“During the time of the Napoleonic Wars. A French ship was wrecked just of the coast of the headland of Old Hartlepool.

The only survivor to be washed ashore was a small monkey dressed in a French sailors uniform. The wretched creature had apparently been used for entertainment by the crew of the unfortunate ship. The people of Hartlepool at the time were largely simple fishing folk and had (probably) never seen a monkey and so they assumed it was a French spy, they promptly took it away for questioning.

Unfortunately (for itself) the monkey could neither speak nor understand English and could only gibber agitatedly, which only served to further persuade the locals to the identity of the prisoner as they took this gibbering to be French!

Finally the monkey was put on trial, found guilty of spying and of course sentenced to death by hanging. The monkey was finally hung on the fish sands a small stretch of beach below the ancient town wall. “

Here’s the statue where the monkey was hung.