The Laurel, originally built in 1920 as the West Jessup by the Ames Shipbuilding Company, was a cargo steamer based on design number 1080 of the Emergency Fleet Corporation. After sailing several voyages across the Pacific, the Laurel became a lumber freighter for the Quaker Line, a subsidiary of the States Line.

In 1929, with 32 souls on board, Laurel beached on Peacock Spit, Washington, just at the mouth of the Columbia River near Astoria, Oregon.

In this documentary, we're visiting the Columbia River Maritime Museum, the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum, and the Cape May Maritime Museum.

The Glenesslin was a beautiful, speedy windjammer built in Liverpool in 1885 that had an illustrious 27 year career, but the demise of this vessel is shrouded in mystery. Historians simply have no idea why the ship ran straight into a cliff in the middle of a clear day (though just how clear that day was is in question, hence the fog bank in the animation). The captain had been drinking and the possibility of fraud was explored, but nothing was ever confirmed.

Looking back on the ship's history, we find charming little stories of daily life at sea, the colorful characters who served aboard her, and even look at the roots of the Cunard White Star Line's first commodore.

Not only do we explore this ship's story, recreating it in Unreal Engine 5, but I visit the wrecksite near Manzanita, at the base of Neakahnie Mountain, and look to see if anything remains of the ship, believed to be long gone.

This video almost didn't happen. I mention in the video that I drove from Southern Nevada that morning - a 16 hour drive and only got to the wrecksite 10 minutes before sunset. That day was my only opportunity to film this, since I had to get to Washington that night and couldn't return. If I didn't make it to the site in that narrow window of opportunity, this video wasn't going to happen.

A special thank you to the Columbia River Maritime Museum for opening their collections to me for this video and helping to preserve this story. It was great working with them for both this and the Peter Iredale video last year. I have more in the pipeline with them.

The Peter Iredale is perhaps one of the most iconic and photographed visible shipwrecks in North America, but few people know the story of the ship, her harsh crew conditions, or the story of her grounding here on Clatsop Beach nearly 120 years ago.

The Columbia River Maritime Museum has a wonderful collection of artifacts on the wreck, from pieces of the ship to items that were on board when she wrecked in 1906. Together with first hand accounts, museum artifacts, and recreations in Unreal Engine 5, we'll take a detailed look at her past all the while exploring what remains of the old sailing ship.

Sitting on the foggy banks of the Columbia River is the derelict hulk of the USS Plainview, launched in 1965. The Plainview is an experimental vessel called a Hydrofoil, in a way, a cross between a boat and an airplane. Today, the ship is severed, with her stern cut clean off and scrapped. She sits on the riverbank, significantly submerged at high tide.

The Mary D Hume, discarded on the shore of the Rogue River at Gold Beach, Oregon, isn't a wreck per-se. She didn't crash here; she's simply been decaying where she was left. This understated ruin might not look like much, but she's incredibly old; over 140 years old, and hold the title of being the longest serving commercial vessel on the West Coast, having sailed the most lucrative whaling voyage in American history, and nearly having claimed the record for longest Arctic whaling voyage at 6 and a half years.

She was nearly a museum ship with the Curry County Historical Society putting a good effort into preserving her, but between faulty equipment and legal fees, the effort ran out of funds before the ship was even given a real chance.

There isn't much drama to this wreckage, but simply a story worth telling before it's forgotten completely.