Over a million people visit Catalina Island per year. Whether they’re visiting for the fine foods, the scenic accommodations, or to explore the rugged back country, there’s a unique draw to the Island that captures the imagination of all who’ve set foot here. While everyone’s adventure here is different, there’s one thing everyone can agree on - this island has style.

We’ve been invited on an exclusive and extensive behind the scenes tour of three of the most iconic structures on Catalina Island in California.

These buildings feature unique architecture, building methods, and perfectly preserved antique machinery that we will explore up close and personal. First, we’re visiting the Catalina Island Casino, the largest building on the island and one of the most iconic waterfront structures on the West Coast. Then, we’re climbing up to the Avalon Chime Tower to play the mechanism for ourselves. Lastly, it’s off to the Wrigley Memorial and Botanical Gardens to end our day and our adventure.

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.

On the misty evening of February 6th, 1951, the residents along Fulton Street in Woodbridge, New Jersey heard a thundering crash. Opening their doors, they saw the deadliest train wreck in state history. The worst wreck in American history since 1918... This was the Broker, which came off the rails taking the lives of 85 people and injuring hundreds more, scarring many for life, both physically and emotionally… it was officially deemed as a simple case of excessive speed, but frustrated investigations failed to get to the bottom of things, leaving many questions unanswered.

We’re using the advanced technology of Unreal Engine 5 to piece this wreckage back together, bringing the history to life like never before. Guided by historians, exploring the wrecksite, and hearing the stories directly from survivors, we’re re-examining this 73 year old case, and hopefully answering these questions once and for all.

In late Spring, 2023, I was invited to visit the Milwaukee Clipper at her current berth in Muskegon, Michigan. It’s been over 80 years since she became the Milwaukee Clipper and almost 120 years since her first construction as the Juniata. She’s clearly worn out and tired, but the first impression is that she’s well loved.

In this video, we’re going to dive into the history of the oldest surviving Great Lakes passenger vessel, learn about the long and illustrious career it had under two completely different identities, and take a detailed tour of the museum ship today. We’ll be climbing deep into the lowest parts of the historic vessel, and seeing the hard work going into keeping one of the most important pieces of Great Lakes history afloat after 120 years.

It’s remote. It’s empty. And it’s sitting high up on the top of a mountain in the Flint Creek Range of the Rockies.
Granite is the home of unique ruins, a sprawling mill site, and what were once two of the longest aerial trams in the United States. Come along as we explore the ruins of this old mining town that was once one of the biggest cities in Montana, and at its height was the largest producer of silver in the world, earning this town the nickname “The Silver Queen”. This is the story of Granite, Montana. In this video, we explain the ruins of the mill site and what's accessible of the mine, as well as Main Street Granite, home of the Miner's Union Hall.

About a month ago, the beautiful small sailboat washed up on the shore at Sunset Beach in Cape May, New Jersey. Come along as we take a quick 5 minute tour of the boat, as well as the legendary Cape May "Ghost Tracks". The Ghost Tracks were railroad tracks from the Cape May Sand and Gravel Company as they mined sand from the beach here. All this just happens to be right by the wreck of the concrete ship "Atlantus".

They’ve been called the ghost ships of Wiscasset. It’s been said that they were once the most photographed ships in the world. Whatever you want to call them, out of the over 500 built, the Hesper and Luther Little were the very last of the four masted wooden ships that once sailed the coastal waters of North America.

This is the story of two sister ships that were created in the same yard, and launched only a few months apart. They sailed completely separate careers under the same company, ultimately being reunited in their long, drawn out fates on the shores of Maine.

The true history of these ships is becoming mythology and lore. In researching, I’ve found heated newspaper articles arguing over which ship was which. I’ve found conflicting accounts as to what shipyards built them. I’ve found debates over their namesakes or even why they were abandoned. I’ve gone back to original materials from the time, found interviews with people involved, and researched the backgrounds of it to remove confusion and return to the original facts.

A special thank you to Gordon Bok for his song about the Wiscasset Schooners. Gordon's work can be found at http://www.timberheadmusic.com/
Thank you as well to Smithsonian Folkways for the recording

Lastly, a thank you to the Wiscasset Public Library for sharing their archive with me: https://wiscasset.lib.me.us/

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 Sachem has sat on a small tributary of the Ohio River for over 30 years now, rusting away and falling prey to vandals. Despite the fact that it gets occasional interest as an urban-exploration site, the history of this vessel has been so often overlooked and is rarely told. Having been built in 1901, she served in both World Wars, was Thomas Edison's special at-sea laboratory, and served around 3,000,000 passengers in her long career.

I also love that this exploration is a unique opportunity to cross the two main focuses on my channel. Aside from the rich maritime history, it's also a remote ruin that we get to climb into and explore.

This is considered one of the best ghost towns in Montana, but few have heard of it. It’s a small treasure hidden in the hills near Helena which twice in its history boasted a population of around 300 people, all working the silver mines and flotation mill on the hillside.

This video isn’t exactly giving away some secret. There are hopes to preserve this small piece of history as a sort of museum and they need help and awareness to do so. It’s on private property, but visitors are welcome if you respect the site.

Now, let’s explore the history of Comet, or Comet City, Montana, one of the most unexpectedly interesting ruins I’ve visited.

This is the third of four Montana ghost towns I filmed and documented in 2022, the first being Keystone and the second being Elkhorn. Next will be Granite. I also have another one, Pardee, that is exclusive to my Patreon subscribers (we didn't quite make it to the town due to forest fires, but filmed the adventure nonetheless!)

Gunfights, Trainwrecks, and Gold. That’s what you’d find at the small, abandoned mining town of Bonnie Claire, Nevada, a junction between the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad and the Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad.

The history of Bonnie Claire, put simply, is a mess. There’s a lot that we don’t know. There’s a lot that the history books gloss over, and even meticulous publications of local history can’t give more than a couple paragraphs about the site.

I was drawn to it because of how photogenic the place is; there are some stunning shots I’ve seen photographers take at this ghost town, but the mystery of this town; the lack of documentation, and the

There are scattered ruins here; wooden buildings falling apart, stone buildings dating back farther, and a rusty, creaking old mill on the hillside. A wooden trailer, left behind by one of the last residents, and two lonely graves of young women, their information already partially obscured. The abandoned track beds coming through this railroad stop remind us of the town’s dependency on its two railroad companies, and give us a clue as to where the train wreck occurred, but beyond the immediate ruins, there’s more waiting to be discovered.

Looking back on the excitement and tragedy, the ups and downs, and the humble beginnings and lonely end, can we assemble this town’s story like never before? And can we find the earliest remains of the town-site, currently lost to the history books?

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.

The SS United States - America’s flagship. The fastest and safest ocean liner in history and a classified military service ship in the event of war. Winner of the Blue Riband and one of the last remaining classic ocean liners left in the world.

She sits, quiet and dormant, at Pier 82 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a reminder of the triumph of the trans-Atlantic passenger service, and waiting in hope for an eventual second life. Whatever may come of her, this ship has stories to tell us.

Thanks to the wonderful assistance of the SS United States Conservancy, my friends and I have been given access to the ship to come aboard, explore her history, uncovering it as we go below decks, and find parts of the ship never before seen online. We’ll take a step back into the 1950’s and 60’s, with this magnificent ship serving as our window to the past.

The Mary Celeste is one of the most infamously legendary sailing vessels in history, having been found adrift after her crew vanished. In this video, we not only explore the story of their disappearance, but the full history of this vessel, starting with her construction in Spencer's Island, Nova Scotia under the name Amazon, through her early career, her adventures and misadventures, and the long road that eventually led to her intentional destruction on the reefs of Haiti in 1885.

Find out more about the Age of Sail Heritage Centre at: https://ageofsailmuseum.ca/

The story of the Mary Celeste is one that I've wanted to do for a while but had no plan to make any time soon. Last week, my wife and I were able to visit her family in Nova Scotia for the first time since before the pandemic, and since Nova Scotia is where the Mary Celeste was built, I figured I'd gather the footage I need and finish the video whenever convenient (probably late 2023).

I worked with the Age of Sail Museum and the local Titanic society (since they more so cover general local maritime history), and in discussing this video, we realized the 150th anniversary is now. She was found on December 4th, and returned to Gibraltar on December 13th. There was nothing prepared to commemorate the anniversary of one of their most famous vessels, so we decided to light a fire under this project.

The documentary you're seeing was researched, written, filmed, edited, and animated all within about a week. It wouldn't have been at all possible without the help of my friend Alex, who did these beautiful animations for the project.

One of the worst maritime disasters in the United States actually occurred in downtown Chicago, at the Clark Street Wharf in 1915. The top-heavy, unstable SS Eastland took over 2,500 souls onboard and prepared to depart when she rolled over at her mooring.

The causes over the long, slow-burning lead up to the Eastland Disaster are muddy and a bit confusing, but with the help of detailed computer recreations in Unreal Engine 5 and in cooperation with the Eastland Disaster Historical Society, we do our best to paint a broad picture of the life and death of the unlucky ship, looking at the happy memories, the near catastrophes, and the changes over her career that built up to this disaster.

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.

Elkhorn, Montana has to be the most preserved ghost town I've seen in the Northwest and is debatably the most iconic ruin in the state. High in the Elkhorn Mountains of Central Montana, about an hour south of Helena and tucked behind the small town of Boulder is one of the state’s most visited ghost towns. The town is so popular, in fact, that the population has actually begun to regrow up from zero about thirty years ago to about a dozen now.

It was one of the most cosmopolitan, civil, and refined mining boom towns in the Territory, though it had its fair share of excitement. Let’s dive into the ghost town of Elkhorn, Montana.

Just one of these treasures would be worth over a billion dollars in today's money, and we're on the trail of two of them. We aren't looking for the treasures themselves, but the remains of those who hid them and others who spent their lives hunting for these treasures over the past 450 years. There's loot hidden by Spanish sailors to prevent it from being captured by Sir Francis Drake, and other treasure from a wrecked galleon salvaged by natives in the 1700's.

Famous across the world for the ongoing underground fire which forced the town's abandonment, Centralia is located in central Pennsylvania. Let's explore the remains of this town, looking into the history before the fire, from plane crashes to gang violence with the Molly Maguires, through the causes of the fire, and to the terrible management of the situation which led to the near-total abandonment of a town that once was home to nearly 3,000 people.

This is a journey I've wanted to do my whole life, and when COVID hit in 2020 and the Amtrak fares dropped, it was the perfect opportunity to hit the rails and see the whole continent!

We start on Day 1 at Philadelphia's 30th Street Station, riding through Pennsylvania aboard Amtrak's "PENNSYLVANIAN", traveling through Horseshoe Curve and seeing the historic sites of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

After a brief stopover in Pittsburgh, we take the "CAPITOL LIMITED" to Chicago, where we tour some of the historic sites and see the historic Union Station on Day 2.

From Chicago, we take the "SOUTHWEST CHIEF" across the whole Western United States, riding through the prairies and across the American deserts on Day 3 and into 4. We roll into California, through the smoke of the wildfires and through historic Sante Fe rail yards.

Across these three days, we met several fellow travelers, each with their own unique stories and Amtrak workers who truly love what they do.

Sitting on the side of the road, White Butte, South Dakota is easy to miss. Today, it's in complete ruin and only a couple of buildings remain standing, but the town once was home to around 100 people and had its own post office. We nearly passed this town by and stumbled upon it by accident, but was a nice challenge to find a ruin that we knew nothing about, film it, and then piece together the clues and history later. We had nothing to work with - I didn't initially even have a name. What little information could be found in research is contained in this video.

Keystone is a tiny ruin, nestled in the back hills of Montana. Originally called O'Rourke when founded in the 1880's and then renamed Carter with the opening of the post office, the success of this town seemed to be directly tied to the value of silver. As the sun sets above the forest, let's explore what remains of this old mining town.

July 2, 2022 marks the 100th anniversary of the train derailment at Winslow Junction in Central New Jersey, at the northernmost tip of the Pine Barrens. The disaster occurred when two trains - one running late and one running early - switched places in the schedule, and the signal man in the tower mistook one for the other. The track was set for a different train, accidentally sending the highspeed "Midnight Flyer" from Camden bound for Atlantic City on the switch and tight curve toward Cape May, causing it to fly off the tracks. The wreck killed between 6 and 9 people, but ultimately led to inconclusive investigations and no new regulations.

For five years, I've wondered about the location of the graves of Lauriston and Lilian Davidson, lost in the sinking of the SS Atlantic in 1873 off of Halifax, Nova Scotia. They were on their way to visit their uncle, John Umphelby, in the small ranch town of Telegraph City, California. In the hopes of finding the site of their graves, I've traveled across the country to explore the ruins of the ghost town of Telegraph City.

Step back in time in this remote desert hotel, which represents the peak of luxury in the dusty Wild West. The Mizpah Hotel, built in 1907, has quite a quite a colorful past, but are all the stories true? Let's explore this beautiful Nevada hotel and uncover what we can about its rich history.

So very little is known about this town deep in this remote canyon. We aren't actually even certain of the name! My friend, Alan, spotted marks for four vacant buildings on a 1957 map and what they were was completely unknown. For his new book, we had to hike in and find out just what was there!

Does this town date back to 1875, when the very first claim was worked in this canyon? Or is it later working from the 1920's? In the summer heat just beyond Death Valley, CA, we had to hike down and find out.

Between Alum Creek and Uncle Sam Creek in Nevada, just south of Goldfield, we found several collapsed structures and even an old automobile.

As night fell on January 8th, 1884, two boys spotted the barquentine ELMINA stuck on the shoal off Long Beach Island, New Jersey. The alarm was raised at the life saving stations of Long Beach, Ship Bottom, and Beach Haven and every effort was made to save the crew of the stranded vessel, but some things went dreadfully wrong.

In this video, learn about this unknown wreck remembered only in the 1884 report of the New Jersey Life Saving Stations, and also learn a bit about how these old time stations would use the Lyle Gun to bring souls ashore.

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.

Built in 1935 and once owned by famous actor Spencer Tracy, we're taking this beautiful vintage sailboat on a voyage out to Catalina Island for 3 days. This boat can be chartered, but this wasn't a charter trip - my friend, Eric Lara, is friends with the owners of the vessel, who took us all out on this wonderful adventure. I just had to cover the food!

Mike and Pip were wonderful hosts who both knew pretty much all there is to know about both sailing and Catalina Island history.

UPDATE - just before releasing this video, I found out he's no longer chartering the vessel. That's really unfortunate, because I was already getting requests for his information!

We've all heard the touristy ghost stories surrounding the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA, but now you get to hear a selection of stories from those who have spent a significant amount of time on board. These stories are not your traditional hauntings.

By East Point Lighthouse, near Heislerville, New Jersey, sits a wreck that, despite a fairly straight-forward story, is the source of several rumors about its origins. Some say it was the tug boat "Hazel Moore", wrecked in a storm. Others say that it's a sloop from the War of 1812. The truth is a bit less glamorous, but the "Fremont" is none the less a very interesting wreckage to survey and study.

Special thanks to Nelson "Captain" Klein for all of the information and some photographs, and the Maurice River Historical Society for pointing me in the right direction.

Built in 1936, the Queen Mary is the last surviving golden age liner, functioning as a hotel in Long Beach, CA since 1971. Over the last few years I’ve visited the Queen Mary six times, often accompanied by both great friends and phenomenal historians. We’d wander the ship for hours raving over the little details we’d find and sharing stories of the ship’s history as we explored.

Let’s explore the RMS Queen Mary and listen to some of the leading historians tell her tales. Keep an eye out as well for an excerpt in here of an interview I recently shot with one of Queen Mary’s crewmen! That’s a future video of its own.

In theory, a town should be able to thrive anywhere in the world, so long as there's enough water to sustain it, right? That's what Harry L. Pierce wanted to prove in 1909, by creating a 40,000 acre, 10,000 population city in the middle of the Nevada desert, but getting the water out there turned out to be a whole different problem.

Operating with the Pacific Reclamation Company of New York City, advertising an already thriving city with orchards and farms, and partnered with the Mormon Church, Pierce was even quick to secure a railroad contract with the Southern Pacific Railroad to have a train line to the city built within the first year of its life.

The nearby Bishop Creek was dammed using rubble from the 1906 San Fransisco Earthquake, and water diverted to the town. The town began to flourish, but ranchers downstream, now deprived of the water they relied on, sued the Pacific Reclamation Company. The company was forced to limit Metropolis' water consumption, and the town began to dry up. Famine, disease, and infestation of wild animals tool its toll on the town until fire finally gave it a death blow.

Now, even most of the streets have disappeared beneath the dust and sagebrush, but the Lincoln Hotel and the old Metropolis Schoolhouse ruins have become iconic among the ghost towns of the west. The arch for the school still stands as a grave stone for this ambitious town.

Metropolis is located in Elko County, Nevada, a few miles north of Wells.

In 1912, when the RMS Titanic was the newest ship in the world, the Ning Po ("Peaceful Waters") was the oldest still-functioning ship on the seas. Built in 1753 and originally called the Kin Tai Foong ("Golden Typhoon"), this Chinese merchant Junk quickly turned pirate and smuggler, become one of the most notorious pirate ships of Asia. She was the bane of both Imperial China and the British Empire, eluding all who wished to tame her. By the early 1900's, finally being matched by the iron steam ships of the time, she was retired as a tourist attraction, touring the Los Angeles area for a few years before becoming a restaurant in Avalon on Catalina Island. She then served as a museum ship in Cat Harbor at the Isthmus on Catalina, where she eventually wrecked in a storm in the 1930's.

Much of her early history is based on legend rather than hard evidence, and much of her later history is convoluted with other ships she sat alongside, but let's dive into her what we do know and uncover what's left of her off Catalina Island. While this video does talk a bit about what's left, stay tuned for another video in the future about surveying the various wrecks across Catalina Island, including the Ning Po.

Special thanks to the Catalina Island Museum for the help with research and allowing me to use some of their photographs.

Another huge thanks to CA Wreck Divers and Steve Lawson for some of the photos

Potts Ranch, abandoned since the 1940's, stands alone in the middle of a virtually uninhabited desert valley about the size of New Jersey - the Monitor Valley in central Nevada, stretching through Nye County. Very little information on this ranch exists, but I've been able to find enough to piece together this vague history of the house and former post office. Let's explore this peaceful, windswept ruin and the geothermal vent nearby known as "Diana's Punch bowl".

Located about 40 miles north of Belmont, this was home to the Potts family from 1870 to 1940. Belmont was the nearest major population at the founding of the ranch, but by the time the ranch closed, Belmont was a ghost town as well. Behind the ranch house are several out buildings including store sheds, outhouses, and a stable, most of which likely are as old as the ranch itself.

I've been to this site three times since 2015. The ranch is on private property, but non-intrusive visitors are permitted. On the last visit, a "No Trespassing" sign was on the wall. Interior footage was shot on visits before that sign was put up.

A nearly forgotten wreck, but this disaster had quite an impact on the American Railroading industry. On a now abandoned line branching off of Philadelphia, one of the worst crashes in the Philadelphia and Reading Company's history. Let's go in-depth and uncover the full story, like never before told in video.

Deep in the New Jersey Pine Barrens are ruins of two sites right on top of each other - the old Fries Mill settlement dating back to 1770, and the ruins of the New Jersey Silica Sand Company from 1915. Let's hike out there and see what we can find.

The second of twelve concrete freighters built for the Emergency Fleet Corporation at the end of the First World War, the USS Atlantus was obsolete right from her launch. Wrecked in a storm off Cape May, NJ in 1926, I wanted to kayak out to her and explore what remains before it settles beneath the waves forever.