Cook museum survival 'reliant on benefactor'

The survival of a museum dedicated to British explorer James Cook is reliant on a mystery benefactor.

Middlesbrough Council had proposed shutting the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum earlier this year due to budget cuts, but postponed the decision due to a backlash.

It approved plans on Wednesday to keep the museum running until 2027 as long as the supporter could provide the venue with £150,000 a year.

The local authority also said it would not be appropriate to disclose the identity of the benefactor while discussions were ongoing.

Teesside Live reported in June that Middlesbrough FC chairman Steve Gibson was in talks with the council about the museum.

Middlesbrough FC declined to comment.

The museum opened in 1978 and has about 5,500 visitors annually.

The council said if the museum financially supported by the donor until 2027, it would consider building a new museum at Stewart Park to house the museum's collection in the long term.

The new site would also house collections owned by the benefactor, council documents said.

However, the authority said if the deal fell through the museum would close in 2025.

Some or all of the museum's collections would then be transferred to nearby Dorman Museum.

Captain Cook's legacy has been viewed less favourably in recent years due to his treatment of the people he encountered during his voyages to the Pacific.

Indigenous activists say Cook and his crew on the HMS Endeavour committed atrocities including murder within hours of landing in New Zealand in 1769.

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