Blackpool's rocky connection with Admiral Horatio Nelson's first flagship HMS Foudroyant

History lessons at school are where we learn that Admiral Horatio Nelson won the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 in his famous flagship HMS Victory.

But what we are not taught is that Admiral Nelson had another flagship before the Victory - which ended its days off Blackpool's North Pier.

In 1897, HMS Foudroyant became stranded on a sandbank off the North Pier after a fierce storm.

The Blackpool oar-driven lifeboat, the Samuel Fletcher, was then launched.

In total, 28 crew members were taken off to safety in a massive rescue operation in difficult conditions.

Lord Nelson's former flagship had seen action in the Battle of the Nile, but ended its days dismantled and forlorn as it lay off the North Pier for weeks.

Souvenir hunters made sure of laying their hands on a piece of maritime history until nothing was left of the 60-gun ship which by 1897 was being used as a tourist attraction.

It left Liverpool bound for Douglas in the Isle of Man, but only got as far as the North Pier in Blackpool before the severe storm ended its journey prematurely.

An ignominious end for the former flagship HMS Foudroyant, but one of the hidden gems of Blackpool's maritime history.