Hartlepool Monkey - By John Henshaw and Rum All In скачать в хорошем качестве

Hartlepool Monkey - By John Henshaw and Rum All In

Sang by John Henshaw with the Manchester folk band 'Rum All In' - which also featured Vincent Dunn, Ged Collins, David King, Gerard Gyves and Bernard Wilson. The band was formed in the 1980's "Monkey hanger" is a term by which Hartlepudlians are often known. According to local folklore, the term originates from an incident in which a monkey was hanged in Hartlepool. During the Napoleonic wars, a French ship of the type chasse marée was wrecked off the coast of Hartlepool. The only survivor was a monkey, allegedly wearing a French uniform to provide amusement for the crew. On finding the monkey, some locals decided to hold an impromptu trial in the town square; since the monkey was unable to answer their questions, and many locals were unaware of what a Frenchman may look like, they concluded that the monkey was in fact a French sailor. Just to make sure, the animal was thus sentenced to death and hanged in the town square on the Headland. An alternative theory is put forwards alongside the above on the "This Is Hartlepool" town guide. It states that; "Then there are some who point to a much darker interpretation of the yarn. They say that the creature that was hanged might not have been a monkey at all; it could have been a young boy. After all, the term powder-monkey was commonly used in those times for the children employed on warships to prime the cannon with gunpowder."