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National Archives: Faroe Islands jumper uncovered 200 years on

PA Media A 200-year-old sweater in a traditional Faroese knit which was found in a parcel among a stash of 19th-century letters, when opened for the first time at the National Archives in Kew, London.PA Media
Suits you? This 217-year-old jumper had been a gift from the wife of a Faroese carpenter to someone in Denmark

Packages seized by the Royal Navy during conflict in Europe and brought back to the UK more than 200 years ago have been opened for the first time.

Until now, their contents had been hidden away in the National Archives.

A jumper, knitted in vibrant colour and in a Faroese style, was found among a huge stash of letters.

It comes as part of the Prized Papers Project, a decades-long effort to unearth and make accessible archival items in the UK and Germany.

It involves the digitisation of thousands of letters seized by the Royal Navy between the 17th and 19th centuries.

The jumper was part of the cargo on board the Anne-Marie ship, which set sail for Denmark from the Faroe Islands in 1807 - with its crew having no idea a war was about to start.

It was targeted by the HMS Defence off the coast of Norway on 2 September, during the second Battle of Copenhagen.

The Royal Navy was planning to destroy the Danish fleet harboured in Copenhagen, to stop it falling into the hands of Napoleon.

As was customary for the time the Anne-Marie's cargo - or prize - was confiscated, along with its mail box.

The letters on board the ship would have counted for about a quarter of the annual communication between the Faroe Islands and Denmark during the period.

Forty-nine thousand pairs of woollen stockings, eight tons of dried fish, ten barrels of feathers, and a parcel sent by a local carpenter to Mr Ladsen of Copenhagen had sat unopened in the archives for more than 200 years.

Shipped from Tórshavn on 20 August 1807, the jumper was accompanied by a note from carpenter Niels C Winther, written in Danish.

"My wife sends her regards, thank you for the pudding rice. She sends your fiancé this sweater and hopes that it is not displeasing to her," it reads.

PA Media Senior Conservation Manager for Imaging Sarah Noble views 200-year-old samples of fine women’s knee length woollen stockings which were found in a parcel among a stash of 19th-century letters, when opened for the first time at the National Archives in Kew, London.PA Media
Women's knee-length stockings were also discovered among the ship's cargo

The parcels were finally opened on Thursday by a team of experts, observed by two academics from the Faroe Islands: Professor Erling Isholm, from the University of the Faroe Islands, and Margretha Nónklett, head of ethnology at the Faroes' National Museum.

Professor Isholm explained that the Anne-Marie was "one of two [vessels] owned by the Danish king, who monopolised all trade to and from the islands".

Other clothing recovered from the ship and put on display include a sample of fine women's knee-length woollen stockings and fabric samples.

Paper rix-dollars were also found among the letters, with a wad of them wrapped around 18 silver coins.

The jumper will now be preserved. The hope is it can be displayed in the Faroe Islands at some point in the future.