With family ties to the aftermath of the Honda Point naval disaster, admitted history nerd Lee Abbott couldn’t resist the chance to tell the story 100 years later.

The result is a documentary — “Disaster at Devil’s Jaw” — that provides a detailed dive into the events surrounding the crash of seven U.S. Navy destroyers on the rocks along the coast of today’s Vandenberg Space Force Base. 

The 1923 tragedy left 23 sailors dead, but hundreds of others survived. 

A seventh-generation Californian, Abbott had heard about the disaster while growing up. His great-grandfather, an engineer on the Southern Pacific Railroad, helped on the rescue effort.

His grandmother, then 16 and an Arroyo Grande resident, recalled going to the site with her family in their Model T car. His uncle, a scuba diver, visited the wreckage. 

“So it’s some lore that I’ve known for years, and it’s just kind of been in the background,” said Abbott, director of the documentary.

With degrees in history and art history from UCLA, Abbott calls himself “a total nerd about this stuff. I love this stuff.”

A mutual friend introduced Abbott to William “Bill” Mors, a World War II veteran and the movie’s benefactor. The pair connected over the little-known story of what 100 years later remains the Navy’s worst peacetime tragedy. 

“He and I just really hit it off. He liked my passion for it,” Abbott said.

As Abbott delved into the details of the crash, he recognized a familiar tale of history repeating itself. 

“The level of human hubris and the 127 small things all adding up to one big disaster,” Abbott said. “I don’t care if that’s a sports team or corporate America or anything. Sometimes when the boss get a little bit too big of a head and doesn’t listen to his people around him, bad things can happen.”

“It’s just a really good lesson in chain of command and how the importance of every single person on the chain is everything,” Abbott said. 

In addition to detailing the human elements that contributed to the disaster, the documentary also noted the various other factors, include vessels traveling at a high speed on a foggy night while in a follow-the-leader formation.

“The joke among sailors is the fog was so thick seagulls could walk on it,” Abbott said. 

A director and producer for more than 30 years in both scripted and reality shows, Abbott said the film marked his first feature-length documentary.

He also appeared on the Food Network’s All-Star Academy during the second season, making the finals before he got edged out.

“I’m just a big passionate guy. I just have a lot of fun things I like to do in life,” Abbott said. 

The native Santa Barbara resident who graduated from Dos Pueblos High School in 1985 returned to raise his children in his hometown.

Leaving Hollywood meant losing his umbilical cord for lining up work. The documentary job also arriving when his industry shut down due to COVID-19.

“That movie was a gift on so many levels,” he added.

The finished film includes an original music scored by long-time friend and fellow history geek Richard Patrick from Nine Inch Nails and the band Filter.

“It just gave it such a bigger cinematic feel. It just made all the difference in the world,” Abbott said.

In addition to interviewing officers in the Navy, the documentary includes interviews with Honda Point sailors’ relatives thanks to help from Greg Gorga of the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum.

‘Thankfully, they were all very enthusiastic to tell some of their family legacy,” Abbott said, noting their relatives’ heroic rescue efforts in the aftermath of the tragedy.

“I think that’s also beauty of the story. Of course, it was a massive blunder that shouldn’t have happened,” Abbott said of ships speeding at night in dense fog. 

“Once it happened, the classic story of man’s best comes out during times of crisis and what they did that only 23 souls were lost is pretty spectacular,” he added. 

One hundred years after the tragedy, Gorga, who also appears in the film, said military members who made the ultimate sacrifice need to be remembered.

But Gorga also believes the tragedy carried lessons that remain key a century later. 

“It just shows that there’s a lot of little things, and if you miss one or two of those little things, they can all add up into a huge tragedy, which is what happened here,” Gorga said.

Mors, who appears in the documentary, did not see live to see it completed. He died in 2021.

His proceeds from the film will go to the Gold Coast Veterans Foundation to carry on Mors’ goal of helping homeless veterans. 

A special screen of the film and talk by Abbott will take place at the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum, starting at 6 p.m. Thursday, but seating is extremely limited.

The documentary can be rented or purchased on streaming services such as Amazon.