Canada's oldest and largest maritime museum, located on the Halifax waterfront, housing an extensive collection of historic vessels, naval artifacts, and maritime heritage exhibits spanning centuries of Atlantic seafaring.
About This Site
The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic sits on the Halifax waterfront in Nova Scotia and is the oldest and largest maritime museum in Canada. Its permanent collection includes small craft from the Age of Sail through the 20th century, artifacts from the Titanic recovered off the coast of Nova Scotia, and extensive exhibits documenting the 1917 Halifax Explosion. The museum's holdings include period longboats, naval equipment, and ship components that serve as important reference material for identifying maritime artifacts found across the province.
Connection to Oak Island
During Season 9, Doug Crowell and project manager Scott Barlow visited the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic to examine a historic longboat with an intact bulkhead. The visit was prompted by the recovery of a trapezoid-shaped wooden piece from the Oak Island swamp, found at a depth of ten feet and carbon dated to 1683 to 1735. Dr. E. Lee Spence had already identified the piece as broken woodwork originally nailed to another structural element. At the museum, Doug and Scott found that the longboat's bulkhead construction closely matched the trapezoid artifact from the swamp, providing further evidence that ship components may be buried beneath the wetland. Doug presented photographs from the museum visit to the team in the War Room for comparison.
Fieldwork Notes
Doug Crowell and Scott Barlow conducted a comparative study at the museum, photographing the bulkhead of a historic longboat and documenting construction details that matched the trapezoid-shaped wood piece recovered from the Oak Island swamp. The photographs were subsequently presented to the full team in the War Room.
