Victoria Cross sells for £204,000

A VICTORIA Cross awarded to a Scottish skipper at the centre of a celebrated David and Goliath battle during the First World War was yesterday sold for £204,000 – more than £40,000 above its top expected price.

The medal was awarded to Joseph Watt, from Gardenstown, Aberdeenshire, following a major battle in the Adriatic Sea in 1917.

In an epic confrontation, the skipper refused to surrender his 87ft wooden trawler, the Gowanlea, and instead sailed headlong towards an enemy light cruiser, the 424ft Navara, the ship of Captain Miklos Horthy, later to become Regent of Hungary.

The medal was sold to a private bidder in London.