No records exist of actual dates when the port started, but fish were being landed at Whitby during the time that the first abbey had been built in 657.

[3] In 1122, a dispute was recorded in the collection of tithes from fishermen due to the abbot, which also noted that coal was imported into Whitby.

[6][7] Trade through the port accelerated with the coming of the railways, but its main function was either as a shelter for ships from storms in the North Sea, or as a re-supply point.

[8] The safe haven almost guaranteed at Whitby (and at Scarborough and Bridlington too), allowed the port to charge a levy towards the upkeep of the harbour and piers.

[14] Another method of offloading goods from the ship without actually entering Whitby harbour was to beach the vessel on the sand.

This was a common practice for delivering coal to places such as Sandsend,[note 2] and for which, the Whitby Cats (a flat-bottomed boat), was specifically designed for.

[30] In the early 17th century, the record books begin to show more and more trade within the port due to the accelerated demand of the alum industry.

The alum industry required ammonia as part of its process, and the easiest source of this at the time was human urine.

No attempt was made by Whitby boats to try whaling in Antarctica , the favoured region by whalers sailing from Hull and London.

[40] A sample of imports and exports from 1790 shows that imports consisted of fruit, wine, spices and other foods, but most critically, the greatest tonnage came in the form of oars, anchors, pitch, oakum, timber, hemp, rope, cordage, linen and hessian canvas, all of which were essential to the shipbuilding industry.

[41] The balance in the exports was a less comprehensive list but included wines, tar, alum, bacon, ham, butter, oats, ale, whale products and dried fish.

[48] While ferries are not known to have operated from Whitby, shipping did take passengers in the form of convicts transported to Australia and emigrants to Canada, usually to St Lawrence in the 1820s and 1830s.