Thank you to Rustin Cassway and the crew of the Research Vessel Explorer for their gift of a reproduction builder’s plate from the Norwegian Freighter Octavian. Rustin and his crew found this ship, lost during World War II off the coast of Assateague Island. The builder’s plate was the original object found at the site and now resides with the Norwegian Maritime Museum in Oslo, Norway.

When you visit, be sure to look for the plate to learn more about the story of this little freighter and its brave crew in our Shipwreck exhibit.

As part of the Museum’s 2021 Heritage Days celebration, the Museum kicking off a collections campaign searching for hidden treasures. We asked the community and those that have items that preserve the people, culture, and history of Chincoteague Island to participate in the ‘Everything Chincoteague Round Up’. When you clean out your closets, attics, garages or storage spaces, reconnect with your roots, glance at that box of old movies, thumb through family photo albums, unearth valuable memories or find that dusty yearbook hiding in a box… Please DO NOT TOSS them.

We would love for you to share these Chincoteague and Assateague treasures with us as they will help us preserve those memories for future generations. We can scan/photograph/copy the items and return them to you or they could be donated or loaned to the Museum collection.