This is probably one of the smallest museums I have been to in a long time, situated in the North Yorkshire seaside town of Scarborough, the building is a simple shop front at 45 Eastborough. As you walk in you are greeted by the volunteers who clearly love their work and are always passionate about talking about the maritime history of the town.
Scarborough has a rich history of maritime traditions and sailing vessels that soon transformed in the coming of the steam age and the World Wars, the fishing industry taking priority for many years until the town introduced tourists wanting seaside holidays, the area then sporting theatres, hotels and arcades surrounding the harbour, a town lifeboat being prominent here for over a century.
Inside the museum it talks about 16th December 1914, the day Scarborough was rudely awakened by the bombardment by German warships from the North Sea, the resulting shelling killing 18 people. The lighthouse at the tip of the harbour pier was so badly damaged it had to be demolished as were many houses that were left in ruins. Tiny models of the warships involved show a time gone by, when the idea of a steel warship was still very much a new thing, less than a decade after the Dreadnought’s were launched.
Further along show the links Scarborough has to the Titanic, Sixth Officer Moody being a resident here and was born just up the road, not forgetting Edward Harland, the man who co-founded the shipyard Harland & Wolff where the liner was built. Blue plaques today mark both people as well as two more for Moody (one in the lifeboat house another in a nearby church).
The number or shipwrecks on this coast is phenomenal, and artefacts from such wrecks are displayed here in glass cabinets, treasures from ships long gone but recovered by divers over the decades. Although this museum is small, it is packed with images and artefacts in every direction, an entire library is prominent at the back of the venue with books stacked floor to ceiling on the history of the Yorkshire Coast and its maritime history. It is amazing to think how much history is free to access on this one area, the number of ships sunk in the two World War’s running into the hundreds off this coast.
The Scarborough Maritime Heritage Centre is one place to come if you really want to learn about the history of this small town’s maritime aspects. It is free to access and there are a few souvenirs to purchase at the end that is always a must. The museum has been open for 14 years now and has welcomed over 50,000 visitors.
* * *
Richard M. Jones is an author and historian specialising in disasters and shipwrecks along with two World Wars. Spending his time between Hampshire and Yorkshire, he has put up 12 memorials to victims of forgotten tragedies and published 19 books along the way.