Nelson's flagship Fourdroyant

Lantern slide by J. Priestley & Sons., dated 1897. Image shows Horatio Nelson's former flagship, HMS Fourdroyant, in the River Mersey. In 1897 it was owned by philanthropist G. Wheatley Cobb, who restored it back to its former glory and intended for it to be used as a taining ship for boys. To offset the cost of restoration, Wheatley Cobb toured it around to various seaside ports and charged patrons an entrance fee. It ran agroud in Blackpool in June 1897 and was broken up in a storm that December. Some of the wood from the ship was salvaged by local Blackpool craftsmen to make furniture.