In Bram Stoker’s novel, the Czarina Catherine docks at Galatz, a Danube port in Romania.
The ship carries crates belonging to Count Dracula and arrives after sailing from England. Its mysterious voyage is central to the novel’s final movement: the characters track Dracula’s boxes as he returns toward Transylvania. A newspaper report records that the Czarina Catherine entered Galatz at one o’clock, giving Van Helsing and his companions a crucial clue.
Galatz—usually written today as Galați—is a historic port on the lower Danube, near the river’s junction with the Siret and Prut. In Stoker’s time, the port connected inland Romania with the Black Sea and international shipping routes.
Readers sometimes confuse Galatz with Varna, the Bulgarian Black Sea port also mentioned in the novel. Varna is part of the ship’s route, but Galatz is the Romanian port where the Czarina Catherine docks. The ship’s arrival there helps set up the pursuit of Dracula by land and river.