The Royal Navy Submarine Museum in Gosport and conservator Ian Clark, have been awarded the Pilgrim Trust Award for Conservation 2002, for the restoration of the Royal Navy's first submarine.

The Holland 1 first set sail in 1902 and lay on the seabed for 69 years before being salvaged in 1982. Suffering severe corrosion, the vessel was soaked in sodium carbonate from 1994 to 1998 to remove the chloride ions that were the cause of the uncontrollable corrosion, before being displayed in a specially built, humidity-controlled gallery.

Judges said this was an example of conservation being placed at the very heart of the museum.