In 1980, the city of Cuxhaven opened a wreck museum in a former school in the district of Stickenbüttel. It showed a collection of exhibits of marine equipment, cargo and personal belongings compiled by the then customs officer Peter Baltes. The objects had been brought to light during dredging. Peter Baltes became head of the newly created museum and continued to expand the collection until his retirement.
Cuxhaven grew up fishing. To document the history of the Great Deep Sea fishery and to keep it awake in the consciousness of the population, the "Förderverein Schifffahrtsgeschichte Cuxhaven e.V." under its chairman Thomas Sassen founded in 2003 a fishery museum. The location of the museum was the former Fischhalle VII. When plans for a large maritime museum matured at the city, the association decided to bring in its collection. The Fisheries Museum, which was operated on a purely voluntary basis, closed its doors in 2011.
In our exhibition, exhibits from the former city museum have been incorporated.
In a separate room you can admire maritime antiques and rarities, which the collector Peter Weber generously provided to the museum. They were previously exhibited in his Small Ship Museum in Duhnen.