Key West Shipwreck Museum, Maritime history museum in Key West, United States.

The Key West Shipwreck Museum is a maritime museum in Key West, Florida, housed in a building topped by a tall observation tower. It displays salvaged artifacts, period documents, and exhibits about the local wrecking industry across several floors.

The museum building recreates the 19th-century warehouse of wrecker tycoon Asa Tift. Its exhibits trace 400 years of shipwreck salvage in the Florida Keys, centred on the 1856 wreck of the Isaac Allerton, rediscovered in 1985; that salvage brought the Federal Wrecking Court's largest monetary award for a single vessel. A guide portraying Tift explains how wrecking supported the whole island when Key West had the state's largest population.

The museum brings to life the world of 19th-century wreckers, the men who made a living by salvaging cargo from ships that ran aground on the Florida reef. Live actors perform scenes from that daily working life, giving visitors a sense of the rhythm and risks involved.

Getting to the top observation deck means climbing several flights of stairs, so comfortable shoes and a reasonable level of fitness make the visit easier. On clear days the view from the top is worth the effort, stretching over the rooftops of Key West.

The silver bar visitors may lift comes from the Nuestra Señora de las Maravillas, a Spanish galleon lost in 1656. Marine archaeologists located its scattered treasure after 350 years, recovering pendants and gold chains along a trail more than 9 miles long, among them a gold pendant bearing the cross of Santiago.