LORD Nelson may never have visited Bermuda ? but next year a few minute particles of his famous ship will make it to the island.

Bermuda's General Post Office has signed up for an issue of special stamps commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, printed with miniscule slivers of wood taken from the s original timbers.

Bermuda is one of 11 countries to sign up for the stamps, issued by the UK Overseas Territories.

It was 199 years ago this week that Admiral Lord Nelson and his British fleet defeated the combined naval forces of France and Spain in a decisive battle that thwarted Napoleon's plans to invade Britain. Nelson himself was killed in the action.

Ironically, it was a French printing company that managed to achieve what the French fleet could not on October 21, 1805 ? to capture the timbers of the .

According to British daily , the story began when Nigel Fordham, a member of the Nelson Society, bought 50 kilogrammes of the original oak timbers, removed during her refit in Portsmouth Naval Dockyard.

Mr. Fordham then took a sample of the wood to Cartor Security Printing, based near Paris, pioneers of a number of innovative printing processes.

The company was successful in affixing the wood to the stamps and next year, the stamps will be released as a two-part omnibus issue.

The release date for the first part of the Crown Agents' 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar omnibus issue will be announced next January.