The museum opened in 1999, during the Rouen Armada, a festival of tall ships which takes place every five years.

The main themes are: Visitors can see trawler and barge motors, a fog warning bell which was formerly located in the estuary of the Risle, surface-supplied diving gear and a reproduction of the radio cabin of a 1960s ship.

Its hold has been transformed into an exhibition room about river navigation, including a model of a lock.

In addition, there are regular temporary exhibitions on a variety of topics, such as the Rouen transporter bridge or the vikings.

The building was subsequently used by a series of different companies until 1984, when it became surplus because of insufficient size.