'Saved for the nation' - Flag from famous rescue mission to be displayed in Hartlepool following campaign backed by Sir Michael Palin and Dan Snow

The flag from a 19th Century sledge in a doomed expedition is to be placed on display in Hartlepool

The National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) launched a late appeal to raise the £120,000 needed to stop the Kellet sledge flag from passing into the hands of an overseas private collector.

It succeeded thanks to £98,170 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and £40,000 from the Art Fund.

Match funding from the NMRN has enabled the museum to buy the flag to put it on display at its sites in Portsmouth, Belfast and here in Hartlepool.

Arts and Heritage Minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay had placed a temporary export bar on the flag last year.

The flag was owned by 19th Century Irish naval officer Vice-Admiral Sir Henry Kellett and flown during the third of a series of expeditions from 1852 to 1854 to look for survivors or bodies after Captain Franklin’s expedition.

A NMRN spokeswoman said: “Mystery surrounding the fate of the Franklin expedition and the 129 crew ignited public debate and intrigue for decades until the discovery of his two ships, HMS Erebus in 2014 and HMS Terror in 2016.”

Professor Dominic Tweddle, NMRN director general, said: “Vice-Admiral Sir Henry Kellett’s sledge flag and Franklin’s expedition represent courage and fortitude in the face of adversity – core elements of our national identity that echo through our history.

“They also reflect the British and global obsession with finding and navigating the Northwest Passage, as well as the Royal Navy’s role in expedition and exploration from Captain Cook to Darwin and HMS Beagle, to HMS Challenger in 1872, and continuing today with HMS Protector, the ice patrol ship in Antarctica and the Southern Hemisphere.”

Measuring 595 by 885mm within a frame of 710 by 995mm, the flag is in a fragile condition and is being assessed by the museum’s conservation team for recommended treatment.

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It was made from silk in a rich green colour with an Irish harp embroidered in golden thread to reflect Kellett’s Irish heritage.

Lord Parkinson said: “I am delighted that this flag, an important link with our past and a symbol of courage and curiosity, has been saved for the nation.”