HMS Victory figurehead restored to former glory after being mistaken for replica and sawn up

An historic Royal Navy figurehead from Lord Nelson's famous warship has been painstakingly restored to its former glory after it was sawn into pieces by workers who mistook it for a modern replica.

The 10ft wooden figurehead is from HMS Victory, the ship commanded by Admiral Nelson during the Battle of Trafalgar.

Originally thought to have been destroyed in the mid to late 20th century, the 200-year-old artefact was rediscovered following a year of scientific and historical investigation.

Painstaking study of the carving and naval historical records revealed that it was made in 1815 to replace Victory's original figurehead after that was damaged in the Battle of Trafalgar.

But an error by contractors led to it being destroyed in 2009 as workers mistakenly thought it was merely a modern-day work. It was sliced into six pieces with a chainsaw and locked into storage in 2012.

In 2019, heritage chiefs from the National Museum of the Royal Navy – which now tends to Victory – launched an investigation into the wrecked figurehead.

They discovered the carving had in fact been created to replace the figurehead damaged in 1805.

It is now on display in the National Museum of the Royal Navy's newest gallery "HMS Victory: The Nation's Flagship", which has opened at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. It depicts two angels supporting the UK royal coat of arms, surmounted by a crown.

Andrew Baines, the museum's deputy director, said: "When we discovered that it was 206 years old, we were absolutely delighted."

Naval archives show the figurehead was commissioned in summer 1815 and constructed on the Isle of Wight at a cost of £65 – roughly £65,000 today.

HMS Victory is the oldest commissioned warship in the world.