Hartlepool was an English town. British folklore maintained that, in the early 1800s, the French warship Chasse Maree was shipwrecked off the coast of Hartlepool. The tale continued that the sole survivor was an ape who subsequently swam ashore and was taken by the locals to be a Frenchman. The ape was then hung as a French spy leading to the people of Hartlepool being dubbed "monkeydanglers". (PROSE: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street)