Bermuda Triangle

{{Short description|Urban legend based on region in North Atlantic}}

{{Redirect|Devil's Triangle||Devil's Triangle (disambiguation)|and|Bermuda Triangle (disambiguation)}}

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{{Infobox body of water

| name = Bermuda Triangle

| other_name = Devil's Triangle

| image = Bermuda Triangle.png

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| alt = Map showing the Bermuda Triangle, with its three points located at Bermuda in the top right, Puerto Rico in the bottom right, and the southern coast of Florida on the left.

| caption = Map of the Bermuda Triangle area

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| coords = {{Coord|25|N|71|W|scale:10000000_type:waterbody|display=inline,title}}

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{{Paranormal}}

The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a loosely defined region in the North Atlantic Ocean, roughly bounded by Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. Since the mid-20th century, it has been the focus of an urban legend suggesting that many aircraft, ships, and people have disappeared there under mysterious circumstances. However, extensive investigations by reputable sources, including the U.S. government and scientific organizations, have found no evidence of unusual activity, attributing reported incidents to natural phenomena, human error, and misinterpretation.

Origins

File:Bermuda_Triangle_map_17_Sept_1950.png article of 17 September 1950]]

The earliest suggestion of unusual disappearances in the Bermuda area appeared in an article written by Edward Van Winkle Jones of the Miami Herald that was distributed by the Associated Press and appeared in various American newspapers on 17 September 1950.{{cite news |url=http://www.physics.smu.edu/pseudo/BermudaTriangle/evwjones.html |title=Same Big World: Sea's Puzzles Still Baffle Men In Pushbutton Age |agency=Associated Press |first=E.V.W. |last=Jones |date=16 September 1950 |via=physics.smu.edu}}{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/arizona-daily-star-air-sea-mysteries-sh/137796829/ |title=Air, Sea Mysteries Show It Is Still a Big World |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=Arizona Daily Star |location=Tucson, Arizona |page=10B |date=17 September 1950 |access-date=31 December 2023 |via=newspapers.com}}{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/battle-creek-enquirer-unsolved-disappear/137797249/ |title=Unsolved Disappearances: Mysteries of Air, Sea Remind Moderns Shrinking World Still Swallows Up Men |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=Battle Creek Enquirer |location=Battle Creek, Michigan |page=II-2 |date=17 September 1950 |access-date=31 December 2023 |via=newspapers.com}}

Two years later, Fate magazine published "Sea Mystery at Our Back Door": a short article, by George X. Sand, that was the first to lay out the now-familiar triangular area where the losses took place. Sand recounted the loss of several planes and ships since World War II: the disappearance of Sandra, a tramp steamer;{{efn|Sandra disappeared in April 1950; a wreck consistent with its size and cargo was discovered in 2020.{{cite news |url=https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1492251/bermuda-triangle-discovery-missing-ship-sandra-found-flight-19-mystery-spt |title=Bermuda Triangle: 'Major discovery' as missing 200-foot ship with 'bizarre cargo' found |website=Daily Express |location=London |date=17 September 2021 |access-date=11 January 2024}}}} the December 1945 loss of Flight 19, a group of five US Navy torpedo bombers on a training mission; the January 1948 disappearance of Star Tiger, a British South American Airways (BSAA) passenger airplane; the March 1948 disappearance of a fishing skiff with three men, including jockey Albert Snider;{{efn|Sand's article refers to jockey Albert Snider as Al Snyder, and includes this disappearance although it occurred southwest of Miami in Florida Bay.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-calgary-albertan-details-of-jockeys/138497139/ |title=Details of Jockey's Disappearance Add to Mystery Surrounding Event |newspaper=The Calgary Albertan |page=10 |date=16 March 1948 |access-date=11 January 2024 |via=newspapers.com}}}} the December 1948 disappearance of an Airborne Transport DC-3 charter flight en route from Puerto Rico to Miami; and the January 1949 disappearance of Star Ariel,{{efn|Sand's article refers to Star Ariel as Aerial.}} another BSAA passenger airplane.{{cite journal |last=Sand |first=George X. |date=October 1952 |issue=31 |pages=11–17 |title=Sea Mystery at Our Back Door |journal=Fate}}

Flight 19 was covered again in the April 1962 issue of The American Legion Magazine.{{cite magazine |title=The Mystery of The Lost Patrol |magazine=The American Legion Magazine |author=Allen W. Eckert |date=April 1962}} Cited in James R. Lewis (editor), Satanism Today: An Encyclopedia of Religion, Folklore, and Popular Culture, page 72, segment by Jerome Clark (ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2001). {{ISBN|1-57607-292-4}} In it, author Allan W. Eckert wrote that the flight leader had been heard saying, "We cannot be sure of any direction ... everything is wrong ... strange ... the ocean doesn't look as it should."{{cite magazine |url=https://archive.org/details/americanlegionma724amer/page/12/mode/2up |magazine=The American Legion Magazine |title=The Mystery of the Lost Patrol |first=Allan W. |last=Eckert |author-link=Allan W. Eckert |pages=12–13, 39–41 |date=April 1962 |volume=72 |number=4 |access-date=31 December 2023 |via=Internet Archive}} In February 1964, Vincent Gaddis wrote an article called "The Deadly Bermuda Triangle" in Argosy saying Flight 19 and other disappearances were part of a pattern of strange events in the region, dating back to at least 1840.{{cite magazine |last=Gaddis |first=Vincent |title=The Deadly Bermuda Triangle |magazine=Argosy |year=1964 |url=https://www.physics.smu.edu/~pseudo/BermudaTriangle/vincentgaddis.txt |via=physics.smu.edu}}{{Cite book |last=Regal |first=Brian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c6PACQAAQBAJ |title=Pseudoscience: A Critical Encyclopedia |date=15 October 2009 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-35508-0 |pages=36–38 |language=en |chapter=Bermuda Triangle}} The next year, Gaddis expanded this article into a book, Invisible Horizons.{{cite book |author=Gaddis |first=Vincent |title=Invisible Horizons |year=1965 |publisher=Chilton Company |asin=B0088JSBII}}

Other writers elaborated on Gaddis' ideas, including John Wallace Spencer (Limbo of the Lost, 1969, repr. 1973);Spencer, 1969. Charles Berlitz (The Bermuda Triangle, 1974);Berlitz, 1974. and Richard Winer (The Devil's Triangle, 1974).{{harvnb|Winer|1974}} Various of these authors incorporated supernatural elements.{{cite journal |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-12789881_ITM |title=Strange fish: the scientifiction of Charles F. Berlitz, 1913–2003 |last=Hagen |first=L. Kirk |journal=Skeptic |location=Altadena, CA |date=March 2004| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071109201602/http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-12789881_ITM| archive-date=9 November 2007 |via=Wayback Machine}}

=Triangle area=

Sand's article in Fate described the area as "a watery triangle bounded roughly by Florida, Bermuda and Puerto Rico".{{rp|12}} The Argosy article by Gaddis further delineated the boundaries, giving its vertices as Miami, San Juan, and Bermuda. Subsequent writers did not necessarily follow this definition.{{cite web |title=Frequently Asked Questions: Bermuda Triangle Fact Sheet |year=1998 |url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/Reading_Room/UFO/195.pdf |publisher=US Department of Defense |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121111220/http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/Reading_Room/UFO/195.pdf |archive-date=21 November 2016}} Some writers gave different boundaries and vertices to the triangle, with the total area varying from {{convert|1.3|to|3.9|e6km2|abbr=unit}}. "Indeed, some writers even stretch it as far as the Irish coast," according to a 1977 BBC program.{{cite episode |series=NOVA / Horizon |title=The Case of the Bermuda Triangle |airdate=27 June 1976 |network=PBS |url=https://archive.org/details/caseofthebermudatrianglereel1}} Consequently, the determination of which accidents occurred inside the triangle depends on which writer reported them.

Criticism of the concept

= <span class="anchor" id="Kusche's explanation"></span> Larry Kusche =

Larry Kusche, author of The Bermuda Triangle Mystery: Solved (1975),Kusche, 1975. argued that many claims of Gaddis and subsequent writers were exaggerated, dubious or unverifiable. Kusche's research revealed a number of inaccuracies and inconsistencies between Berlitz's accounts and statements from eyewitnesses, participants, and others involved in the initial incidents. Kusche noted cases where pertinent information went unreported, such as the disappearance of round-the-world yachtsman Donald Crowhurst, which Berlitz had presented as a mystery, despite clear evidence to the contrary. Another example was the ore-carrier recounted by Berlitz as lost without trace three days out of an Atlantic port when in fact it had been lost three days out of a port with the same name in the Pacific Ocean. Kusche also argued that a large percentage of the incidents that sparked allegations of the Triangle's mysterious influence actually occurred well outside it. Often his research was simple: he would review period newspapers of the dates of reported incidents and find reports on possibly relevant events, like unusual weather, that were never mentioned in the disappearance stories.

Kusche concluded:

  • The number of ships and aircraft reported missing in the area was not significantly greater, proportionally speaking, than in any other part of the ocean.
  • In an area frequented by tropical cyclones, the number of disappearances that did occur were, for the most part, neither disproportionate, unlikely, nor mysterious.
  • Furthermore, Berlitz and other writers often failed to mention such storms and sometimes even represented the disappearance as having happened in calm conditions when meteorological records clearly contradict this.
  • The numbers themselves had been exaggerated by sloppy research. A boat's disappearance, for example, would be reported, but its eventual (if belated) return to port may not have been.
  • Some alleged disappearances were, in reality, not mysterious. Berlitz found that one plane believed to have disappeared in 1937 had, in fact, crashed off Daytona Beach, Florida, in front of hundreds of witnesses.{{cite web |title=Crash of a Douglas DC-2-112 in Daytona Beach: 4 killed |url=https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-douglas-dc-2-112-daytona-beach-4-killed |publisher=Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives}}
  • The legend of the Bermuda Triangle is a manufactured mystery, perpetuated by writers who either purposely or unknowingly made use of misconceptions, faulty reasoning, and sensationalism.

=Further responses=

When the British Channel 4 television program The Bermuda Triangle (1992){{cite web |url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/477884 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090527110149/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/477884 |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 May 2009 |title=Equinox: The Bermuda Triangle |access-date=6 December 2012}} was being produced by John Simmons of Geofilms for the Equinox series, the marine insurance market Lloyd's of London was asked if an unusually large number of ships had sunk in the Bermuda Triangle area. Lloyd's determined that large numbers of ships had not sunk there. Lloyd's does not charge higher rates for passing through this area. United States Coast Guard records confirm their conclusion. In fact, the number of supposed disappearances is relatively insignificant considering the number of ships and aircraft that pass through on a regular basis.

The Coast Guard is also officially skeptical of the Triangle, noting that they collect and publish, through their inquiries, much documentation contradicting many of the incidents written about by the Triangle authors. In one such incident involving the 1972 explosion and sinking of the tanker {{SS|V. A. Fogg||2}}, the Coast Guard photographed the wreck and recovered several bodies,{{cite web |url=http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-m/moa/boards/vafog.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030321022820/http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-m/moa/boards/vafog.pdf |archive-date=21 March 2003 |url-status=dead |title=Marine Casualty Report: SS V. A. Fogg: Sinking in the Gulf of Mexico on 1 February 1972 with Loss of Life |publisher=United States Coast Guard |access-date=13 January 2022}} in contrast with one Triangle author's claim that all the bodies had vanished, with the exception of the captain, who was found sitting in his cabin at his desk, clutching a coffee cup. In addition, V. A. Fogg sank off the coast of Texas, nowhere near the commonly accepted boundaries of the Triangle.

Nova/Horizon aired the episode "The Case of the Bermuda Triangle" on 27 June 1976. The episode was highly critical, stating that "When we've gone back to the original sources or the people involved, the mystery evaporates. Science does not have to answer questions about the Triangle because those questions are not valid in the first place ... Ships and planes behave in the Triangle the same way they behave everywhere else in the world."

Skeptical researchers, such as Ernest Taves{{cite journal |last=Taves |first=Ernest H. |journal=The Skeptical Inquirer |year=1978 |volume=111 |issue=1 |pages=75–76}}{{Full citation needed|date=October 2024}} and Barry Singer,{{cite journal |last=Singer |first=Barry |year=1979 |title= |journal=The Humanist |volume=XXXIX |issue=3 |pages=44–45}}{{Full citation needed|date=October 2024}} have noted how mysteries and the paranormal are very popular and profitable. This has led to the production of vast amounts of material on topics such as the Bermuda Triangle. They were able to show that some of the pro-paranormal material is often misleading or inaccurate, but its producers continue to market it. Accordingly, they have claimed that the market is biased in favor of books, TV specials, and other media that support the Triangle mystery, and against well-researched material if it espouses a skeptical viewpoint.

In a 2013 study, the World Wide Fund for Nature identified the world's 10 most dangerous waters for shipping, but the Bermuda Triangle was not among them.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22806362 |title=Study finds shipwrecks threaten precious seas |date=7 June 2013|access-date = 7 June 2013 |publisher=BBC News/science}}{{cite journal |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/0610/Bermuda-Triangle-doesn-t-make-the-cut-on-list-of-world-s-most-dangerous-oceans |title=Bermuda Triangle doesn't make the cut on list of world's most dangerous oceans |journal=The Christian Science Monitor | access-date=22 March 2016 |date=10 June 2013}}

Benjamin Radford, an author and scientific paranormal investigator, noted in an interview on the Bermuda Triangle that it could be very difficult to locate an aircraft lost at sea due to the vast search area, and although the disappearance might be mysterious, that did not make it paranormal or unexplainable. Radford further noted the importance of double-checking information as the mystery surrounding the Bermuda Triangle had been created by people who had neglected to do so.{{cite web |last=Radford |first=Benjamin |author-link=Benjamin Radford |title=Lessons From A Middle School Bermuda Triangle Q&A |url=https://centerforinquiry.org/blog/lessons_from_a_middle_school_bermuda_triangle_qa/ |website=Center for Inquiry |date=22 February 2016 |access-date=21 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191121050210/https://centerforinquiry.org/blog/lessons_from_a_middle_school_bermuda_triangle_qa/ |archive-date=21 November 2019}}

NOAA attributes most Bermuda Triangle disappearances to environmental factors such as hurricanes, sudden weather shifts from the Gulf Stream, and hazardous shallow waters. The U.S. Navy dismisses supernatural claims, emphasizing natural causes and human error. Additionally, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names does not list the Bermuda Triangle as an official location, given the lack of evidence distinguishing it from other ocean regions.{{Cite web |last=US Department of Commerce |first=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |title=What is the Bermuda Triangle? |url=https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/bermudatri.html |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=oceanservice.noaa.gov |language=EN-US}}

Hypothetical explanation attempts

Persons accepting the Bermuda Triangle as a real phenomenon have offered a number of explanatory approaches.

=Paranormal explanations=

Triangle writers have used a number of supernatural concepts to explain the events. One explanation pins the blame on leftover technology from the mythical lost city or state of Atlantis. Sometimes connected to the Atlantis story is the submerged rock formation known as the Bimini Road off the island of Bimini in the Bahamas, which is in the Triangle by some definitions. Followers of the purported psychic Edgar Cayce take his prediction that evidence of Atlantis would be found in 1968 as referring to the discovery of the Bimini Road. Believers describe the formation as a road, wall, or other structure, but the Bimini Road is of natural origin.{{cite journal |first=Eugene A. |last=Shinn |url=http://www.csicop.org/si/2004-01/geologists-adventures.html |title=A Geologist's Adventures with Bimini Beachrock and Atlantis True Believers |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |via=Committee for Skeptical Inquiry |location=Amherst, New York |date=January 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070406124939/http://www.csicop.org/si/2004-01/geologists-adventures.html |archive-date=6 April 2007}}

Some hypothesize that a parallel universe exists in the Bermuda Triangle region, causing a time/space warp that sucks the objects around it into a parallel universe.{{cite web |last=Michel |first=Desmarquet |title=Disappearances of People and Ships in the Bermuda Triangle May Be Caused by a Warp Sucking Them Into a Parallel Universe |url=https://www.chinasona.org/Thiaoouba/Bermuda-triangle.html |access-date=7 January 2022}} Others attribute the events to UFOs.{{cite web |last=Booth |first=Billy |title=UFO Hovers over Ship in the Bermuda Triangle |url=http://ufos.about.com/od/classicufocases/a/bermudatriangle.htm |publisher=About.com |access-date=13 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081008115012/http://ufos.about.com/od/classicufocases/a/bermudatriangle.htm |archive-date=8 October 2008 |date=29 June 2008 |url-status=usurped}}{{cite journal |last=Cochran-Smith |first=Marilyn |year=2003 |title=Bermuda Triangle: dichotomy, mythology, and amnesia |journal=Journal of Teacher Education |publisher=SAGE Publications |location=Thousand Oaks, California |volume=54 |doi=10.1177/0022487103256793 |page=275 |issue=4 |s2cid=145707847}} Charles Berlitz, author of various books on anomalous phenomena, lists several theories attributing the losses in the Triangle to anomalous or unexplained forces.

=Natural explanations=

==Compass variations==

Compass issues are frequently cited in accounts of Triangle incidents. While some have theorized that unusual local magnetic anomalies may exist in the area,{{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq8-1.htm |title=Bermuda Triangle |publisher=US Navy|access-date=26 May 2009|archive-date=2 August 2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020802035846/http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq8-1.htm|url-status=dead}} such anomalies have not been found. Compasses have natural magnetic variations in relation to the magnetic poles, a fact that navigators have known for centuries. Magnetic (compass) north and geographic (true) north are exactly the same only for a small number of places – for example, {{as of|2000|lc=y}}, in the United States, only those places on a line running from Wisconsin to the Gulf of Mexico.{{cite web |title=National Geomagnetism Program | Charts | North America | Declination |publisher=United States Geological Survey |url=http://geomag.usgs.gov/charts/IGRF2000.dec.na.pdf|access-date=28 February 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527143024/http://geomag.usgs.gov/charts/IGRF2000.dec.na.pdf|archive-date=27 May 2010}} But the public may not be as informed, and think there is something mysterious about a compass "changing" across an area as large as the Triangle, which it naturally will.

==Gulf Stream==

File:Gulfstream1.jpg

The Gulf Stream (Florida Current) is a major surface current, primarily driven by thermohaline circulation that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and then flows through the Straits of Florida into the North Atlantic. In essence, it is a river within an ocean, and, like a river, it can and does carry floating objects.{{harvnb|Winer|1974|pp=145–146}} It has a maximum surface velocity of about {{cvt|2|m/s}}.{{cite web |last=Phillips |first=Pamela |title=The Gulf Stream |url=http://fermi.jhuapl.edu/student/phillips/ |publisher=USNA/Johns Hopkins|access-date=2 August 2007}} A small plane making a water landing or a boat having engine trouble can be carried away from its reported position by the current.{{harvnb|ref=Berlitz, 1974|Berlitz|1974|p=77}}

==Human error==

One of the most cited explanations in official inquiries as to the loss of any aircraft or vessel is human error.{{cite web |url=https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/12/bermuda-triangle-mystery-disappearance/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106185325/https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/12/bermuda-triangle-mystery-disappearance/ |url-access=subscription |archive-date=6 November 2018 |title=Bermuda Triangle: Behind the Intrigue |work=National Geographic News |access-date=13 January 2023 |date=15 December 2003 |last=Mayell |first=Hillary |publisher=National Geographic Society}} Human stubbornness may have caused businessman Harvey Conover to lose his sailing yacht, Revonoc, as he sailed into the teeth of a storm south of Florida on 1 January 1958.{{cite book |last=Scott |first=Captain Thomas A. |title=Histories & Mysteries: The Shipwrecks of Key Largo |publisher=Best Publishing Company |year=1994 |isbn=0941332330 |edition=1st |pages=124}}

==Violent weather==

File:Atlantic hurricane tracks.jpg

Hurricanes are powerful storms which form in tropical waters and have historically cost thousands of lives and caused billions of dollars in damage. The sinking of Francisco de Bobadilla's Spanish fleet in 1502 was the first recorded instance of a destructive hurricane.{{Harvnb|Winer|1974|pages=25–28}} These storms have in the past caused a number of incidents related to the Triangle. Many Atlantic hurricanes pass through the Triangle as they recurve off the Eastern Seaboard, and, before the advent of weather satellites, ships often had little to no warning of a hurricane's approach.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A2LNDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT23 |title=Taming the Atlantic: The History of Man's Battle With the World's Toughest Ocean |last=Pike |first=Dan |publisher=Pen and Sword Books |date=2017|access-date=26 September 2023 |pages=23–24 |isbn=978-1-52670-085-8}}

A powerful downdraft of cold air was suspected to be a cause in the sinking of Pride of Baltimore on 14 May 1986. The crew of the sunken vessel noted the wind suddenly shifted and increased velocity from {{cvt|32|kph}} to {{cvt|97|-|145|kph}}. A National Hurricane Center satellite specialist, James Lushine, stated "during very unstable weather conditions the downburst of cold air from aloft can hit the surface like a bomb, exploding outward like a giant squall line of wind and water."{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=h8wlAAAAIBAJ&pg=1085,6357771 |title=Downdraft likely sank clipper, The Miami News, May 23, 1986, p. 6A|access-date=1 October 2014}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

==Methane hydrates==

{{Further|Methane clathrate}}

File:Gas hydrates 1996.svg]]

An explanation for some of the disappearances has focused on the presence of large fields of methane hydrates (a form of natural gas) on the continental shelves.{{cite journal |osti=616279 |title=Office of Scientific & Technical Information, OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy, DOE |journal=Petroleum Engineer International |volume=71 |issue=3 |publisher=OTSI |date=March 1998 |last1=Gruy |first1=H. J.}} Laboratory experiments carried out in Australia have proven that bubbles can, indeed, sink a scale model ship by decreasing the density of the water,{{cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna3226787 |title=Could methane bubbles sink ships? |date=21 October 2003 |publisher=Monash Univ.}}{{cite web |last=Dowling |first=Jason |date=23 October 2003 |title=Bermuda Triangle mystery solved? It's a load of gas |url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/10/22/1066631498889.html |work=The Age}}{{cite web |last=Aym |first=Terrence |date=6 August 2010 |title=How Brilliant Computer Scientists Solved the Bermuda Triangle Mystery |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna3226787 |publisher=Salem-News.com}} and any wreckage would be deposited on the ocean floor or rapidly dispersed by the Gulf Stream. It has been hypothesized that periodic methane eruptions (sometimes called "mud volcanoes") may produce regions of frothy water that are no longer capable of providing adequate buoyancy for ships. If this were the case, such an area forming around a ship could cause it to sink very rapidly and without warning.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zz3jCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA87 |title=Investigating Seafloors and Oceans: From Mud Volcanoes to Giant Squid |last=Antony |first=Joseph |publisher=Elsevier |date=2017|access-date=26 September 2023 |page=87 |isbn=978-0-12-809357-3}}

Publications by the USGS describe large stores of undersea hydrates worldwide, including the Blake Ridge area, off the coast of the southeastern United States.{{cite web |last1=Paull |first1=C.K. |last2=W.P. |first2=D. |year=1981 |title=Appearance and distribution of the gas hydrate reflection in the Blake Ridge region, offshore southeastern United States |url=https://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/hydrates/usgspubs.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218231421/http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/hydrates/usgspubs.html |archive-date=18 February 2012 |work=Gas Hydrates at the USGS |publisher=Woods Hole |id=MF-1252.}} However, according to the USGS, no large releases of gas hydrates are believed to have occurred in the Bermuda Triangle for the past 15,000 years.{{cite web |url=https://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/hydrates/bermuda.html| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121023070855/http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/hydrates/bermuda.html| archive-date = 23 October 2012 |title=Bermuda Triangle |work=Gas Hydrates at the USGS |publisher=Woods Hole}}

Notable incidents

{{Main|List of Bermuda Triangle incidents}}

=HMS ''Atalanta''=

{{Main|HMS Juno (1844)}}

File:The missing Training Ship, HMS 'Atlanta' - The Graphic 1880.jpg, 1880]]

The sail training ship HMS Atalanta (originally named HMS Juno) disappeared with her entire crew after setting sail from the Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda for Falmouth, England on 31 January 1880.{{cite web |url=https://dawlishchronicles.com/2020/05/01/training-tragedies-hms-eurydice-and-hms-atalanta |title=Training Tragedies: the Losses of HMS Eurydice and HMS Atalanta |last=Vanner |first=Antoine |date=1 May 2020 |website=The Dawlish Chronicles |access-date=27 July 2021 |archive-date=27 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210727234155/https://dawlishchronicles.com/2020/05/01/training-tragedies-hms-eurydice-and-hms-atalanta/ |url-status=dead }} It was presumed that she sank in a powerful storm which crossed her route a couple of weeks after she sailed, and that her crew being composed primarily of inexperienced trainees may have been a contributing factor. The search for evidence of her fate attracted worldwide attention at the time (connection is also often made to the 1878 loss of the training ship HMS Eurydice, which foundered after departing the Royal Naval Dockyard in Bermuda for Portsmouth on 6 March), and she was alleged decades later to have been a victim of the mysterious triangle, an allegation resoundingly refuted by the research of author David Francis Raine in 1997.{{cite book |last=Raine |first=David Francis |author-link=David Francis Raine |date=1 January 1997 |title=Solved!: The Greatest Sea Mystery of All |location=Bermuda |publisher=Pompano Publications |page= |isbn=9780921962151}}{{cite news |last=Hainey |first=Raymond |date=9 February 2011 |title=Solving a mystery of military blunder |url=https://www.royalgazette.com/other/lifestyle/article/20110209/solving-a-mystery-of-military-blunder/ |work=The Royal Gazette, city of Hamilton, Pembroke, Bermuda |location=Bermuda |access-date=27 July 2021}}{{cite web |url=https://bermudatrianglecentral.blogspot.com/2011/04/hms-atalanta.html |title=HMS Atalanta, January 31, 1880 |author= |date=13 April 2011 |website=Bermuda Triangle Central |publisher=Hungry Hart Productions |access-date=27 July 2021}}{{cite book |last=Quasar |first=Gian J. |date=2003 |title=Into the Bermuda Triangle: Pursuing the Truth Behind the World's Greatest Mystery |url=https://archive.org/details/intobermudatrian00gian/page/55/ |via=Internet Archive Digital Library |publisher=International Marine/McGraw Hill |pages=55, 56 |isbn=9780071467032}}{{cite web |url=https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/18797/quick-10-10-incidents-bermuda-triangle |title=The Quick 10: 10 Incidents at the Bermuda Triangle |last=Conradt |first=Stacy |date=6 June 2008 |website=Mental Floss |access-date=27 July 2021}}

=USS ''Cyclops''=

{{main|USS Cyclops (AC-4)}}

The incident resulting in the single largest loss of life in the history of the US Navy not related to combat occurred when the collier Cyclops, carrying a full load of manganese ore and with one engine out of action, went missing without a trace with a crew of 306 sometime after 4 March 1918, after departing the island of Barbados. Although there is no strong evidence for any single theory, many independent theories exist, some blaming storms, some capsizing, and some suggesting that wartime enemy activity was to blame for the loss.{{cite web |url=http://website.lineone.net/~dmerrill/html/bermuda_triangle.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20021124223248/http://website.lineone.net/~dmerrill/html/bermuda_triangle.html |url-status = dead |archive-date = 24 November 2002 |title=Bermuda Triangle |publisher=D Merrill}}{{cite web |url=http://www.bermudacruises.net/bermuda-information/myths_folklore.htm |archive-url = https://archive.today/20090610083610/http://www.bermudacruises.net/bermuda-information/myths_folklore.htm |url-status = dead |archive-date = 10 June 2009 |title=Myths and Folklore of Bermuda |publisher=Bermuda Cruises |access-date = 24 July 2006}} In addition, two of Cyclops{{'}}s sister ships, {{USS|Proteus|AC-9|2}} and {{USS|Nereus|AC-10|2}}, 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 Cyclops during her fatal voyage.{{harvnb|ref=Kusche, 1975|Kusche|1975|pp=93–94}} In all three cases structural failure due to overloading with a much denser cargo than designed is considered the most likely cause of sinking.

=''Carroll A. Deering''=

{{main|Carroll A. Deering}}

File:deering2.jpg Carroll A. Deering, as seen from the Cape Lookout lightvessel on 29 January 1921, two days before she was found deserted in North Carolina. (US Coast Guard)]]

Carroll A. Deering, a five-masted schooner built in 1919, was found hard aground and abandoned at Diamond Shoals, near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, on 31 January 1921. FBI investigation into the Deering scrutinized, then ruled out, multiple theories as to why and how the ship was abandoned, including piracy, domestic Communist sabotage and the involvement of rum-runners.{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalparks.org/connect/blog/legend-ghost-ship-carroll-deering |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151209123222/https://www.nationalparks.org/connect/blog/legend-ghost-ship-carroll-deering |archive-date=9 December 2015 |title=The Legend Of The Ghost Ship: Carroll A. Deering |author= |date=2 November 2015 |website=National Park Foundation |access-date=13 January 2023}}

=Flight 19=

{{main|Flight 19}}

File:Grumman TBF-1 Avengers of VGS-29 in flight over Norfolk, Virginia (USA), on 1 September 1942 (80-G-427475).jpg

Flight 19 was a training flight of five TBM Avenger torpedo bombers that disappeared on 5 December 1945, while over the Atlantic. The squadron's flight plan was scheduled to take them due east from Fort Lauderdale for {{cvt|141|mi}}, north for {{cvt|73|mi}}, and then back over a final {{cvt|140|mi|4=0}} leg to complete the exercise. The flight never returned to base. The disappearance was 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{{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq15-1.htm |title=The Loss of Flight 19 |publisher=history.navy.mil| access-date = 20 September 2006| archive-date = 13 April 2009| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090413074152/http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq15-1.htm| url-status = dead}} and observing a widespread oil slick when fruitlessly searching for survivors. The weather was becoming stormy by the end of the incident.{{cite web |url=http://www.bermuda-triangle.org/html/the_disappearance_of_flight_19.html |title=The Disappearance of Flight 19 |work=Bermuda-Triangle.Org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060819190905/http://www.bermuda-triangle.org/html/the_disappearance_of_flight_19.html |archive-date=19 August 2006 |access-date=26 June 2018 |url-status=dead}} According to contemporaneous sources, the Mariner had a history of explosions due to vapor leaks when heavily loaded with fuel, as it might have been for a potentially long search-and-rescue operation.{{cite web |url=https://www.smh.com.au/traveller/reviews-and-advice/the-strange-tale-of-flight-19--the-mystery-that-sparked-the-bermuda-triangle-myth-20201215-h1stmu.html |title=The strange tale of Flight 19 – the mystery that sparked the Bermuda Triangle myth |last=Leadbeater |first=Chris |work=Sydney Morning Herald |date=16 December 2020|access-date=26 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230926073624/https://www.smh.com.au/traveller/reviews-and-advice/the-strange-tale-of-flight-19--the-mystery-that-sparked-the-bermuda-triangle-myth-20201215-h1stmu.html|archive-date=26 September 2023|url-status=live}}

=''Star Tiger'' and ''Star Ariel''=

{{Main|BSAA Star Tiger disappearance|BSAA Star Ariel disappearance}}

G-AHNP Star Tiger disappeared on 30 January 1948, on a flight from the Azores to Bermuda; G-AGRE Star Ariel disappeared on 17 January 1949, on a flight from Bermuda to Kingston, Jamaica. Both were Avro Tudor IV passenger aircraft operated by British South American Airways.{{cite web |url=http://www.bermuda-triangle.org/html/the_tudors.html |title=The Tudors |work=Bermuda-Triangle.Org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190929153837/http://www.bermuda-triangle.org/html/the_tudors.html |archive-date=29 September 2019 |access-date=26 June 2018 |url-status=dead}} Both planes were operating at the very limits of their range and the slightest error or fault in the equipment could keep them from reaching the small island.

=Douglas DC-3=

{{Main|1948 Airborne Transport DC-3 disappearance}}

On 28 December 1948, a Douglas DC-3 aircraft, number NC16002, disappeared while on a flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Miami. No trace of the aircraft, or the 32 people on board, was ever found. A Civil Aeronautics Board investigation found there was insufficient information available on which to determine probable cause of the disappearance.{{cite web |url=http://www.avsaf.org/reports/US/1948.12.28_AirborneTransport_DouglasDC-3.pdf#search=%22Airborne%20Transport%2C%20December%2028%2C%201948%2C%20Miami%2C%20Florida%22 |title=Airborne Transport, Miami, December 1948 |publisher=Civil Aeronautics Board |format=PDF|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070103193538/http://www.avsaf.org/reports/US/1948.12.28_AirborneTransport_DouglasDC-3.pdf|archive-date=3 January 2007|access-date=5 October 2015}}

=''Connemara IV''=

A pleasure yacht was found adrift in the Atlantic south of Bermuda on 26 September 1955; it is usually stated in the stories (Berlitz, Winer) 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 14 and 18 September, with Bermuda being affected by winds of almost gale force. In his second book on the Bermuda Triangle, Winer quoted from a letter he had received from Mr J.E. Challenor of Barbados:{{harvnb|Winer|1975|pp=95–96}}

{{Blockquote|On the morning of September 22, Connemara IV was lying to a heavy mooring in the open roadstead of Carlisle Bay. Because of the approaching hurricane, the owner strengthened the mooring ropes and put out two additional anchors. There was little else he could do, as the exposed mooring was the only available anchorage. ... 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.}}

=KC-135 Stratotankers=

On 28 August 1963, a pair of US Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft collided and crashed into the Atlantic {{Convert|300|mi}} west of Bermuda.{{ASN accident|title=61-0322|id=19630828-1|access-date=2 February 2013}}{{ASN accident|title=61-0319|id=19630828-0|access-date=2 February 2013}} Some writers say that while the two aircraft did collide, there were two distinct crash sites, separated by over {{convert|160|mi|km}} of water. However, Kusche's research showed that the unclassified version of the Air Force investigation report revealed that the debris field defining the second "crash site" was examined by a search and rescue ship, and found to be a mass of seaweed and driftwood tangled in an old buoy.

See also

Notes

{{notelist}}

References

=Citations=

{{Reflist|30em}}

=Bibliography=

The incidents cited above, apart from the official documentation, come from the following works. Some incidents mentioned as having taken place within the Triangle are found only in these sources:

  • {{cite book |title=Bermuda Shipwrecks |year=2000 |first=Daniel |last=Berg |isbn=0961616741 |ref=Berg, 2000 |publisher=Aqua Explorers |location=East Rockaway, NY}}
  • {{cite book |title=The Bermuda Triangle |first=Charles |last=Berlitz |isbn=0385041144 |publisher=Doubleday |year=1974 |edition=1st |ref=Berlitz, 1974 |author-link=Charles Berlitz |url=https://archive.org/details/bermudatriangle00berl}}
  • {{cite book |title=The Evidence for the Bermuda Triangle |year=1984 |first=David |last=((Group)) |isbn=0-85030-413-X |ref=Group, 1984 |publisher=Aquarian Press |location=Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, UK}}
  • {{cite book |title=The Bermuda Triangle |year=1975 |first=Adi-Kent Thomas |last=Jeffrey |publisher=Warner Paperback Library |isbn=0446599611 |ref=Jeffrey, 1975}}
  • {{cite book |title=The Bermuda Triangle Mystery Solved |year=1975 |first=Lawrence David |last=Kusche |isbn=0879759712 |publisher=Prometheus Books |location=Buffalo, NY |ref=Kusche, 1975}}
  • {{cite book |title=Into the Bermuda Triangle: Pursuing the Truth Behind the World's Greatest Mystery |first=Gian J. |last=Quasar |publisher=International Marine / Ragged Mountain Press |year=2003 |isbn=0-07-142640-X |ref=Quasar, 2003 |url=https://archive.org/details/intobermudatrian00gian}} Reprinted in paperback in 2005; {{ISBN|0-07-145217-6}}.
  • {{cite book |title=Limbo of the Lost |first=John Wallace |last=Spencer |isbn=0-686-10658-X |year=1969 |ref=Spencer, 1969}}
  • {{cite book |title=The Devil's Triangle |year=1974 |first=Richard |last=Winer |publisher=Bantam Books| author-link = Richard Winer |isbn=0-553-10688-0| url-access = registration |url=https://archive.org/details/devilstriangle0000wine}}
  • {{cite book |title=The Devil's Triangle 2 |year=1975 |first=Richard |last=Winer| author-link = Richard Winer |isbn=0-553-02464-7}}

Further reading

{{Refbegin|2}}

= Newspaper articles =

ProQuest has newspaper source material for many incidents, archived in Portable Document Format (PDF). The newspapers include The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlanta Constitution. To access this website, registration is required, usually through a library connected to a college or university.

; Flight 19

  • "Great Hunt on for 27 Navy Fliers Missing in Five Planes Off Florida", The New York Times, 7 December 1945.
  • "Wide Hunt for 27 Men in Six Navy Planes", The Washington Post, 7 December 1945.
  • "Fire Signals Seen in Area of Lost Men", The Washington Post, 9 December 1945.

; SS Cotopaxi

  • "Lloyd's posts Cotopaxi as 'Missing'", The New York Times, 7 January 1926.
  • "Efforts to Locate Missing Ship Fail", The Washington Post, 6 December 1925.
  • "Lighthouse Keepers Seek Missing Ship", The Washington Post, 7 December 1925.
  • "53 on Missing Craft Are Reported Saved", The Washington Post, 13 December 1925.

; USS Cyclops (AC-4)

  • "Cold High Winds Do $25,000 Damage", The Washington Post, 11 March 1918.
  • "Collier Overdue a Month", The New York Times, 15 April 1918.
  • "More Ships Hunt for Missing Cyclops", The New York Times, 16 April 1918.
  • "Haven't Given Up Hope for Cyclops", The New York Times, 17 April 1918.
  • "Collier Cyclops Is Lost; 293 Persons On Board; Enemy Blow Suspected", The Washington Post, 15 April 1918.
  • "U.S. Consul Gottschalk Coming to Enter the War", The Washington Post, 15 April 1918.
  • "Cyclops Skipper Teuton, 'Tis Said", The Washington Post, 16 April 1918.
  • "Fate of Ship Baffles", The Washington Post, 16 April 1918.
  • "Steamer Met Gale on Cyclops' Course", The Washington Post, 19 April 1918.

; Carroll A. Deering

  • "Piracy Suspected in Disappearance of 3 American Ships", The New York Times, 21 June 1921.
  • [https://www.nytimes.com/1921/06/22/archives/bath-owners-skeptical-give-little-credence-to-theory-that-pirates.html "Bath Owners Skeptical"] {{subscription}}, The New York Times, 22 June 1921. piera antonella
  • "Deering Skipper's Wife Caused Investigation", The New York Times, 22 June 1921.
  • "More Ships Added To Mystery List", The New York Times, 22 June 1921.
  • "Hunt On For Pirates", The Washington Post, 21 June 1921
  • "Comb Seas For Ships", The Washington Post, 22 June 1921.
  • "Port Of Missing Ships Claims 3000 Yearly", The Washington Post, 10 July 1921.

; Wreckers

  • {{"'}}Wreckreation' Was the Name of the Game That Flourished 100 Years Ago", The New York Times, 30 March 1969.

; S.S. Suduffco

  • "To Search for Missing Freighter", The New York Times, 11 April 1926.
  • "Abandon Hope for Ship", The New York Times, 28 April 1926.

; Star Tiger and Star Ariel

  • "Hope Wanes in Sea Search for 28 Aboard Lost Airliner", The New York Times, 31 January 1948.
  • "72 Planes Search Sea for Airliner", The New York Times, 19 January 1949.

; DC-3 Airliner NC16002 disappearance

  • "30-Passenger Airliner Disappears in Flight from San Juan To Miami", The New York Times, 29 December 1948.
  • "Check Cuba Report of Missing Airliner", The New York Times, 30 December 1948.
  • "Airliner Hunt Extended", The New York Times, 31 December 1948.

; Harvey Conover and Revonoc

  • "Search Continuing for Conover Yawl", The New York Times, 8 January 1958.
  • "Yacht Search Goes On", The New York Times, 9 January 1958.
  • "Yacht Search Pressed", The New York Times, 10 January 1958.
  • "Conover Search Called Off", The New York Times, 15 January 1958.

; KC-135 Stratotankers

  • "Second Area Of Debris Found In Hunt For Jets", The New York Times, 31 August 1963.
  • "Hunt For Tanker Jets Halted", The New York Times, 3 September 1963.
  • "Planes Debris Found In Jet Tanker Hunt", The Washington Post, 30 August 1963.

; B-52 Bomber (Pogo 22)

  • "U.S.-Canada Test of Air Defence a Success", The New York Times, 16 October 1961.
  • "Hunt For Lost B-52 Bomber Pushed In New Area", The New York Times, 17 October 1961.
  • "Bomber Hunt Pressed", The New York Times, 18 October 1961.
  • "Bomber Search Continuing", The New York Times, 19 October 1961.
  • "Hunt For Bomber Ends", The New York Times, 20 October 1961.

; Charter vessel Sno'Boy

  • "Plane Hunting Boat Sights Body In Sea", The New York Times, 7 July 1963.
  • "Search Abandoned For 40 On Vessel Lost In Caribbean", The New York Times, 11 July 1963.
  • "Search Continues For Vessel With 55 Aboard In Caribbean", The Washington Post, 6 July 1963.
  • "Body Found In Search For Fishing Boat", The Washington Post, 7 July 1963.

; SS Marine Sulphur Queen

  • "Tanker Lost In Atlantic; 39 Aboard", The Washington Post, 9 February 1963.
  • "Debris Sighted In Plane Search For Tanker Missing Off Florida", The New York Times, 11 February 1963.
  • "2.5 Million Is Asked In Sea Disaster", The Washington Post, 19 February 1963.
  • "Vanishing Of Ship Ruled A Mystery", The New York Times, 14 April 1964.
  • "Families Of 39 Lost At Sea Begin $20-Million Suit Here", The New York Times, 4 June 1969.
  • "10-Year Rift Over Lost Ship Near End", The New York Times, 4 February 1973.

; SS Sylvia L. Ossa

  • "Ship And 37 Vanish in Bermuda Triangle on Voyage to U.S.", The New York Times, 18 October 1976.
  • "Ship Missing in Bermuda Triangle Now Presumed to Be Lost at Sea", The New York Times, 19 October 1976.
  • "Distress Signal Heard from American Sailor Missing for 17 Days", The New York Times, 31 October 1976.

= Books =

Most of the works listed here are largely out of print. Copies may be obtained at your local library, or purchased used at bookstores, or through eBay or Amazon.com. These books are often the only source material for some of the incidents that have taken place within the Triangle.

  • {{cite book |last=Bara |first=Mike |year=2019 |title=The Triangle: The Truth Behind the World's Most Enduring Mystery |location=Kempton, IL |publisher=Adventures Unlimited |pages=191 |isbn=9781948803175 |oclc=1348103392}}
  • The Final Flight (2006), Tony Blackman ({{ISBN|0-9553856-0-1}}). This book is a work of fiction.
  • From the Devil's Triangle to the Devil's Jaw (1977), Richard Winer ({{ISBN|0-553-10860-3}})
  • Ghost Ships: True Stories of Nautical Nightmares, Hauntings, and Disasters (2000), Richard Winer ({{ISBN|0-425-17548-0}})

{{refend}}