Fascinated by ships?  Missing a memento from a long-ago ocean voyage?  Want to own a piece of shipwreck history?  EBay is a treasure-trove of rare, odd and exotic bits of maritime history, from shipping company posters to ocean liner furniture to postcards and menus, offered by sellers from all over the world.

There are two main ways to hunt for maritime treasure on eBay; you can do one or both. 

• The first is to check the daily offerings of ship and ocean liner items.  This is also a good way to discover the types of items that are available.  The place to start is in the "Ocean Liner" category under "Collectibles" "Transportation" "Boats, Ships", "Cruise Ship/Ocean Liner":
• Cruise Ship, Ocean Liner
  

• You can visit this site regularly by creating a category search.  Click on "Add to My Favorite Categories" in the upper-right corner of the page, and this search will be added to your "My eBay" page; click on "Categories" under "All Favorites" on the left side of the screen.
• It helps to limit your search to items ending within the first 24, or even 5 hours, as there are many, many items listed each day.
• Once you have seen what is available, you can narrow your search by choosing a shipping line, like Cunard , from the sub-category list on the laft side of the screen.
• Or, you can search for a particular type of item, like postcard or menu.
• It also helps to add a checkmark to "search title and description", to get the most out of your search.

• The second is to search for specific items, or types of items, within the Cruise Ship, Ocean Liner category.
• Type in, say, Statendam menu   or Oceanic key chain .  It helps to check the "search title and description" category.  You will see, not only items currently up for auction, but pieces offered by Sellers in their stores and similar items to your search.
• You can store lots of individual searches like this in "My eBay", by clicking on "Add to My Favorite Searches" in the upper-right corner of the search-results page.  The search will then appear when you click on "Searches" on the left-hand side of your "My eBay" screen.  Plus, eBay will send you an emails whenever an item matching your description is listed, so you never have to worry about missing something you want.
  
• And, when you find a Seller that specializes in the type(s) of items you collect, you can also add that person to your "Favorite Sellers."

Not all ocean liner collectibles get listed under the "Collectibles" "Transportation" "Boats, Ships" category.  It also pays to check the "Antiques" "Maritime" category, as well:

• Antiques, Maritime 
• However, in my experience, the items in this category are frequently reproductions.

For some items, like deck chairs and crew uniforms, it pays to run a general eBay search, as these items may not be listed under the narrower, maritime or ocean liner categories.

Have fun, and good luck!!!