HMS Victory, probably the most famous English warship of all time. Everyone knows the story of how the Victory, under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson routed the French at the battle of Trafalgar and how Nelson died a national hero.

Quite rightly, this is a perfectly preserved piece of our maritime heritage, but what happened to the other ships under Nelson’s command, where are they? Well, the simple answer is, they’re all long gone. Either destroyed in battle, lost at sea, broken up or just rotted away.

Well, maybe not quite all. This is a story about the underwater excavation of one of Nelson’s lost ships.

It involves Nelson’s mistress, Emma Hamilton; her husband, amateur archaeologist, Sir William Hamilton; a priceless collection of antiquities; a shipwreck and the discovery and raising of one of the most important pieces of maritime art ever found in British waters.