The memory of the illustrious British admiral Horatio Nelson stirred bidders to pay $2million for just three items of his memorabilia yesterday.

The memory of the illustrious British admiral Horatio Nelson stirred bidders to pay $2million for just three items of his memorabilia yesterday.

The gold pocket-watch carried by Nelson when he died on his ship during the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 fetched pound stg. 400,000 ($964,400) at auction in London.

An anonymous buyer snatched up the watch, one of the few remaining relics from the admiral's last hours, at a sale of Nelson memorabilia. A Lemuel Francis Abbott portrait of Nelson in his uniform sold for pound stg. 299,200 -- more than double the price Sotheby's auction house had expected.

The largest known fragment of the British flag from Nelson's ship, HMS Victory, which covered his coffin at his state funeral and was torn to pieces by distraught seamen, sold for pound stg. 120,000. "The sale was very much triumphant homage to Nelson's memory," said Michael Grist, of Sotheby's.

"Nelson's status as one of Britain's great heroes was fully attested in the saleroom today."

Nelson led the Royal Navy to victory against the combined fleets of France and Spain at Trafalgar on October 21, 1805. He died in the battle when a musket ball struck his spine.