Nantucket Shipwreck and Life Saving Museum

This is the kind of museum that really stands out. Super helpful staff and they know their stuff. I love these kinds of museums—very specialized and just the right size.

Jordan gave an excellent tour of this small but very interesting museum. Kids programming looked fun. And Jay the shuttle bus driver was friendly and informative. Free shuttle to and from visitors center on Franklin in town. Highly recommend this little gem!

Best museum tour I've ever taken. Keely was outstanding and made it a blast with the stories and all the education of the history and shipwrecks. Thank you guys! Ten out of ten!

Small museum. Staff are very knowledgeable and friendly. Told stories and set up a demonstrations using different tools used to rescue people at sea. Was told it was the precursor to the coast guard and people who were the lifesaver crews led to formation of the USCG.

This was our favorite stop on our day in Nantucket! Keely gave us a phenomenal tour. What a fascinating history - told with great visual devices, super well-made dioramas, and tons of historical pieces.

The museum is extremely small, with not a ton of physical things to look at. Our visit probably only took 15 minutes max. When we entered we were greeted by a worker who gave us a short talk and explanation about shipwrecks around the island, and he did a great job. He showed some of the life saving equipment in the front room, and was very knowledgeable about the history of the island. Beyond the initial welcome to the museum, there wasn’t much to do or so, as the place only really has 2-3 rooms total. Don’t plan to spend tons of time here. The one convenient thing, was the information center downtown offers a free shuttle van back and forth, so we were able to get her easily.

This place is amazing. They have kids' activities, awesome movies, and friendly staff.

The museum was really cool and great for our family. I highly recommend a guided tour as our tour guide was very insightful and great with the kids too.

Great experience. This is a small, one-story building with plenty of history, artifacts, videos, and relics to give you a good history lesson on shipwrecks and important milestones in the history of Nantucket, including Mildred Jewett! The staff are super warm and friendly and even offered a personalized tour, but we opted for the self-guided tour. There is plenty to see and learn. You could expect to spend 45 minutes to an hour here. You'll need a car to get here. Or you could Lyft/Uber!

We had a wonderful visit to the Shipwreck and Lifesaving Museum last week when we were on the island. We biked to the museum along the bike paths from mid-island--there was a bike rack on the premises along with some picnic tables. We were greeted by friendly staff and offered either a fully-guided tour, a self-guided tour or a hybrid. We chose the fully-guided tour and LeAnn (from Michigan!) took it from there. For most of our time there, it felt like we had the museum all to ourselves. Near the end, the executive director, Chip came out and offered an exhibit-less story moment: a heartwarming story about Nantucket natives coming out by the hundreds to mourn the loss of unknown mariners who had perished at sea. Great museum, great staff, highly recommend.

Wow - this museum actually left me speechless which is hard to do. I came here looking to go on a ten minute tour and spent an hour hearing all about Nantucket, the shipwrecks, how they used to save individuals, and all the great men who risked their lives for their loved ones and men at sea. This was an eye opening tour for me. Amazing for children, families, and even just to go with your significant other. The docent really made the whole experience interactive for me and my boyfriend, told us a story about a man who went above and beyond to save a crew stuck at sea (completely inspiring!) and another story about an Italian ship & a third about a Newfoundland doggy. They have adorable swings with the old school life saving seats, a yearly exhibit that changes each year, and some amazing artifacts. Snagged a great photo while there as well! If you do one thing while on Nantucket this should be it. Followed by the windmill!

Beautiful museum in a beautiful location, well worth the trip out of town. Lots of fascinating and very informative exhibits, and beautifully restored relics from the era. We had a great guide as well, definitely recommend asking for a tour if it's available. Fun activities for kids too - the rope toss is surprisingly addictive.

Stunning location and interesting museum. We attended a storytelling event that was so much fun. Wine & cheese mixer as an intro and then an evening of shipwreck storytelling and the singing of shanties (sea ballads) in between the stories of actual Nantucket ship wrecks. Highly recommend this event & the museum. Thanks for a historical and entertaining evening.

This museum is AMAZING! We have been coming to Nantucket for 20 years and had never made it here. The museum, which is housed in an old life saving station, have docents that very knowledgeable and engaging-especially with children! My seven year old son was fascinated with stories of the countless shipwrecks in the shoals around Nantucket. We loved the short video tales of shipwrecks, the rescue boat, valiant sailor medals and more. It's a small 3-4 room museum. Go support this wonderful non-profit that works to preserve this important piece of Nantucket history.

Very interesting museum about our history and sea rescue. I recommend seeing this immaculate and well run museum. Take time for the tour and watch the movies.

My wife and I took a ghost tour aboard the tall ship Linx and it was such a treat! Scary tales. The setting sun. Cool sea breezes. And a beautiful ship. The host, a man named Orion, was the ideal teller of strange and wondrous tales from the deep, chosen at random by the guests aboard the ship. Even the ride out to the ship and back in the harbor launch was a lot of fun. When friends come to visit, this will be on our list.

A relatively small place in the middle of nowhere, the bike path going east goes right by it. The inside is filled with artifacts including old boats, carts and other life saving equipment form the last century. It also has a huge selection of old photos that show the history of Nantucket and the many ship wreaks. The staff were very friendly, perhaps because it isn't the most popular place on the island and we were the only ones in the place, but they were extremely knowledgeable and could answer any questions that we had. For the 5 dollar admission change the museum is a great place for anyone interested in the history of the island.

Ghost tours are fairly easy to come by in most cities in America - but absolutely none of them can compare to being thrilled by a master storyteller aboard a real tall ship, surrounded by dark waters and starry skies! Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of taking part in the launching of a new program from Egan Maritime & the Shipwreck & Lifesaving Museum. Orion Couling was our guide for the evening and every story was fun, chilling and informative. It is clear that Mr. Couling feels passionately not only about maritime history in general but the history of Nantucket Island specifically. He had his audience enraptured from the moment we stepped onto our launch to the final departure of the evening. Whether you are an avid supernatural believer or just enjoy a good tale, this is the tour for you! Mr. Couling balances his stories out with enough history and legend to please anybody. He brings a sense of integrity to his narrative that is sadly lacking in many other such tours. He even changes up his stories each night depending on certain bottles that are selected from his chest of items (kids especially will enjoy this interactive experience). This tour is quickly becoming a "MUST DO" on the island. Don't miss your opportunity to take part!

I highly recommend this museumfor it's uniqueness, the very knowledgeable staff, and for the very interesting subject matter. My husband and I almost gave it a skip as we thought the focus of the museum wouldn't interest us - glad we stopped (it was on our way to Sconset).