BERMUDA TRIANGLE
Stamps
CAP TAINS LOG
BERMUDA
MIAMI
SAN JUAN
You won't find it on an official map, won't know when you cross the line.
THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE is a very real place where dozen of
ships, planes and people have disappeared without absolute explanation. A publication first coined the phrase "Bermuda Triangle" in 1964, and sincethe mystery has continued to attract attention. When one digs deeper into each individual case, though, they're much less mysterious. Either they were never in the area to begin with, they were actually found, or there's a reasonable explanation for their disappearance.
Does this mean there's nothing to the claims of so many who have experienced odd experiences in the Bermuda Triangle? Not necessarily. Scientists have documented deviations from normal in the area and have found interesting formations on the seafloor within the Bermuda Triangle's boundaries. So, for those choosing to believe, there is plenty fuel for fire.
In this booklet, we'll look at the facts surrounding mysterious circumstances. Additionally, well explore the most common of the recited stories. Let us begin our journey of discovery.
04 Notable Incidences
Introduction 01 The Mystery 02
06 Farfetched Theories
12 Plausible Theories
14 Epilogue
INTRODUCTION. Many think of the area, also known as the Devil's Triangle, as an imaginary area. The U.S. Board of Geographic Names does not recognize the Bermuda Triangle and does not maintain ofcial les on it. However, within this imaginary area, many real vessels and the people aboard them have seemingly disappeared without explanation. The Bermuda Triangle is located off the Southeastern coast of the United States in the Atlantic Ocean, with its apexes in the vicinities of Bermuda, Miami, Florida, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, covering 500,000 sq mi.
The area may have been named after its Bermuda apex since Bermuda was once known as the "Isle of Devils." Treacherous reefs that have ensnared ships sailing too close to its shores surround Bermuda, and there are hundreds of shipwrecks in the waters that surround it.
Over the past 100 years, the Bermuda Triangle has seen what some say is a significant, inordinately high number of disappearances of planes, of ships, vessels and people. Some reports say as many as 100 transports have been declared astray, and more than 1,000 lives lost. Each circumstance is truly a source of profoundly grave mystery.
THE MYSTERY OF THE TRIANGLE probably took hold with the rst well-publicized disappearance in 1945, when ve Navy Avengers disappeared in the area. The cause of the disappearance was originally pilot error, but family members of the pilot leading the mission couldn't accept that he had made such a mistake. Eventually the Navy was convinced to change it to: "causes or reasons unknown." The myth gained momentum after reporter E.V.W. Jones compiled a list of mysterious disappearances of ships and planes between the Florida coast and Bermuda. Two years later, George X. Sand wrote an article for Fate magazine, titled Sea Mystery at our Back Door. The article was about a "series of strange marine disappearances, each leaving no trace whatsoever, that have taken place in the past few years" in a "watery triangle bounded roughly by Florida, Bermuda and Puerto Rico."
As more incidents occurred, the reputation grew and past events were reanalyzed and added to the legend. Many events were exaggerated to suit the fancy of the retelling. In 1964, Argosy Magazine gave the triangle its name in an article titled The Deadly Bermuda Triangle. Argosy Magazine's tagline is "magazine of master ction," but that did nothing to halt the spread of the myth. More articles, books, and movies have appeared, suggesting such theories ranging from alien abductions to energy crystalseven: a monstrous octopus.
Notable Incidences
ELLEN AUSTIN In 1881, the Ellen Austin came across a derelict ship, placed on board a prize crew, and attempted to sail with it to New York. According to the stories, the derelict disappeared and then reappeared minus the prize crew, thendisappeared again, with a second prize crew on board. A check from Lloyd's of London records proved the existence of the Meta, built in 1854 and that in 1880 the Meta was renamed Ellen Austin. There are no casualty listings for this vessel, or any vessel at that time, that would suggest a large number of missing men were placed on board a derelict that later disappeared.
USS CYCLOPS The single largest noncombat loss of life in the history of the US Navy occurred on March 4, 1918 when the collier USS Cyclops went missing without a trace with a crew of 309, after departing the island of Barbados. In addition, two of Cyclops's sister ships, Proteus and Nereus, were subsequently lost in the North Atlantic during World War II. Both ships were transporting heavy loads of metallic ore similar to that which was loaded on USS Cyclops. In all three cases structural failure due to overloading with a much denser cargo than designed is considered the most likely cause of sinking.
CONNEMARA IV A pleasure yacht was found adrift in the Atlantic south of Bermuda on September 26, 1955; stories tell that the crew vanished while the yacht survived being at sea during three hurricanes. The 1955 Atlantic hurricane season shows Hurricane Ione passing nearby between the 14th and 18th of that month, with Bermuda being affected by winds of almost gale force. In the second installment of his book series focusing on the Bermuda Triangle, The Dragons Triangle, author Richard Winer quotes from a letter he had received from Mr J.E. Challenor of Barbados (passage shown to left).
In Carlisle Bay, the sea in the wake of Hurricane Janet was awe-inspiring and dangerous. The owner of Connemara IV observed that she had disappeared. An investigation revealed that she had dragged her moorings and gone to sea.
CARROLL A. DEERING On January 31, 1921, the Carroll A. Deering, was found hard aground and abandoned at Diamond Shoals, near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Rumors at the time indicated the Deering was a victim of piracy, connected to the illegal rum-running trade during Prohibition, and possibly involving another ship, SS Hewitt, which disappeared at roughly the same time. Just hours later, an unknown steamer sailed near the lightship along the track of the Deering, and ignored all signals from the lightship. The SS Hewitt may have been this mystery ship, involved in the Deering crew's disappearance.
FLIGHT 19 Flight 19 was a training ight of ve TBM Avenger torpedo bombers that disappeared on December 5, 1945. The ight never returned to base. The disappearance is attributed by Navy investigators to navigational error leading to the aircraft running out of fuel. One of the search and rescue aircraft deployed to look for them, a PBM Mariner with a 13-man crew, also disappeared. A tanker off the coast of Florida reported seeing an explosion and observing a widespread oil slick when fruitlessly searching for survivors. The weather was becoming stormy by the end of the incident.
ALIENS AND ATLANTIS. As an area with one of the highest incidences of UFO
sightings, it's no wonder that alien abductions have been a popular explanation for disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle. But why this area?
Many believe that the Bermuda Triangle area is home to the lost city of Atlantis and remnants of its advanced technologies. Famous psychic Edgar Cayce said that Atlantis had many modern-day technologies, including a death ray weapon, which he claims ultimately destroyed the city. Some even say that the people who lived there were an alien race from the Pleiades star cluster.
According to legend, the city of Atlantis relied on the power of special energy crystals that were extremely powerful. The speculation is that these energy crystals are in an altered state of some kind and send out rays of energy that either confuse navigational instruments or disintegrate vehicles all together.
Farfetched Theories
MAGNETIC ABNORMALITIES. The Fog, a novel by by Rob MacGregor and Bruce Gernon
includes reports of an electronic fog that both men experienced while ying in the Bermuda Triangle. On December 4, 1970, Gernon and his father were ying to Bimini in clear skies when they saw a strange cloud with almost perfectly round edges hovering over the Miami shore. As they ew over it, the cloud began spreading out, matching or exceeding their speed. At 11,500 feet, they thought that they had escaped the cloud, only to discover that it had formed a tunnel. It appeared the only way they could escape the cloud was to go through the tunnel. Once inside, the two observed lines on the walls that spun in a counter-clockwise direction. Gernon's navigational instruments went haywire and the compass spun counterclockwise. Gernon reports:
"I realized that something very bizarre had happened. Instead of the clear blue sky that we expected at the end of the tunnel, everything appeared a dull, grayish white. Visibility appeared to be about two miles, but there was absolutely nothing to see: no ocean, no horizon, no sky, only a gray haze."
COMPASS MALFUNCTIONS. In almost every account of
the mystery surrounding the Bermuda Triangle, you will discover reference to the fact that it is one of only two places on Earth (the other being the Devil's Sea off the coast of Japan) where a compass points to true north rather than magnetic north.
A compass functions because the magnetic needle is attracted by the magnetism of the Earth, which draws it to point to the constantly shifting Magnetic North Pole. The Geographic North Pole, on the other hand, is static and is located about 1200 miles north of the Magnetic Pole. The variation between the readings is known as magnetic declination, which can change by as much as 20 degrees as you move across the globe.
The AGONIC LINE is an imaginary line where true north and magnetic north are in perfect alignment there is no magnetic declination. At points west of the agonic line, a magnetic needle will be attracted to east of true north (positive declination). At points east of the agonic line, the needle will point west of true north (negative).
In the early 18th century, astronomer Edmund Halley noticed the agonic line slowly moving westward. Since, scientists have noted a westward drift of the line with an average velocity of about 0.2 degrees per year. The drift is stronger in the Atlantic Hemisphere than in the Pacic Hemisphere. Navigators must always compensate for magnetic declination when charting their courses.
While the agonic line at one time passed through the Bermuda Triangle, it now falls within the Gulf of Mexico, rendering claims of its contribution to Triangle DIsappearances inaccurate. Calculation errors anywhere could cause a plane or ship to manuever off-course. This theory also assumes experienced pilots and captains passing through the area are unaware of magnetic declination.
Plausible Theories
Most rational explanations for the incidents in the Bermuda Triangle, including the explanations given by the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, detail human error and environmental effects. The area is one of the most highly trafcked for amateur pilots and sailors increased trafc brings an increase in accidents.
WEATHER PATTERNS. The area is subject to violent and unexpected storms and
weather changes. These short but intense storms can build up quickly, dissipate quickly, and go undetected by satellite surveillance. Waterspouts that could easily destroy a passing plane or ship are also not uncommon. A waterspout is a tornado at sea that pulls water from the ocean surface thousands of feet into the sky. Other possible environmental effects include underwater earthquakes.
TOPOGRAPHY. The underwater topography of the area may also be a factor. It goes
from a gently sloping continental shelf to an extremely deep drop-off. In fact, some of the deepest trenches in the world are found in the area of the Bermuda Triangle. Ships or planes that sink into these deep trenches might never be found.
THE GULF STREAM. In the area where the Triangle is located, the Gulf Stream is
extremely swift and turbulent. It can pose extreme navigational challenges, especially for inexperienced sailors. The Gulf Stream has been reported to move faster than 5 mph in some areas - more than fast enough to throw sailors hundreds of miles off course if they don't compensate correctly for the current. It can also quickly erase any evidence of a disaster.
METHANE GAS HYDRATES. Scientists at Cardiff University have discovered the
presence of large concentrations of methane gas trapped in the ocean floor, compounded by dying and decomposing sea organisms. The sediment contains bacteria that produce methane, which accumulates as super concentrated methane ice, called gas hydrates. The layer of ice traps the methane gas, and scientists are studying it as a potential energy source.
Within seconds of a methane gas pocket rupturing, the gas surges up and erupts on the surface without warning. If a ship is in the area of the blowout, the water beneath it would suddenly become much less dense. The vessel could sink and sediment could quickly cover it as it settles onto the sea floor. Even planes flying overhead could catch fire during such a blowout.
PIRATES. While historical pirates like Blackbeard or the fictional Captain Jack
Sparrow of "Pirates of the Caribbean" may not be likely candidates for disappearances, modern pirates might very well be. In the 1970s and '80s, drug runners often pirated boats to smuggle drugs, among other illegal goods. This theory could also bear some truth during wartime.
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08 LUNAR PHASES
Even as these theories account for the disturbancesone may still choose to believe aliens, electronic fog, beast or other supernatural phenomenon must be the origin of cause. So long as wonder exists, the Bermuda Triangle will remain a great source of fascination and mystery.
Epilogue
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