This is and other excellent factoids in a strange little piece on the Guardian website:

“Inspired by Mayor John Bickerstaffe’s visit to the Eiffel Tower in 1889, it survived a fire at the top eight years later and was largely rebuilt in 1921-4 because cheapskate owners had failed to use rust-proof paint. Mistaken for a lighthouse, it lured the Norwegian barque Abana ashore in 1894. With good binoculars, her fragmentary remains at low tide off Little Bispham form part of the middle-distance view.”

Previous posts on Blackpool on The Wired Jester.