Transcript
Paul Harvey (0:00)
Now the rest of the story you really should know. Captain Hansen Gregory, in command of his own vessel at the age of 19. One of the youngest sea captains ever to sail from the coast of Maine for saving the lives of an entire shipwrecked Spanish crew. Captain Gregory, still, at the age of 19, mind you, was decorated by Spain's Queen Isabella. But you should know him because of what he invented. He invented nothing. And that brings us to the rest of the story. It was two decades after the death of Captain Hansen Gregory. A furious debate about him was sponsored by a national organization held in New York's Astor hotel. That was November, 1941. The judges were Clifton Fadiman and Franklin P. Adams. Elsa Maxwell. Leaders of the opposing sides were Freddie Crockett of Camden, Maine, attorney Henry A. Ellis of Cape Cod. The heated discussion revolved around whether or not Captain Gregory had in fact, invented nothing. Lawyer Ellis maintained that he had not. But stay with me here. Lawyer Henry Ellis claimed that it was in fact an American Indian from Yarmouth who invented nothing during the 17th century. And yet, despite Mr. Ellis's splendid courtroom tactics, there were many inherent weaknesses in his case. Among them, the difficulty in proving anything three centuries past. But on the other hand, Mr. Crockett, seeking to prove that Captain Hansen Gregory had in fact invented nothing in 1847, presented for examination a wide array of affidavits and letters and other documents. In the course of the debate, the story of Hansen Gregory's life unfolded. He'd been born in Clam Cove, Maine, in a charming colonial home overlooking penobscot Bay. At 19, he had assumed command of his own ship, made him one of the youngest sea captains ever to sail from the coast of Maine. In that same year, he'd become an international, he acclaimed hero. He'd rescued a crew of Spanish sailors from a sinking ship. His daring, on this occasion, merited a medal awarded personally by Queen Isabella. And yet, it was not for his bravery that Captain Gregory was being discussed in 1941. It was for an invention which comprised. Which comprised nothing more than thin air. Now, the debater, Fred Crockett, attempting to ascertain the circumstances of this invention, acknowledged the blurring of much folklore with the truth. Hanson Gregory had not, as some said, invented nothing by accident during a storm at sea. That just wasn't true. He had invented it, however, on purpose, when he was a boy of 15 in his mother's kitchen. And Mr. Crockett's evidence was sufficiently persuasive to win a unanimous decision from the debate judges. So today, all these years later, the Smithsonian Institution now confirms that nothing was invented. Just the way Freddie Crockett said it was. Each year, in the United States alone, the business, which began on a little New England stove, grosses $750 million. So you really should know how it all started with Hanson Gregory, a boy of 15, destined for heroism and a life at sea, who happened to notice that his mother's fried cakes. Don't get ahead of me. Now, his mother's fried cakes were soggy in the center. And that's when the youngster picked up a fork and poked it through the middle of one of the cakes and invented the something which forevermore would comprise absolutely nothing. It was he who invented the hole in the doughnut. And now you know the rest of the story.