Graf Spee Emblem Salvaged

After resting its wings in mud off the Uruguayan coast for more than 60 years, the bronze eagle that once adorned the pride of the Nazi fleet has risen again.

The eagle was salvaged last week from the wreck of the Graf Spee, the German pocket battleship scuttled after the Battle of the River Plate in December 1939. The 6ft, half ton statue, which was designed by Adolf Hitler, clutches a wreath encircling a huge swastika.

Mensun Bound, the British marine archaeologist leading the salvage team, said it was probably the only surviving example of its kind. "When it came up and I saw the swastika, I knew I was looking at the absolute heart of darkness," he said. "All the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. It felt like the breath of Hitler himself.

"When artifacts come out of the water, there is normally lots of cheering and backslapping. But when this Nazi symbol surfaced, there was just silence."

The Graf Spee sank so many Allied merchant ships in the south Atlantic that Winston Churchill sent a fleet to destroy it. After a skirmish with the Royal Navy, it sought repairs in Montevideo and after political wrangling left the port to be scuttled by its captain.

The wreck lay in waters only 30ft deep until a joint salvage project was launched by private investors and the Uruguayan government two years ago. Its eagle, which is to be sold at auction, has already attracted bids of £15m.