THE celebrations to mark the 200th anniversary of the death of Lord Admiral Collingwood continued in Minorca yesterday with the planting of three oak saplings near the bust of the Admiral which was unveiled on the Isla del Rey in Mahon Harbour earlier this week.
The Admiral spent his final years in Mahon in charge of the British Mediterranean Fleet and the trees are a gift to the island as part of the Collingwood 2010 Festival, a year-long celebration of the Admiral's life which moved to Minorca last weekend when three days of commemorative events were organised in honour of the Admiral who died on March 7, 1810.
Born in Newcastle in 1748, Collingwood went to sea at 13 and went on to have a naval career spanning four decades.
He is most famous for his role in the battle of Trafalgar in 1805 where he was Nelson's second-in-command. As Nelson lay mortally wounded it was Collingwood who directed the fleet to victory and was then posted to Minorca.
The oak saplings have been donated by Corbridge-based Trees Please nursery because Collingwood had a special relationship with oaks.
When he was alive, England's wooden warships were the best in the world.
He believed that to build enough new ships and maintain England's position as top international sea-power, hundreds of thousands more trees would be needed.
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