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Founded in 1912 the Maritime Museum moved to the old Dock Offices in 1974. Formerly the home of the Hull Dock Company and from 1893 the North Eastern Railway who took over the running of the docks.

The shareholders Court Room, now used for temporary exhibitions, is a highly decorated piece of Victorian architectureis. The room has a frieze of cherubs displaying the coats of arms of the European Cities that Hull traded with.

Hull dominated the Arctic whaling trade in the early nineteenth century and there is an outstanding collection of whaling artefacts. This includes skeletons of the whales themselves, the tools and weapons, as well as personalia, journals and logbooks.

There are fine contemporary paintings of the ships and the largest collection of scrimshaw (the folk art of the whaler) on this side of the Atlantic.

The story is told of the city's involvement in fishing, initially in the North Sea and then out to Norway, Iceland and Greenland, with models ranging from cobles and smacks to the huge modern stern trawlers.

From the Middle Ages the core of Hull's trade was with the Baltic and Scandinavia and the Wilson Line, founded in 1831, began in this trade too but by 1903 was the biggest privately owned shipping company in the world.

The transition from sail to steam is exemplified by models, decorative arts(glass, pottery and silver) and throughout there are examples of the paintings by outstanding local marine artists , such as John Ward and Henry Redmore.