Whitby

Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, at the mouth of the River Esk where the North York Moors meet the Yorkshire Coast. It lies 47 miles from York and 22 miles from Middlesbrough, and its economy has been maritime, mineral and tourist based. From the Middle Ages the town had significant herring and whaling fleets, and it was where Captain Cook learned seamanship; HMS Endeavour, in which he first explored the southern ocean, was built there. Alum was mined locally, and Whitby jet jewellery was fashionable in the nineteenth century. Tourism began in the Georgian period and grew after the railway arrived in 1839. The abbey ruin on the East Cliff is the oldest and most prominent landmark, and the swing bridge, the sheltered harbour, the statues of Cook and William Scoresby and a whale bone arch on the West Cliff are other features. Whitby also appears in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula.