A retired Teddington businessman, who is a collector of rare historical marine items, has discovered a rare watercolour painting dating back to 1890 in a regional auction near Newcastle -on Tyne.

Martin Bosher recently gifted a framed print of the painting by George Cochrane Kerr of The HMS Challenger to the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton.

He paid less than £500 for the painting which he immediately recognised as being a rare piece.

The historic painting will be part of a special exhibition to mark the 150th anniversary of the start of HMS Challenger's 1000-day circumnavigation of the globe from 1872-1876 covering 68,900 sea miles.

Martin, who has lived and worked in the Teddington area for more than sixty years told Teddington Nub News: "I spotted the picture in the auction catalogue.

"The catalogue photo was a very poor photo of the watercolour. My initial thought was that I was not interested - however, minutes later I had a thought that it could have been a ship that was at Trafalgar.

"I started to research Trafalgar ships but I then noticed in the auctioneers description the words 'the old challenger' and I immediately had a light bulb moment.

"I then put HMS Challenger into Google and the identification issue was solved. Upon receipt of the painting I removed it from the frame to investigate. There was hand writing by G C Kerr saying 'The Old Challenger'. There were also other subsequent labels saying the same."

Martin also revealed that the Challenger Space Shuttle was named after this famous ship.

The ship also was the Royal Navy Flag Ship to the Australia Station from 1866 to 1870. During his visit to present the framed print, Martin and his wife, Elisabeth were able to view original reports from the Challenger Expedition, see the Royal Research Ship 'Discovery' alongside at Southampton and learn how the observational reach of modern research ships is being expanded by new autonomous underwater ocean technology which can take vital measurements all day, every day. Professor Ed Hill CBE, Chief Executive of the National Oceanography Centre, said, "I am delighted to have received the generously donated print of HMS Challenger of behalf of the NOC. "Challenger has such a special place in the history of science because of its pioneering circumnavigation of the world - the first dedicated to the science of the sea itself and widely regarded as the foundation of the modern subject of Oceanography. "As we approach the 150th anniversary of Challenger setting sail, the importance of ocean science has never been clearer for doing what so typified that expedition - discovering the answers to fundamentals questions about the ocean, seafloor and its life combined with addressing very practical issues, which today concern the ocean in managing climate risk, securing clean energy and sustainable food, and increases the resilience of communities to marine related dangers not least as the sea level rises."