The dataset includes underwater acoustic data and vessel labels derived from AIS (Automatic Identification System) information from AISHub. Recordings were made at Grafton Station (51.40666°N, 2.819°E) in the Belgian part of the North Sea using RESEA 320 recorders (RTSys, France) together with Colmar GP1190M-LP hydrophones (Colmar, Italy, sensitivity: -180 dB/V re 1μPa, frequency range −3 dB: 10 Hz to 170 kHz), attached to steel mooring frames at 1 m above the sea bottom, with no moving parts. Duty cycle was set to 24h on, 24h off, leading to five non-consecutive recordings days: October 28, October 30, November 1, November 3, and November 5, 2022. 
Each day comprises 142 WAV files, each lasting 10 minutes and 13 seconds, providing nearly 24 hours of continuous audio per day. The accompanying Excel file provides vessel metadata recorded during these periods. Each row represents an AIS event and includes: ship_number, longitude, latitude, event_time, type, distance (to the station), msg_type_description, and sog (Speed Over Ground). The AIS is collected from a +/- 15 KM range from the hydrophone location. These data are a collection of annotations from audio files from the Belgian Part of the North Sea, compiled as part of the LifeWatch Broadband Acoustic Network. The dataset is well-suited for research on passive acoustic monitoring, vessel noise characterization, and for training or evaluating models that link acoustic signals to maritime traffic patterns.