Maritime Museum & Occupation Tapestry Gallery

Jersey


Spread across five 19th-century warehouse buildings, this excellent museum brings to life Jersey's love affair with the sea. The island was once one of the biggest ship-building centres in Europe and you can trace the voyages of its many creations across a huge animatronic globe. Through its interactive displays, you can learn the difference between a gunwale and breast hook, listen to sea shanties, control the tide, assemble a boat and much more.

Short films about Jersey's creatures of the deep are screened in the attached cinema and the Occupation Tapestry Gallery displays Jersey's biggest community project – 12 tapestries depicting scenes of privations, daily life and camaraderie under the Nazi occupation of Jersey between 1940 and 1945.

The People Gallery is particularly engaging, with photos of sea-loving Jersey residents, from early 20th century mariners to whelk farmers, surfers and Jersey's best 21st-century chef.