SHE survived mine strikes and a torpedo hit, and her deck was the scene of an armistice pact in Europe and the formal surrender of Japan at the end of the Second World War.
Now an artefact from HMS Nelson – a 7ft by 12in by 3in plank of teak decking – is to be given a new lease of life as a captain’s chest after it was gifted to the Chippendale International School of Furniture in East Lothian.
The crafted chest is to be given pride of place on the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth.
The Nelson played an illustrious part in the Second World War and was Flagship of the Home Command.
US General Dwight Eisenhower and Italian Marshal Pietro Badoglio signed an armistice aboard in 1943 and Japanese forces there urrendered on board in 1945. The vessel was broken up at Inverkeithing in 1949.
The furniture school, the only one of its kind in Scotland, held a competition to see how best to make a piece of furniture from this last remaining part of the flagship battleship’s decking.
The competition was won by Campbell Deeming, 38, from Aberdeenshire, a qualified boat builder.
The piece of decking is still intact, but not for too much longer.
The former hospitality industry consultant, who will start work on it shortly, said: “The family of an old boat builder passed it on to the school.
“I was able to confirm my suspicions that it was from Nelson, and as soon as I saw that I just knew it had to become a sea chest.”
The piece will be presented to the captain of the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, which is due to start sea trials in September.
Red tape requires that the chest is bought by a benefactor and then gifted to the Navy, with the proceeds going to charity. The Navy has welcomed the fact a piece of history is to be given a new life in a new ship.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here