Maritime Museum of Sandusky

10/07/2026

SPOOKY SEASON AT THE MUSEUM

Meet the Success — the ship that lied about everything.

Billed as a notorious convict ship built in 1790, she was really built in 1840 as a merchant ship carrying immigrants (not convicts) to Australia until her crew abandoned her in the gold rush. She sat moored near Melbourne as a prison hulk, then a floating warehouse.

In 1890, showmen turned her into a traveling museum, making the past more brutal than it was. Even her torture devices were fakes. Silent film stars gawked at her "horrors" at the 1915 San Francisco World's Fair.

By the 1930s she was rotting. Towed to Sandusky for scrap, a storm sank her at her moorings first. A Port Clinton salvager bought the wreck — towed home in 1945, she grounded on a sandbar short of port. On July 4, 1946, vandals set her ablaze just to watch her burn. Her remains still rest east of Port Clinton harbor.

History, or hoax? You decide. ⚓

Want the full story? Gordon Wendt's Strangers in Our Bay is available in our gift shop.

Maritime Museum of Sandusky, 125 Meigs St | sanduskymaritime.org | (419) 624-0274

10/06/2026

SPOTTED FROM OUR WINDOW 📸

Look what came across the bay today — the tugboat John Francis, pushing a barge of limestone from the Marblehead quarry!

A few things about what you're looking at: the John Francis was built in 1965 and has had three names in her life (she started as the Dad, then the Creole Eagle). She's a twin-screw tug out of Toledo with 1,800 horsepower, working all over Lake Erie on construction and dredging jobs.

And that limestone? It's about 400 million years old. The Marblehead quarry cuts into Devonian-era rock from when Ohio sat under a shallow sea packed with fossils like trilobites, corals, and brachiopods.

All of that, visible right from our windows. Come watch the working lake go by. ⚓

Maritime Museum of Sandusky, 125 Meigs St | sanduskymaritime.org | (419) 624-0274

09/19/2026

🪢 IT’S KNOT TYING DAY! 🪢

We’re getting everything set up and ready to go for the International Guild of Knot Tyers Annual Meeting happening TODAY at the Maritime Museum of Sandusky!

Come check out a day filled with knot tying demonstrations, lectures, competitions, and plenty of nautical know-how!

And the best part? It’s OPEN TO THE PUBLIC until 4 PM! Stop by, see what’s happening, learn something new, and enjoy all the knot-tying fun!

We can’t wait to see you! ⚓️

09/18/2026

⚓️ It’s a BUSY weekend for the Maritime Museum of Sandusky! ⚓️

We’ve got a lot happening this weekend, and we’re excited to be part of it all!

Saturday, September 19: We’re hosting the International Guild of Knot Tyers North America (IGKTNA) Annual Meeting right here at the Museum! Stop by to check out knot-tying demonstrations, lectures, and competitions. The event is open to the public until 4 PM and is included with Museum admission!

Meanwhile, The Gull is on the road! Our 1939 Lyman Custom Runabout is representing the Maritime Museum of Sandusky at Vintage Boat Week 2026 in Port Huron, Michigan. We’re proud to have this beautiful piece of Sandusky’s boatbuilding history out and representing the Museum at this special event!

Whether you’re stopping by the Museum for some knot-tying fun or following along with The Gull in Michigan, it’s a big weekend for maritime history! ⚓️🚤

We hope to see you this weekend!

09/17/2026

Museum Closure Notice! ⚓

The Maritime Museum of Sandusky will be closed Friday, September 18 as we prepare for this weekend’s special event.

We’ll be back open Saturday, and we hope to see everyone at the International Guild of Knot Tyers Annual Meeting!

Join us for a day filled with lectures, knot-tying demonstrations, competitions, and more! The event is open to the public until 4 PM and is included with regular museum admission.

Come check out some impressive knot-tying skills and celebrate the fascinating art and history of knot tying with us!

We’ll see you Saturday! ⚓🪢

09/08/2026

Why do the Maritime Museum’s hours change with the seasons?

Like many museums and attractions in our area, our visitation is highly seasonal. During the busy summer months, we maintain expanded public hours to accommodate residents and visitors enjoying Sandusky and the Lake Erie region. As visitation slows in the fall and winter, we transition to our seasonal schedule.
But fewer posted hours doesn’t mean the museum is unavailable—or that the work stops!

During our seasonal schedule, the museum is open by appointment Tuesday through Thursday with advance notice, in addition to our regular posted public hours. Whether you’re planning a visit, conducting research, or have another reason to stop in, give us a call ahead of time and we’ll do our best to accommodate you.

The quieter months also give our small staff time for the considerable amount of work that happens behind the scenes: caring for the collection, researching and developing exhibits, planning programs and events, working on grants and fundraising, maintaining the building, and preparing for the next busy season.

Adjusting our public hours seasonally also helps us use our resources responsibly. As a small nonprofit museum, keeping the building fully staffed during periods of very low walk-in visitation isn’t always the best use of the funds entrusted to us.

So, if you see that we’re “closed” on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday this fall, that doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t visit. Just contact us in advance to make an appointment.

And if you drive by and see cars in the parking lot while the museum is closed to walk-in visitors, now you know why—we’re probably inside working!

09/07/2026

Happy Labor Day from the Maritime Museum of Sandusky! ⚓️

As we celebrate Labor Day, we’re taking a moment to recognize and appreciate the hardworking people who help make our community, and our maritime heritage, so special. From boatbuilders and fishermen to shipyard workers, sailors, and countless others, their hard work helped shape Sandusky’s history on the water.

🍂 Reminder: We start our fall hours this week, we’ll be open Friday–Sunday, 10 AM–4 PM.

Have a safe and happy Labor Day weekend!

09/04/2026

Summer Hours Are Coming to an End! ⚓️

This is the last week of our summer hours, so be sure to stop by the Maritime Museum of Sandusky and enjoy a visit before our schedule changes!

Starting next week, we’ll be moving to our fall hours:

📅 Friday–Sunday
⏰ 10 AM–4 PM

As the seasons change, there’s still plenty to explore at the museum! Come learn more about Sandusky’s rich maritime history, discover our exhibits, and enjoy a little history along the lake.

We hope to see you this weekend, and throughout the fall!

08/15/2026

Thanks to everyone who adopted a seagull for the inaugural Seagull drop! Congratulations to Paula Collier for having the seagull landing DIRECTLY on Sandusky on the map target!

08/15/2026

Want to know who's winning at Big Splash Raffle? Check the updated list of winners here:

22nd Annual Big Splash Raffle August 14-15, 2026 Tickets on Sale Now!!! The Maritime Museum of Sandusky is delighted to announce the return of one of our most anticipated annual traditions: the Big…