In February, 1899, after a freakish winter storm in the North Atlantic, the White Star Line Germanic limped into New York Harbor with 1,800 tons of ice accumulated on her decks in her rigging. Within a day or two, the ship sank at her moorings. This is the story of the incident and the remarkable raising of the massive vessel.

A special thank-you to the Titanic International Society, who actively works to keep the story of the Titanic and White Star Line alive.

In 1807, inventor Robert Fulton and his friends embarked on an historic voyage up the Hudson River from Manhattan to Albany, New York. This was the first successful voyage of a steamboat, proving that steam was indeed a viable method of propulsion, paving the way for every steamboat to come. Let's follow in the wake of his boat, the SS North River (a.k.a. the Clermont) on its incredible journey.

To be clear, "The Maiden Voyage of Steam" is a romantic title I've given this, but there were previous steam powered vessels before Fulton's SS North River, including one built by Fulton himself. This is the first successful voyage to prove that steam was viable, however. I explain this in the video.

Let's take a journey back in time and up the Hudson River from Manhattan to Albany, sailing aboard the SS Albany with the Hudson River Day Line. With the help of several first hand materials including Day Line promotional and panorama books and early newsreels, we're able to recreate an autumn journey on one of these beautiful lost river boats.

The year is 1904 and we're visiting New York from England. The city is bustling and the river is lively along this historic route.

After departing Albany en route for Manhattan, in the thick of a snowstorm on the evening of April 7, 1845, the steamboat "Swallow" crashed onto the rocks near the towns of Athens, Hudson, and Lunenburg, New York. With rescue efforts from the locals, as well as the steamboats Rochester and Express, the Swallow quickly foundered with the loss of either 15 or 23 souls.

A ghostly shell stands where a once grand hotel stood in the Catskill Mountains of New York State. Built in 1871, this hotel was once visited by presidents, but repeated fires prevented the place from ever achieving the success it deserved. The final years of the building were plagued with suicides, and ultimately the site of the merger of the two existing Communist parties in America in the 1920's.

Let's climb the trail to the top of the mountain and see what remains of this ruined hotel overlooking Woodstock.