The museum first opened to the public in September 2005, under the leadership of its board of directors, its first museum director, Stephen Davies, and the trustees of the Hong Kong Maritime Museum Trust.
It was located on the ground floor of Murray House, a reconstruction of one of the first 19th-century buildings of the British colonial period.
The building had been dismantled stone by stone, stored in a rural site for over a decade, and then reassembled around a modern reinforced concrete building overlooking Stanley Bay.

The museum was divided into two galleries, the ancient gallery and the modern gallery, displaying more than 500 items including models of ancient and modern ships, paintings, ceramics, trade goods and shipping documents.
A model of a 2,000-year-old boat made of pottery from the Han Dynasty was one of the museum's highlights.
Another treasure was the early 19th century, 18-metre long, ink-painting scroll, Pacifying the South China Sea, which relates how the Viceroy of the Two Guangs, Bailing, solved the problem of piracy on the Guangdong coast in 1809–1810.
A featured highlight is the Battle of Lantau in which imperial naval forces battled Hong Kong's most famous pirate, Cheung Po Tsai (Zhang Baozai).

The ancient gallery portrayed the fortunes of Chinese shipping during ancient and dynastic times.
It also illustrated how China's overseas neighbours and Western trading nations together shaped the maritime history of Asia and the regions beyond.
The modern gallery explored the historical factors and the Chinese entrepreneurship that have made Hong Kong a maritime success.
It covered developments in ship design, and specialisation that have changed the face of world's shipping industry and to which Hong Kong's port has had to adapt.

Between 2005 and 2011 the museum attracted an average of 35,000 visitors per year.
But because of the limit on its lease of its premises, the small size of the exhibition, office and storage spaces and its relatively remote location, the museum was obliged either to close down or find an alternative location.
A long period of negotiation between the museum of the Government of the Hong Kong SAR beginning in September 2007 resulted in the endorsement of the museum's bid to move its operations to Central Pier 8 in the Chief Executive's Policy Address in October 2009.
The object of the relocation was to serve more people and exhibit the collection, which had been almost trebled in size during the museum's first five years.
The museum first opened to the public in September 2005, under the leadership of its board of directors, its first museum director, Stephen Davies, and the trustees of the Hong Kong Maritime Museum Trust. It was located on the ground floor of Murray House, a reconstruction of one of the first 19th-century buildings of the British colonial period. The building had been dismantled stone by stone, stored in a rural site for over a decade, and then reassembled around a modern reinforced concrete building overlooking Stanley Bay.
The museum was divided into two galleries, the ancient gallery and the modern gallery, displaying more than 500 items including models of ancient and modern ships, paintings, ceramics, trade goods and shipping documents. A model of a 2,000-year-old boat made of pottery from the Han Dynasty was one of the museum's highlights. Another treasure was the early 19th century, 18-metre long, ink-painting scroll, Pacifying the South China Sea, which relates how the Viceroy of the Two Guangs, Bailing, solved the problem of piracy on the Guangdong coast in 1809–1810. A featured highlight is the Battle of Lantau in which imperial naval forces battled Hong Kong's most famous pirate, Cheung Po Tsai (Zhang Baozai).
The ancient gallery portrayed the fortunes of Chinese shipping during ancient and dynastic times. It also illustrated how China's overseas neighbours and Western trading nations together shaped the maritime history of Asia and the regions beyond. The modern gallery explored the historical factors and the Chinese entrepreneurship that have made Hong Kong a maritime success. It covered developments in ship design, and specialisation that have changed the face of world's shipping industry and to which Hong Kong's port has had to adapt.
Between 2005 and 2011 the museum attracted an average of 35,000 visitors per year. But because of the limit on its lease of its premises, the small size of the exhibition, office and storage spaces and its relatively remote location, the museum was obliged either to close down or find an alternative location. A long period of negotiation between the museum of the Government of the Hong Kong SAR beginning in September 2007 resulted in the endorsement of the museum's bid to move its operations to Central Pier 8 in the Chief Executive's Policy Address in October 2009. The object of the relocation was to serve more people and exhibit the collection, which had been almost trebled in size during the museum's first five years.
Hong Kong Maritime Museum