The year was 1798 and a great British admiral was preparing to lead his fleet into battle.

Before setting sail for his Mediterranean campaign, 40-year-old Lord Nelson sat down and wrote his will - as he did every time he went to war.

But little did arguably the greatest naval hero in British history know, those words would end up in a tiny Cranbrook business 200 years later.

The incredible find came into Bentley's auction house in Waterloo Road, when auctioneer Raj Bisram appeared on Channel 4's Four Rooms.

He snapped up the historic document for the bargain price of £13,500 and now it will go under the hammer in the Weald town on Saturday, July 6.

There should be a buzz in the room that day, as international buyers queue up for the once-in-a-lifetime collector's opportunity.

The will is to be sold alongside a shanty thought to have been written for the admiral by his crew, and which has an estimated value of of £15-25,000.

Mr Bisram said: "We do get some amazing things on the show... that's why I did it.

"I will buy anything if there is a profit in it. But this will have international appeal and there is always interest in Nelson memorabilia.

"But I don't really want this to go abroad. I would love it to stay in Britain. I'd hope that either a museum or a private collector will buy it and keep it in the UK. That is why I have estimated quite low."

Mr Bisram has already snapped up Muhammed Ali's training boots on the Channel 4 programme – which he sold on within minutes of filming – and one of the Queen Mother's handbags.

It is fitting that the sale of Nelson's will – which was superseded by a later version when he died seven years later – will be in Kent, a stone's throw from where his daughter, Horatia, is buried in Tenterden.