KEY POINTS:
Was Captain James Cook a vampire? Was that the secret of his extraordinary powers?
Daft idea, you think. Maybe. But just answer me these two questions. Where did Cook acquire the skill and endurance that made him famous? Right. The Yorkshire port of Whitby.
And where did the legend of vampires originate? Wrong. Not Transylvania. Whitby again.
It was while he was holidaying in Whitby that Bram Stoker got the idea for his book Dracula, which first told the world about these undying creatures who draw their special powers from drinking human blood.
So ... isn't there something a little ... strange ... about a farm manager's son from Middlesbrough suddenly becoming the greatest navigator the world has known?
Might Stoker have hit upon the explanation for the ... transformation? You be the judge.
None of these characters actually began their lives in Whitby.
Dracula is almost certainly the oldest of the three but no one knows for certain where or when his life began. Most accounts suggest he was born Vlad Tepes, in the Romanian town of Sighisoara in 1431. And because his father, the Governor of Transylvania, was known as Dracul - the devil - his son became Dracula, or son of the devil.
Stoker, the youngest, was born in 1847 at 15 Marino Crescent, Clontarf, then as now a highly desirable seaside suburb of Dublin.
Cook, whose beginnings were the humblest of the three, was born in 1728 in a cottage in what was then the hamlet of Marton, on the outskirts of Middlesbrough.
The cottage has long since been demolished but the site is marked by a granite urn and nearby, standing stolidly amid the llamas and miniature goats of a children's zoo, is the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum.
This is a fascinating place with galleries showing Cook's childhood years in Marton - including a reconstruction of the cottage with young James holding a bowl of porridge while his mother Grace hangs out the washing - his early career, life in the Navy and his three great voyages.
About 1km down the road is St Cuthbert's Church where Cook was christened and, if you make an appointment with the vicar, you can even see the register.
From such disparate beginnings, the lives of this trio was to come together in Whitby. So it was there I went - on an icy winter's day when fog covered the land, the daylight lasted but a few hours, waterways were frozen and the footpaths slippery with ice - seeking answers.
Even on a grey day Whitby is a charming town, nestled where the Esk River meets the sea, still full of narrow, cobbled streets, marvellous old houses and shops, ancient churches and brightly coloured boats.
Presiding over this colourful scene are the majestic remains of Whitby Abbey, founded in 657 by the Lady Hilda - later canonised as St Hild - niece of Edwin, the first Christian king of Northumbria.
The ruins are impressive even in decay because over the centuries the abbey became rich and powerful, shrine of numerous saints, burial place of Northumbrian kings and home of the great Saxon poet Caedmon.
But it was sacked by Vikings, destroyed by Henry VIII and shelled by a German warship in World War I, and these days is but a romantic ruin looked after by English Heritage.
When I arrived the old abbey was shrouded in mist, just the sort of gloomy place you might expect ghouls and vampires to dwell, but suddenly the setting sun broke through the clouds and its golden rays lit up the magnificent soaring stone columns and arches, giving a taste of what it must have looked like at its peak.
On the headland opposite I could see a statue of Cook staring straight at the Tate Hill Sands where, readers of Stoker's account will recall, the Russian ship Demeter and its load of coffins came ashore in a storm.
Near that statue, after dark, was where I met the Whitby Storywalker, Harry Collett, in black cloak and top hat, to take his Dracula Walk and discover the town's continuing connection with the world's most famous vampire.
The statue was an appropriate place to start because just down the road is 6 Royal Crescent, where a plaque marks the B&B where Stoker was staying when he discovered Dracula. Opposite is the elegant old Royal Hotel, where he took a room so he could write in peace when his landlady was cleaning. In the foyer hangs a rare portrait of Stoker and you can buy Dracula T-shirts from reception.
On the clifftop is the Bram Stoker Memorial Seat, put there by the Dracula Society in 1980, where - had it not been so cold and dark - I could have sat and looked across the river at the sands that seem to draw Cook's gaze, and at St Mary's church, its graveyard filled with mysterious shapes, and its clocktower which sometimes reflects the setting sun so as to look like two staring red eyes.
Just behind the seat is East Crescent, originally called The Crescent, home of the lawyer employed by Dracula to ship his coffins from Transylvania to England, and the place where Stoker's heroines Lucy and Mina were staying on holiday when they encountered the count for the first time.
From the headland it's a nerve-racking walk through narrow alleys, dark passages and gloomy tunnels - just the place to appreciate the whispered horrors of the Storywalker and the shrieks of his customers - to the banks of the Esk River.
The Storywalker explains that it was here, particularly at the old town library (now a restaurant called the Quayside) and a waterside cafe where sea captains used to gather (now the home of the Dracula Experience), that Stoker heard seamen's tales of bloodsucking bats in South America, stories of the little pipstrelle bats infesting nearby St John's Church, talk of how the young herring gulls flutter into the windows at night when learning to fly, and found a newspaper cutting about the bloody deeds of Vlad Tepes, all of which he wove into his terrible saga.
There, too, Stoker would have learned about the stormy night in 1885 when the Russian schooner Dmitri of Narva foundered on the Tate Hill Sands, her captain nowhere to be seen. And Stoker would have learned of the legendary Barguest, a spectral black hound with red eyes, whose appearance is a harbinger of death; and of the white ghost of St Hild said to walk in the ruins of the abbey on the darkest nights, all mentioned in the story of Dracula.
Small wonder if Stoker was disturbed by this bizarre web of information. I know by the time our Dracula Walk was over I was shivering ... and not just because the temperature was below zero.
Thank goodness this quayside area is also where you can find the Magpie Cafe, possibly the most famous fish'n'chip shop in England, where a roaring fire soon drove the chill from my bones. I had a superb plate of haddock, chips and mushy peas, with bread and butter and a nice French sauvignon blanc - a meal which restored my faith in English fish and chips after some truly awful experiences - and all the talk of vampires suddenly seemed a bit silly.
Still, I couldn't help wondering if the young James Cook also hung out at those spooky haunts when he came to Whitby 150 years earlier? Some of them, almost certainly, because that was where he lived for three years.
And I couldn't help speculating whether, like the spectral hound and the white ghost, vampires were a part of Whitby history long before Stoker wrote his tale? If so, you'd have to assume Cook knew about them.
On the surface, his time in Whitby was fairly normal. The fledgling mariner stayed in Grape Lane, in the home of shipowner Captain John Walker, to whom he was apprenticed, which today houses the wonderful Captain Cook Memorial Museum.
The house looks much the same as when Cook shared the attic space with other apprentices - we know this because an inventory of the place was done when Walker died - and contains an extraordinary collection of memorabilia associated with the great navigator, including letters, charts, medals, portraits and artefacts brought back from his voyages.
Perhaps the most remarkable item is a muster role from 1747 of Walker's ship Freelove. It was among a bundle of papers shoved into the attic, rediscovered during renovations, and shows one James Cook of Great Ayton among the crew. "This is very special," says custodian Mick Green proudly. "It's the earliest known record of Cook as a mariner. It was only saved by accident."
The house is on the banks of the Esk, so Walker's ships could berth alongside, and from the upper storeys you can still look down on lines of moored boats.
There's nothing in the museum about Dracula but clearly something happened to Cook about that time. Suddenly this bucolic youth began to display exceptional qualities as a seaman and to gain the patronage of some of the most powerful people in England.
Not far from Walker's house, on the opposite bank of the Esk, is a poignant reminder of just how far Cook went from his rural origins, a wooden sculpture of shipwrights at work, commemorating the fact that here in Fishburn's Yard were built the ships he sailed around the world, all Whitby Cats, originally designed to take coal around the British coast.
"The shipyard wasn't actually here," says a grizzled old salt. "It was over there where those bloody awful flats are. They reclaimed the land and built those monstrosities on it. Damned disgrace. Should never have been allowed."
Sadly, he adds, the town's once thriving commercial fleet has also been a victim of "so-called progress. There are only eight or nine trawlers left." At least the Whitby shipbuilding tradition isn't entirely dead. On the opposite bank two local families have built up a thriving business repairing fishing boats. "And," says the old salt, "there's a fellow up the river who still builds a few Whitby cobbles - rowboats I suppose you'd call them - but he's getting on so I don't suppose that will last much longer."
Such pessimism is understandable when you consider that even Whitby's three most famous residents were quick to move on.
Cook left to join the Navy and eventually set up his home in London.
Stoker continued his theatrical career, based in London. And Dracula also moved to London where, if we believe Stoker's account, he died.
Hmmm. All three passing through Whitby, all three possessing special powers and all three ending up in London. Just a coincidence? What do you think?
Getting There
Emirates flies three times a day from Auckland to Dubai, and from Dubai to several British airports including twice a day to Manchester (from September it will also fly to Newcastle which is closer to Whitby). Basic round-trip fares are $2460 plus taxes and there are frequent specials. Call 0508 364 728 or visit www.emirates.com
Further Information
* The main website for information about visiting Britain is www.visitbritain.com
* For information about Whitby see www.whitbytourism.com or www.discoveryorkshirecoast.com/whitby - welcome.asp.
* The Captain Cook Memorial Museum is on the web at www.cookmuseumwhitby.co.uk
* Details of the Dracula Tour offered by Harry Collett, the Storywalker, can be found at www.whitbywalks.com.
* Information about Whitby Abbey is at www.english-heritage.org.uk/whitbyabbey/ or www.whitbyabbey.co.uk
* Jim Eagles visited Whitby as guest of Visit Britain and Emirates.
