(Image: Jonathan Loach)
Today's Object of the Week is a battered survivor of one of Britain's most famous battles, with a remarkable story stitched deep into the history of the North East.
More than two centuries ago, amid the smoke, gunfire and chaos of the Battle of Trafalgar, a hand-sewn Union flag flew above HMS Royal Sovereign.
It was October 21, 1805, and beneath it was a Newcastle-born commander about to play a central role in one of Britain's most celebrated naval victories.
Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood commanded the lee column of the British fleet from Royal Sovereign, the flagship which went into action carrying the flag now returning to public view in his native North East.
The historic Union flag flown from HMS Royal Sovereign, flagship of Newcastle-born Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, at Trafalgar. (Image: NORTH EAST MUSEUMS)
Made from wool bunting and measuring 1,525mm by 2,745mm, it has a weighted edge and still carries visible battle damage.
It is one of only three surviving Union flags from Trafalgar.
But the flag is more than a relic of Collingwood and Nelson.
Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, the Newcastle-born naval commander whose flagship HMS Royal Sovereign helped lead the British fleet into action at Trafalgar (Image: NORTH EAST MUSEUMS)
Its stitches may also tell the story of the ordinary North East sailors who followed them into battle.
The flag would have been maintained aboard Royal Sovereign and may even have been made there by its sailors.
Collingwood recruited heavily from the local maritime community, and his crew became known as the "Tars of the Tyne".
More than 500 "Geordie" sailors served in Nelson's fleet at Trafalgar, while nowhere supplied more men to his Royal Navy than the skilled mariners of the Tyne and Wear.
And somehow, the flag survived.
Battle damage remains visible on the historic Union flag more than two centuries after Trafalgar (Image: Jonathan Loach)
After the battle it was kept as a souvenir by 17-year-old Charles Aubrey Antram, one of four master's mates aboard Royal Sovereign.
It remained in his family before eventually passing into a private collection.
More than 200 years later, the flag risked being sold overseas and leaving Britain.
An export bar gave North East Museums time to campaign to keep the flag in Britain.
Keith Merrin, director of North East Museums, with the historic Union flag flown from HMS Royal Sovereign at Trafalgar (Image: NORTH EAST MUSEUMS)
It was bought for £450,000 with support from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and other donors, securing its future in this country and, appropriately, in Collingwood's home region.
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Rachael Metcalfe, conservation officer at North East Museums, looks at the battle-scarred Trafalgar flag (Image: Jonathan Loach)
Now that another Trafalgar Day is approaching. the battle-scarred flag will go on public display at Newcastle's Discovery Museum from October 17 until November 1, meaning it can be seen on October 21, exactly 221 years after Trafalgar.
It will later become the centrepiece of a permanent display devoted to Collingwood and the region's maritime story.
The flag links us not only to Newcastle-born admiral Collingwood at the heart of the battle, but also to the hundreds of North East sailors who fought alongside him.