, was captured in the 1800, and is supposed to be one of the first existing French 'Tricolor'. Raised at the stern mast of the vessel during the rally of the naval battle that took place between the 1 ° and the 2 ° August, it was lowered two years later, when La Généreux, who fled after the battle with another vessel and hunted by the British Mediterranean Fleet for 18 months, was captured by one of Nelson's most trusted captains, Sir Edward Berry led by HMS Foudroyant, in the waters off Lampedusa.
The captured sign was donated as Lord Nelson's second war trophy to the city of Norwich, remaining exhibited in the pavilion at St. Andrew's Church until 1897. Jealously placed to preserve its conservation, it will be exposed only once more in the 1905 for the centenary of Trafalgar: battle during which Nelson lost his life.
It is a very important testimony of the glorious days of the 'naval battles', when the insignia of a warship were the only way to identify the enemy in the clash. The volunteers, who are carrying out thorough restoration and conservation work in view of the upcoming exhibition, have struggled to find a place large enough to unroll the banner until he has been proposed to work on the flag in the nave of St. Andrew's church. the original place of his exhibition.
It will be exhibited at Norwich Castle from the 29 July to the October 1.
