The destiny of the nine shops in the chain is now virtually settled. Peter McLuskie bought three, the City shop closed when the lease ran out and no offers were received for the Victoria shop, leaving Captain Watts in Dover Street, plus the Chichester, Southend and Burnham shops.

"Three shops are subject to contract, " said joint receiver Eddie Kerr of PFK in Leicester, "and there are two parties interested in Captain Watts."

Kerr confirmed that Nauticalia, once rumoured to be on the verge of signing for Captain Watts, is no longer interested in the Dover Street shop.

However, he refused to name the interested parties and would not comment on Aladdin's Cave, Mailspeed and TCS being the interested parties for the Chichester, Burnham and Southend shops.

When asked if allegations of lack of investment by MarineForce's owner, Oliver Vaughan, had led to the company's failure, Kerr again refused to comment. "I'm more interested in getting deals away and saving jobs, " he told us.

The auction of is scheduled to take place on Saturday, December 7 at 10.30 in the Nottingham Auction Centre.