THE North Sea coast is again celebrating its maritime history. Last month Whitby welcomed the Grand Turk, the square-rigged fighting frigate made famous by the TV series Hornblower. On Friday she was joined by one of the greatest stars of the sea: HMS Endeavour.

Five years ago, the arrival of this magnificent replica of Whitby son James Cook's ship drew crowds of 30,000 to the town.

Back then, she set sail again after just nine days. Now Endeavour is set to stay for much of the summer.

With an impressive sense of timing, the latest book from the Francis Frith photographic archive also recalls bygone days of the sea. Yorkshire Coastal Memories is packed with photographs of harbours and beaches up and down the coast.

Frith belongs to that impressive list of Quakers who were also fantastic businessmen. He sold his grocery business in Liverpool for £200,000 in 1855 - the equivalent of £15 million today - and went travelling.

He carried his camera with him, and took some remarkable pictures of Africa, developed in a wicker darkroom, or even in caves and tombs. When he exhibited the pictures he was "rapturously cheered" by members of the Royal Society.

Characteristically, he quickly spotted the chance to create a new business as a publisher of photographs. Tourism had just begun and he realised that visitors would love a pictorial souvenir of their day out.

He spent 30 years travelling Britain by train taking pictures of seaside resorts and beauty spots which sold in their millions to the Victorians.

By 1970 the archive he started contained more than a third of a million photographs of 7,000 cities, towns and villages.

The Frith Book Co was formed to publish books of his old pictures, which have proved hugely popular. The latest, Yorkshire Coastal Memories, takes us on a trip from Cleethorpes at the mouth of the Humber to Saltburn-by-the-Sea just south of Middlesbrough. They span a period from the end of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th.

Because the Frith photographs were primarily concerned with capturing scenes for tourists, the pictures concentrate on seaside scenes. But there are images which portray the tougher side of coastal living.

Life as a Grimsby trawlerman has never been easy, but the rewards were still there 100 years ago. One picture shows a huge catch piled up for the Grimsby fish pontoon in 1906; buyers would travel from across the country to attend the auction.

Many of the fish caught by working men in the North Sea were destined to be served up to London gentlemen in the restaurants of the best hotels.

Another chapter looks at the region's churches and pubs. Both are included in a 1955 picture of Hunmanby; the White Swan Hotel is across the street from All Saints Church.

"Many coaching inns were built near to the church because a large proportion of their patrons would have been travelling clergy," writes the book's author, Maureen Anderson.

One of the finest examples of a Victorian hotel is the Grand, Scarborough, built in 1867. "There were once cottages on this site," Maureen writes, "and on May 24 1849, Anne and Charlotte Bront arrived to stay in one of the cottages for a holiday.

"Anne had consumption. She died on May 28, and is buried at Scarborough."

In a chapter on coastal villages, the author recalls the days when smuggling was rife. "The smugglers made huge profits on their cargo, so they could afford to pay the skippers of large sailing vessels well, and also the seaman and the labourers.

"Every class of people bought the goods, from the poorer working classes to the rich landowners and the gentry. Even the clergy were sometimes involved.

"Because so many people benefited from the trade, it was rare that information on the smugglers would be given to the preventative men, even if a reward were offered."

The photographs show ancient and modern aspects to village life. A group of Sixties Staithes fishwives pose with a selection of crabs. For centuries the village had relied almost entirely on fishing, and it was the women who baited the lines, usually with mussels.

Meanwhile, a picture of Cayton Bay, taken at about the same time, shows line after line of caravans as the seaside holiday enjoyed its heyday.

The full pomp and splendour of a Victorian seaside trip is captured in some of the photographs of Yorkshire's main resorts. Men in boaters and women whose hats are tied on with veils, to prevent them being carried off by the sea breeze, are pictured listening the band in Bridlington in 1897, the year after the bandstand had been built.

By 1926, the scene is less formal and more familiar. Children are playing in the sand and a stall is selling bottled drinks. If you had the wherewithal to afford a "moderate fee" you could consult a palmist, inside a beach tent.

This was before the era of the computerised video arcade, but there was plenty to keep families occupied. A 1932 image of Filey beach shows Andie Crane and his Pierrots entertaining a group of people in their deckchairs.

"Their performances began in 1846 and continued for 46 years," writes Maureen Anderson.

"In 1910 they opened the Alfresco Pavilion, and eventually they became known as the Royal Filey Pierrots. Andie died in 1944 and is buried at Filey."

By 1960, the children could take to the swing boats and roundabouts, while older visitors enjoyed a boat trip round Filey Bay.

There were plenty of diversions at Filey's big sister resort, Scarborough, too. In a picture from 1896, a group of travelling, blacked-up minstrels are shown preparing to perform for a crowd on the beach.

We finish where we began, in Whitby. On this selection of pictures, the town appears little changed. Although there is not much left of the fishing industry the 199 church steps, known as Jacob's Ladder, are still as great a climb today as they were when a Frith lens captured them in 1913.

Yorkshire Coastal Memories by Maureen Anderson is published by the Frith Book Co at £14.99

Updated: 10:33 Monday, June 24, 2002