The Merseyside Maritime Museum is a museum based in the city of Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK. It is part of National Museums Liverpool and an Anchor Point of ERIH, The European Route of Industrial Heritage. It opened for a trial season in 1980 before fully opening in 1984 and expanding in 1986. The museum occupies warehouse block D at the Albert Dock, along with the Piermaster’s House, Canning Half Tide Dock and Canning Graving Docks.The city?s seafaring heritage is brought to life within the historic Albert Dock. The museum?s collections reflect the international importance of Liverpool as a gateway to the world, including its role in the transatlantic slave trade and emigration, the merchant navy and the RMS Titanic. The UK Border Agency National Museum, ‘Seized! The Border and Customs uncovered’ is located in the basement gallery of the building.
The embryonic Merseyside Maritime Museum collection began in 1862. Over the years, the collection developed slowly due to lack of funds to the extent that by 1924 the collection was little more than ‘an old dug-out canoe and a few model ships’. Robert Gladstone (maritime historian and great-nephew of former Prime Minister William Gladstone) created the shipping gallery in 1931 which was partially destroyed in the May Blitz of 1941. In 1965, the History of the Ship gallery was opened followed by the Port of Liverpool gallery (1971) and the New Shipperies Exhibition (1974). In late 1970s work began on the creation of a dedicated maritime museum which opened for a trial season in 1980.