History

The museum was established in the 1970s when the maritime collection of the Aberdeen Art Gallery and Regional Museum came into its own.  Provost Ross' House was the site of the original museum which opened in 1984 before being encompassed into the modern building.

The setting is fitting as Provost Ross, who lived there in the 1700s, was a ship merchant who traded with the continent.

The main collections in the museum are associated with shipbuilding, fishing and how Aberdeen harbour has developed.  In the 1980s North Sea oil and gas became prominent and these were added to the museum.

By the mid 1990s the museum expanded into the church on Shiprow and the two buildings were linked.

The Murchison Oil Platform model stands 9m high and illustrates the huge scale of the industry, it was constructed in the 1980s before the days of 3D computer modelling.  In the 1990s the model was enlarged and can be seen when entering the museum.

The oil and gas exhibition is also home to remotely operated vehicles and the entire cabin 221 from the Claymore Platform, giving a feel for what life is like off-shore.

Provost Ross' House tells the story of traditional industries including fishing and the clipper ships.  Aberdeen was known as the home of the clipper ship and vessels such as the Cutty Sark were built as a result of the design work done in the city.  The most well known ship in Aberdeen is The Thermopylae which beat the Cutty Sark in the great tea races.  There are also paintings of the 19th Century tea clippers.

Shipbuilding

Shipbuilding is also prominent and visitors can even search the 3,000 ships which were built in the city over the years.  There are links to ship plans and details of their fate.

The museum's close proximity to the harbour allows it to detail the development of Aberdeen harbour over the past 800 years, from its beginnings at the estuary of the River Dee to the modern, thriving harbour today.  Close proximity to the harbour helps.

Most of the collection including the shipbuilding archive was donated to the museum.  On occasion paintings, artefacts and models are purchased at auctio, grants helping with these acquisitions.

Items which are bequeathed to the museum tend to come from north east Scotland or through those with a personal link to the area.  John explains the importance of these personal stories and how the Scottish diaspora contribute to the collections. 

Items not on display in the museum can be seen on the website.  Everything is valued and photographed.

Education is also important for schools and families.  Aberdeen Quest website is aimed at young people.  Aberdeen-built ships website has 3,000 ships on it and there are plans to relaunch the Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums site to give access to all the collections.

Today's industry and society is also relevant for the museum with contemporary collections from the oil and gas industry also on display.

Key objects in the collection

The Murchison Oil Platform tells the story of an oil rig in an industry which is 'over the horizon', 125 miles away from Aberdeen.  The model gives people a sense of the scale of the industry. 

One of the most recent and poignant objects in the collection was added in 2008.  Made of fibre glass, the life-raft shell from one of the lifeboats on the Piper Alpha production platform had been in the sea for 20 years.  Dredged from the sea by a trawler, it was processed by the Receiver of Wrecks and brought into the museum for conservation.

Looking to the past, the sailing ship models from the era of the clipper ships are also important as are the captain's portraits which were commissioned by the ship owners and captains.

The stories behind objects are just as important.  On display is a gold pocket watch  which came from the ship The Rifleman.  The ship steward murdered the captain on a voyage between Aberdeen and Australia in 1871.  First officer Morgan took over as captain and was rewarded with the pocket watch for his actions. Personal effects such as these reflect history.  To donate to the museum, you can visit in person, call or use the information e-mail on the website.

Special exhibitions and paintings change regularly allowing objects to be rotated.  Fine art, applied art and archaeology are also collected by Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum.