There is a legend that during the Napoleonic Wars, a French ship was wrecked off the coast near Hartlepool. The captain's pet, a monkey, was washed ashore. The people from Hartlepool thought it was a person and tried to ask it questions. When they were unable to understand the monkey they assumed it was a French spy. A trial was held on the beach and the monkey was sentenced to death and hanged. This event is remembered in several songs. The local football team, Hartlepool United F.C., used to greeted with cries of "Who hung the monkey?". Their mascot is a monkey called "H'Angus the Monkey". The rugby football team, the Hartlepool Rovers, are known as the Monkeyhangers.