Manx National Heritage has announced that the Isle of Man will welcome a pop-up exhibition showcasing the work the ‘Unpath’d Waters Project’.

The three-year research project looks to connect the UK’s widespread maritime collections and includes the Isle of Man.

As part of the project, the Maritime Archaeology Trust’s exhibition ‘Discovery Bus’ will visit the House of Manannan from Friday, August 9 to Sunday, August 11 in support of the ‘All at Sea’ exhibition.

This exhibition is a commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the RNLI, through the many stories of shipwrecks around the island’s coast.

On the maritime ‘Discovery Bus’, visitors can use virtual reality headsets to dive into a fully immersive virtual marine environment around the coast of the British Isles.

A spokesperson from Manx National Heritage said: ‘The UK and the Isle of Man has a rich maritime heritage, stretching back more than 23,000 years. It’s impossible to tell the story of our islands without talking about our relationship with the sea.

‘Unpath’d Waters aims to increase interaction with maritime heritage by making it easier to research and easier for the public to discover and share stories in new ways.

‘These remarkable stories and many others will become globally accessible, with the project ultimately providing millions of research resources and helping the world piece together connected stories, archive materials and heritage assets.

‘The Discovery Bus is an inspiring mobile resource facility that enables the Maritime Archaeology Trust to take activities and information all over the British Isles and beyond.

‘It visits schools and colleges, community centres, events, local shows, open days and public spaces, from parks to libraries and supermarket car parks.’ Visitors to the ‘Discovery Bus’ will be able to explore stories through a series of ‘curated voyages’ on a range of themes.

The ‘Doggerland Simulator’ will give access to a submerged prehistoric landscape beneath the North Sea, allowing users to see the development of the landscape over thousands of years and appreciate what it would have been like to live in Doggerland as the sea levels change around them.

The spokesperson continued: ‘To make submerged and museum-displayed wrecks even more exciting by creating new ways of imagining, understanding and valuing them, the Maritime Archaeology Trust has developed the “Needles Voyager”, an innovative way to digitally explore the fascinating world of shipwrecks and maritime sites that can be found off the western point of the Isle of Wight.’

Visitors can also find out about the ‘Unpath'd Waters Portal’, a shared and searchable online catalogue of 100,000 marine data records from all across the UK.

This includes maps, documents and historical resources relating to hundreds of shipwrecks recorded on the Isle of Man Historic Environment Record at www.isleofmanher.im.

Information gathered about the Isle of Man will be added to the record, while the audience will also learn about a new database ‘Historic England’ is developing to record marine and maritime heritage in England.