This article was written by Bruce Holmes
"But, strangest of all, the very instant the shore was touched, an immense dog sprang up on deck from below ... and running forward, jumped from the bow on to the sand. Making straight for the steep cliff, where the churchyard hangs over the laneway to the East Pier ... it disappeared in the darkness."
from Dracula by Bram Stoker, 1897
Looking across the harbor toward East Cliff, you can see the view that inspired the fertile imagination of author Bram Stoker, who stayed in the Royal Hotel on the western side of Whitby while writing his famous novel.
The above extract is from a critical point in the book's story-line, where the Russian schooner Demeter raced across the harbor before the blast of a massive storm, with its dead captain lashed to the helm, and crashed into the pier just under Whitby's East Cliff, whereupon the immense dog leapt onto English soil.
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The dog was known to be one of the many forms into which a vampire could transform itself. Count Dracula had arrived in England.
Whitby is an ancient seaport and fishing village on the north-east coast of England and has been a haven for holiday-makers since Victorian times and has played a significant role in English history. Its harbor, once the sixth largest ports in Britain, lies where the River Esk reaches the North Sea.
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