A fishing vessel which spent 15 years overlooking the Duddon Estuary as a land-based Millom holiday centre is now the biggest exhibit at the Fleetwood Museum.

Harriet is 124 years old and on display in a huge boat hall at the back of the museum which is in Fleetwood’s original Custom House, built in 1838

A museum display notes: “The Harriet was built at Singleton’s boatyard in Fleetwood, close to the lock pits of Wyre Dock and was launched in July 1893.

“A traditionally-built, ketch-rigged, deep sea sailing smack, she was built on an oak frame, with pitch pine planking inside and out.

“Wooden pegs or trunnels secured the frame and planking to allow some flexibility to the timbers of the hull.”

It was built for Eichard Leadbetter, who owned several shops in Fleetwood and was named after his daughter Harriet.

Wind power eventually gave way to an engine and a wheel house was added after the Second World War.

Harriet’s last owner as a working fishing boat was George Fletcher.

The vessel is listed on the National Historic Ships Register as one of the few surviving fishing smacks of that type surviving in the United Kingdom.

After its change of career at Millom in the 1980s and 1990s the Harriet was returned to Fleetwood with the help of a 700-ton pontoon barge and two tug boats.

The museum also displays an original wooden nameplate from Harriet and a scale model which was built by Stan Cheetham.

Harriet was once one among more than 90 fishing smacks which fished out of Fleetwood.

The story of their working life is told in the museum, along with displays on local history, tourism, salt mining and Fleetwood’s founder, Sir Peter Hesketh Fleetwood.

His friend Decimus Burton designed Fleetwood – and what is now the museum - as a new Victorian planned seaside town.

On September 29 there is a 1pm talk in museum about the role of Decimus Burton, followed by a 2pm guided walk around the town he designed.

The museum, on Queen’s Terrace, Fleetwood, is open Tuesdays to Saturdays until the end of November. Admission is £3 for adults and £2 concessions.

You can find out more on the website at www.fleetwoodmuseum.co.uk