Mr Hepworth had fixed a large map of the coast to the wall. He pointed. ‘Here’s Whitby, where we are. And here,’ he slid his finger northward along the coastline, ‘is Staithes, where the coach will drop us this morning. Staithes used to be an important fishing port like Whitby, and there are still a few fishermen there, but it is a quiet village now. Captain Cook worked in a shop at Staithes when he was very young – before he decided to be a sailor.’ ‘Will we be going in the shop, Sir?’ ‘No, Neil Atkinson, we will not. Unfortunately, it was washed away by the sea a long time ago. However, if we are very lucky we might see a ghost.’ There were gasps and exclamations at this. ‘Captain Cook’s ghost, Sir?’ asked James Garside. The teacher shook his head, smiling. ‘No, James. Not Captain Cook’s. A young girl’s. There’s a dangerous cliff at Staithes, a crumbling cliff, and the story goes that when this girl was walking under it one day, a chunk of rock fell and decapitated her.
