It seems hard to believe there’s a graveyard for abandoned ships in New York City, but it’s true. The Arthur Kill Ship Graveyard is located on the shore of Staten Island and named after Arthur Kill, the body of water separating Staten Island from New Jersey.
And thanks to videographer Chad Aaronson—who captured breathtaking drone footage of the graveyard—we now have a unique view of this piece of eerie, forgotten New York. The slow creep of the camera reveals rusted ships littered with debris, in various states of sunkenness. At one point, a modern, sea-worthy boat glides past the graveyard, going about its business.
The site, which isn’t open to the public, was once part of a scrapyard in the years following World War II. The scrapyard began to purchase old ships to strip them for parts, but it couldn’t keep up with the number of ships, and as time went on, the old vessels fell into disrepair and were abandoned. It’s just like that scene from The Little Mermaid, minus the sharks.
