S(h)ipping Reporter makes contact with famous explorer in séance ; exclusive photographs from Cook's 1770 dangerous voyage of discovery in Queensland waters .
In a dark cellar at Molly Malone's Irish Pub in Townsville , I recently called up Captain Cook on the other side, who was attending a barbecue with Sir Frank and Kerry Packer , discussing luxury yachts and cricket , and asked him how he discovered what is now known as Magnetic Island .
Captain Cook responded by revealing he nearly came to grief trying to find Magnetic Island . His cheap , made in China compass was on the blink , the crew were threatening mutiny , they had run out of Vegemite and the drunken first mate had dropped the spyglass , making it hard to focus. All the time , there was the fear of running aground on the reef due to swirling mist .
The tense situation eased somewhat, he said , when there was the welcome cry of , Land-Ho! As the sea fog cleared , there was the first glimpse of a distant shore with a strange native sign , below .
The tipsy first mate declared it was in French , not English . "The bloody froggies have been here ahead of us , "he added , and spat on the deck , making it shine for the first time in a month .
Captain Cook had also expectorated on the tar and oakum on hearing this , then whipped out his Box Brownie and took a photograph of the offensive sign , which he kindly telegraphed to our award winning S(h)ipping Reporter, the only one north of Onehunga , during the paranormal event in the pub , almost 250 years later .
Something in Captain Cook's mind urged him on to find a place he wanted to call Magnetical Isle . However , the weird , illegible sign above could have resulted in his ship being damaged or plunging Queensland into the dark ages if he had dropped the pick .
Fearful of running aground , he tacked and went looking for help to find this isle , this mystical paradise that existed in his fevered mind .
Swept along by dangerous currents , he said the Endeavour nearly crashed into what seemed to be a ferry terminal , which appeared to be run by Cook's Tours, no relation , with badly faded writing on its signs , but the destination Magnetic Island could just be made out .
Shouting "Eureka !", Captain Cook had slipped into reverse, found the nearby elusive Magnetical Isle , now Townsville's Jewel in the Crown , missing from mainland media maps . Captain Cook confided that he had narrowly avoided running aground in finding the place and had the bottom been ripped out of the vessel and it went ashore to be repaired , Townsville would have been named Cooktown or Snoozeville .
