Historically, the port was known for its involvement in the export of alum, and the importing of timber, nominally for building ships. Timber, flax and hemp were imported from the
Baltic states during the 18th and 19th centuries, but this was to further the shipbuilding, and during the winter months even more importantly, the ship repairing trade due to Whitby's location as a safe port. However, its most lasting and notable trade has been in the landing of fish and the whale industry. In the 17th century, herring were being exported to Scotland, and the associated herring industry required the import of salt. 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. Coal is shown as increasing rapidly, though peat burning was still being used in domestic capacities, so the increase in coal volumes is tied to the alum-making. A storehouse for coal was built near
Haggersgate, a road in the town on the west bank of the harbour where the new fish quay is. Also imported were malt, rye and wine. Exports were finished
alum, the bark stripped from timber being used for shipbuilding, and
sailcloth. One of the oddest commodities imported into the harbour was human urine. The alum industry required ammonia as part of its process, and the easiest source of this at the time was human urine. While some came in from local areas, it was brought in from as far afield as Newcastle and London. In 1675, the port was handling alum, ham, butter, salt and fish. Several alum works existed in the area around Whitby, and so the port offered a natural point of offloading. This in turn generated export of alum, and the import of timber, so that Whitby could build its own ships to transport the goods needed, and export the finished alum itself. The landing of whales at Whitby flourished between 1753 and 1835, concentrated on the Northern Whale Fishery around Greenland. No attempt was made by Whitby boats to try whaling in Antarctica , the favoured region by whalers sailing from Hull and London. However, the whaling industry in Whitby was described as a "losing concern" in a government report of 1833 as oil was available from other sources. Between 1753 and 1835, a total of 2,687 whale carcasses were brought back to the port, an average of 32 per year. The rendering of whale blubber was undertaken further upriver than the port, around the area where
Larpool Viaduct now stands. The waste from the blubber to oil process, known locally as
Fenks, was exported from the port as a manure. 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. 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. Again, items associated with the shipbuilding industry are present, but the most interesting export was sleepers and pit props, of which nearly 17,000 were dispatched by ship. In the 19th century, coal which was formerly offloaded at Whitby, started to arrive in the town via the railway. As most collieries were connected to the railway, and the loading charges for taking wagons over the railway had already been paid by the colliery, having to then trans-ship the coal to a boat to deliver within the UK was uneconomically viable at that time. Iron ore and iron products were exported through Whitby by the South Cleveland Iron Works, who had a smelter at Grosmont, some south of Whitby accessible by the Whitby & Pickering Railway. Smaller iron ore concerns also used the port, with most being transferred to either Teesside or Tyneside by ship, but this was short-lived in the face of the increasing railway network and the quick exhaustion of iron ore seams in the area. Buoyed by the arrival of the railways, minerals were exported through the port, and local sandstone from
Aislaby was sent to London to build London Bridge and the
Houses of Parliament. 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. == Owners ==