Corrigan and Boston Globe reporter Brian MacQuarrie climbing to the ruins of Whitby Abbey on the North Sea Coast.
by EE Staffers
EE’s Corrigan served time in a pillory aboard the HMS Endeavor after he confused Captain Cook with Captain Hook of the legendary Peter Pan myth. Endeavor’s crew was miffed, noting Cook is real, Hook is a fake.
Corrigan was in the midst of a whirlwind global reporting tour in June in the United Kingdom with Mizzou J-School Alumni Brian MacQuarrie and Keith Schmidt. The three were on Mizzou’s London Reporting Program last century.
The HMS Endeavor is anchored near the English harbor at Whitby, a favorite haunt of the legendary Captain Cook. The ship’s crew pointed out that Hook was a mythical pirate with a hooked arm. Not so with Cook.
“Cook was a real seaman, a brilliant navigator. He was a favorite of Americans during his time sailing around the world,” said an indignant Endeavor crew member. “Americans need to know that their own Ben Franklin admired Cook.”
EE’s Don Corrigan being punished for his many transgressions aboard Captain Cook’s HMS Endeavour in Whitby.
Corrigan was unable to research the authenticity of those remarks while placed in the pillory. The wooden device secures the head and hands of scoundrels and has been used for public humiliation for centuries.
“After finally being released from the pillory, I was able to confirm the information about Ben,” said Corrigan. “Ben Franklin did advise American sailors not to hassle Cook, even when battling the Brits in the 1770s.
“Franklin wrote a directive to colonial ship captains instructing them ‘to treat Cook and his crew as common friends to mankind,’ if ever encountered at sea. Do not attack him,” Corrigan noted.
Some reasons why Ben Franklin regarded Cook as a “friend of mankind” – who deserved special treatment:
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