Touring bus showcases maritime research project

The Isle of Man is the last stop on the current tour of the bus

A touring maritime discovery bus bringing to life "ground-breaking" research is is visiting the Isle of Man for three days.

The Maritime Archaeology Trust's Exhibition Discovery Bus will be at the House of Manannan in Peel from 9 to 11 August.

The touring exhibition showcases the work of a research called the Unpath'd Water Project, which aims to connect databases and archives cataloguing 100,000 records of maritime history from across the British Isles.

Curator of archaeology for Manx National Heritage Andrew Johnson said the intention of the bus was to "bring to life" some of the stories and information gathered.

'Look under the waves'

The project has culminated in an online portal, which catalogue s marine data records records including maps, documents and historical resources as well as thousands of shipwrecks.

The UK-based project has collaborated with Manx National Heritage, which provided data from the Isle of Man Historic Environment Record.

Linking together archives and databases across the UK and Isle of Man to make them compatible and accessible was something that had "never been done before", and enabled people to "gain a much wider and more balanced perspective" on maritime history, Mr Johnson said.

He said: "The project and pop-up exhibition highlights the value of not just keeping records and making them accessible but creating a permanent legacy."

On the island and throughout the UK, it was "difficult to get far from the sea", but maritime heritage was "in many respects quite difficult to access", Mr Johnson.

The bus provided an opportunity to "look beneath the waves" through curated voyages, and see sonar scans of wrecks on the sea bed, he added.

Sessions on the discovery bus will be available on a drop-in basis between 10:00 and 16:00 BST, and coincides with the All at Sea exhibition at the House of Manannan.