Bermuda Triangle

The Bermuda Triangle according to the limits set out in the Argosy magazine article, where the name was popularized. The vertices are Miami; San Juan de Puerto Rico and the Bermuda Islands. Other authors noted different points.

The Bermuda Triangle is a geographical area in the shape of a scalene triangle located in the Atlantic Ocean, between the islands of Bermuda, Puerto Rico and the US city of Miami (in the state of Florida).. By joining these three points with an imaginary line, a triangle of about 1,600 to 1,800 km on each side is formed, and an approximate area of 1 million km².

Origin

The term was created in the 1950s by various writers who published articles about the presumed dangerousness of the area. However, the surrounding area, especially the coastal Carolinas, was already known for its numerous shipwrecks to the point of being called "The Graveyard of the Atlantic".

Context

Ships traveling to Europe continually passed through this area to take advantage of the prevailing winds and the Gulf Stream. Then, with the development of steam engines and ships with internal combustion engines, much of the North Atlantic traffic continued to cross through the area of the so-called "Bermuda Triangle".

The Gulf Stream, a surface movement of ocean waters that brings with it very unstable weather (with its characteristic hurricanes), also passes through the triangle as it leaves the Caribbean Sea. The combination of heavy shipping traffic and stormy weather, with large waves, may explain most of the alleged disappearances.

History

The first documented mention of the Bermuda Triangle was made in 1950: Associated Press journalist Edward Van Winkle Jones wrote about some missing ships in the Bahamas area. Jones said ship disappearances, airplanes and small boats were "mysterious." Two years later, in 1952, George X. Sand stated in an article in Fate magazine that "strange marine disappearances" were happening in that area.

In 1964, sensationalist writer Vincent Gaddis (1913-1997) coined the term "Bermuda Triangle" in an article in the American pulp magazine Argosy. The following year he published the book Invisible horizons: true mysteries of the sea ('Invisible horizons: the true mysteries of the sea'), which included a chapter called "The deadly Bermuda triangle".

The triangle

Gaddis's article determined that the area of "disappearances" it formed a triangle whose vertices were Miami; San Juan (Puerto Rico) and the Bermuda Islands. Later writers did not always follow these limits to the letter, some even extending them to the west coast of Ireland, so the determination of which accidents occurred within the triangle depends on who relates them.

Popularization

In 1974 —11 years after the creation of the term "Bermuda Triangle"— the alleged mystery became a true myth thanks to Charles Berlitz (1914-2003), a New York writer on paranormal topics, who published the bestseller The Bermuda Triangle, where he took much of Gaddis's stories and compiled other cases of disappearances, usually presented inaccurately, sometimes exaggerated and with fabricated data.

The Bermuda Triangle has been credited for many disappearances that occurred far outside its "official" boundaries. To date, some 50 ships and 20 aircraft have been lost in that particular area of the Atlantic Ocean. While most of these disappearances can be explained, others cannot, and the issue continues to be a debate between believers and skeptics.

• 1909: November: The Spray, a small yacht of the Canadian adventurer Joshua Slocum (20 February 1844-1858 14 November 1909, or days later).
• 1917: the SS Timandra, who was heading to Buenos Aires from Norfolk (Virginia), was plunged with a coal load and a crew of 21 people. He did not issue any radio signals, even though he had the capacity to do so.
• 1919: the U.S. Cyclops (AC-4) hose ship sinks with 308 men on board, due to a hurricane.
• 1921: the Carroll A. Deering Hose Ship sinks in Cape Hatteras (about 1050 km west of the Bermuda Islands and about 800 km northwest of the Bermuda Triangle).

Chronological list of incidents reported by Charles Berlitz

The incidents mentioned in his book are listed below:

• 1846: The HMS Rosalie, a ship that was heading to Havana, Cuba, was found without crew.
• 1872: Mary Celeste was found drifting between the Azores Islands and the Iberian Peninsula, about 5000 km away from the Bermuda Islands.
• 1880: Atalanta, a British warship, is on its way to England from Bermuda.
• 1902 (4 or 21 October): the Freya, a German vessel found on the "after" drift of Manzanillo (Cuba) to Chile. He had actually turned South America to Punta Arenas (south of Chile) and was found off the western coast of Mexico (several months after Cuba's Czarpar), dragged by the currents of the Pacific Ocean.
• 1925 (21 April): Raifuku Maru sinks with witnesses in the middle of a storm 1063 km north of the Bermuda Islands completely outside the Triangle.
• 1925, October: the American freighter SS Cotopaxi is lost, "which from the coast of Florida conveyed that time was calm, and did not send any distress signals." Actually, Meyers (boat capitán) radioed that the ship was scoring and that they had the winery full of water.
• 1926: S.S. Suduffco sinks, due to a hurricane (a captain who went out in his search called him "the worst time I've seen in my life".
• 1938: HMS Angloaustralian sinks in the Azores Islands (more than 4000 km east of the Triangle), after issuing "in the afternoon we have passed Faial. All right."
• 1942: the French submarine Surcouf is packed by the American freighter Thompson Lykes near the Panama Canal (about 1800 km south of Miami; far from the Triangle).
• 1945: Five U.S. Navy TBM Avenger (famous Flight 19) aircraft disappear from Fort Lauderdale.
• 1947: The Army C-45 Superfort is plunged 160 km from Bermuda (outside the Triangle).
• 1948: SS Samkey sinks (Berlitz says he sank in 1943, but that was the year of inauguration). He gave his position: 41° 48’ N 24° O (200 km northeast of Azores, and 4200 km outside the Triangle). He just says, "Everything's fine."
• 1948: Tudor IV Star Tiger aircraft disappears, with 31 passengers.
• 1948: A DC-3 NC16002 plane disappears, with 28 passengers and the crew.
• 1949: the second Tudor IV disappears, Star Ariel.
• 1950: a Globemaster aircraft from the U.S. Air Force disappears.
• 1950: the American freighter SS Sandra (50 feet) sinks, after passing through San Agustín (Florida) on his route to Puerto Cabello (Venezuela).
• 1952: A British York transport plane disappears with 33 people on board.
• 1954: a Lockheed Constellation plane, of the U.S. Navy, disappears with 42 passengers on board.
• 1956: a U.S. Navy hydroplane, Martin P5M, disappears with 10 crew members.
• 1962: A KB-50 Tanker tanker from the American air force disappears.
• 1963: Marine Sulphur Queen sinks, probably by disembarking Dry Tortugas; he carried cast sulfur (possibly without safety measures).
• 1967: A YC-122 military plane is vanished into a cargo plane.
• 1967: the Witchcraft cruise sinks to a mile from Miami; he made a call to the Coast Guard, but at 19 minutes he had already sunk completely.
• 1970: the French freighter Milton Latrides sinks when he sailed from New Orleans to Cape Town; he carried a load of vegetable oil and caustic soda.
• 1972 (although Berlitz says 1973): two German freighters are sinned in a storm: the Anita (of 20 000 tons, with a crew of 32) and its twin ship, the Norse Variant (both coal-loaded). A survivor of the latter was found floating on a raft; he described the loss of the boat in the middle of a hurricane. The waves broke the cover of the gate and quickly sank the ship.

In addition, without giving any further details, Berlitz mentions the following ships that disappeared in the Triangle:

• Atalanta.
• Gloria Colite.
• John and Mary.
• Rubicon (disappeared in the middle of a tropical storm; although Berlitz claims he disappeared in normal time).
• Stavenger (it appears to be a non-existent ship invented by Berlitz).

Other disappearances

Subsequent to the publication of Berlitz's book, other disappearances allegedly occurred in the Triangle were reported, although it should be noted that some were not in the Triangle area at the time of their disappearance.

• 1976: SS Sylvia L sinks. Ossa in a hurricane west of Bermuda (outside the triangle).
• 1978: He is abandoned to SS Hawarden Bridge in the West Indies. It is presumed that it was due to a crime committed. Months before, in February, the United States Coast Guard had arrested him in Cape Knox and had found marijuana.
• 1980: SS Poet sinks into a hurricane, when he transported grains to Egypt.
• 1995: the Jamanic K freighter (built in 1943) is plunged after the departure of Cape Haitian.
• 1997: a German yacht sinks.
• 1999: the cargo sinks Genesis after zarpar of the port of Saint Vincent; its cargo included 465 tons of water tanks, boards, concrete and bricks; reported problems with a bilge pump a little before losing contact. An unsuccessful search was made in an area of 85 000 km2 (33 000 square miles).
• 2017: the MU-2B bimotor aircraft disappears, which transported four people, had left on Monday from Puerto Rico to Florida, but the contact was lost shortly after the takeoff.

Notable incidents

USS Cyclops

The incident resulting in the greatest non-combat loss of life in US Navy history occurred when the USS Cyclops, carrying a full load of manganese ore and with one engine out on duty, she disappeared without trace with a crew of 309 sometime after March 4, 1918, after leaving the island of Barbados. Although there is no strong evidence for a single theory, there are independent theories such as storms and wartime enemy activity as to blame for the loss. Additionally, two of Cyclops's sister ships, Proteus and Nereus, were subsequently lost in the North Atlantic during World War II. Both ships carried heavy loads of metallic ore similar to what was loaded onto Cyclops during her fatal voyage. In all three cases, structural failure due to overloading with a load much denser than designed is considered the most likely cause of subsidence.

Carroll A. Deering

Carroll A. Deering, seen from the light ship Cape Lookout on January 29, 1921, two days before she was found abandoned in North Carolina. (United States Guards)

A five-masted schooner built in 1919, the Carroll A. Deering was found stranded and abandoned at Diamond Shoals, near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, on January 31, 1921. Rumors and more at the time indicated that Deering was a victim of piracy, possibly related to the illegal rum trade during Prohibition, and possibly involving another ship, the Hewitt, which disappeared around the same time. A few hours later, an unknown steamer sailed close to the ship along the Deering route and ignored all signals from the ship. It is speculated that Hewitt may have been this mystery ship, and possibly involved in the disappearance of the Deering crew.

Star Tiger and Star Ariel

G-AHNP Star Tiger disappeared on January 30, 1948, on a flight from the Azores to Bermuda; G-AGRE Star Ariel disappeared on January 17, 1949, on a flight from Bermuda to Kingston, Jamaica. Both were Avro Tudor IV airliners operated by British South American Airways. Both planes were operating at the limits of their range and the slightest error or equipment failure could prevent them from reaching the small island.

Douglas DC-3

On December 28, 1948, a Douglas DC-3 aircraft, number NC16002, disappeared on a flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Miami. No trace of the plane, or the 32 people on board, was ever found. An investigation by the Junta de Aeronáutica Civil found that there was not enough information available to determine the probable cause of the disappearance.

Connemara IV

A pleasure yacht was found adrift in the South Atlantic off Bermuda on September 26, 1955; it is generally said in the stories (Berlitz, Winer) that the crew disappeared while the yacht survived being at sea during three hurricanes.

The 1955 Atlantic hurricane season shows Hurricane Ione passing nearby on September 14–18, with Bermuda hit by near-gale force winds. In his second book on the Bermuda Triangle, Winer cites a letter he received from Mr. J.E. Challenor from Barbados:

On the morning of 22 September, the Connemara IV was in a firm bitterness at the opening of Carlisle Bay. Due to the near hurricane, the owner reinforced the ropes of mooring and placed two additional anchors. A little more could do, since the exposed mooring was the only anchorage available.... In Carlisle Bay, the state of the sea behind hurricane Janet was overwhelming and dangerous. The owner of Connemara IV observed that he had disappeared. An investigation revealed that he had dragged his moorings and made himself to the sea.

KC-135 Stratotankers

On August 28, 1963, a pair of US Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft collided and crashed into the Atlantic 300 miles west of Bermuda. Some writers say that while the two planes did collide, there were two separate crash sites, separated by more than 160 miles (260 km) of water. However, Kusche's investigation showed that the unclassified version of the Air Force investigation report revealed that the debris field defining the second "crash site" it was examined by a search and rescue ship, and found to be a mass of seaweed and driftwood entangled in an old buoy.

Flight 19 (1945)

TBM Avenger flying in training.

One of the best known and probably the most famous incidents over the Bermuda Triangle is about the loss of a squadron of five US Navy TBM Avenger bombers during a training flight out of Fort Lauderdale (Florida) on December 5, 1945.

According to the book by Charles Berlitz (1914-2003), a squadron of naval aircraft disappeared without trace after reporting several strange visual effects. A PBM Mariner rescue flying boat also went missing during the search for this squadron. According to Berlitz, the remains of the Avenger TBM should have been found the next day considering that the remains would float and that there was a calm sea with clear skies. He adds that the Navy accident report attributed it to "unknown causes or reasons."

While some facts in Berlitz's version are accurate, the author omits important facts and misrepresents others. The description of an experienced squadron of combat airmen getting lost on a sunny afternoon is false.

First they were pilots-in-training, inexperienced except for the squadron leader, Lieutenant Charles Carroll Taylor, who had seen combat and logged significant flight time. However, Taylor had not flown in that particular area. Furthermore, although Lieutenant Taylor is described as someone calm and reliable, both his service record and radio transmissions show a different reality: during the war he had twice abandoned his route, in the middle of the Pacific, to return to the aircraft carrier after being lost while on Flight 19, transcripts revealed that he was disoriented and unable to make decisions with confidence. The original Navy report reflected this situation, but it was altered due to the wishes of his family, presenting a favorable image of the commander.

Regarding the daytime weather conditions, at the time the last transmission was received, the weather was getting worse and a storm was coming. The TBM Avenger planes were never designed for ditching, contrary to what Berlitz says; combat experience in the Pacific showed that an Avenger aircraft sank very quickly if it went down into the sea, especially in such a dangerous region of the North Atlantic.

The most likely explanation for the event is that the squadron leader became disoriented. He would have incorrectly believed that they were far southeast of the Florida Keys and, consequently, he would have turned sharply to the right, believing that he would find land; instead, they were exactly where they should be, beyond the Bahamas, so, turning to the right, they plunged into the open sea until they fell, starving for fuel. This explains why the planes have not yet been found, since very few searches have focused on the vast open areas of the ocean and are dealing with non-floating wreckage.

As for the Mariner flying boat, which also went missing, a ship in the area (the SS Gaines Mill) reported an explosion above the water shortly after takeoff of the PBM Mariner, and an oil slick was later spotted at that point, though bad weather prevented any remains from being recovered, and by the time the stormy weather ended, all traces of the accident were no longer there. The most likely scenario was that a fuel leak caused the explosion.

According to naval reports, between 1942 and 1945 there were numerous training accidents at the Fort Lauderdale base, resulting in the loss of 95 crew members.

In 1991, the wreckage of five other Avengers was discovered off the coast of Florida, but engine serial numbers revealed they were not from Flight 19, later revealed to be obsolete planes that were purposely sunk.

Explanations for the disappearances

Explanations given by many researchers for these disappearances range from kidnappings by modern day pirates to simple human error. The analyzes indicate that the strong currents and the depth of the waters could explain the absence of remains, underlining that several of the disappearances attributed to this area actually occurred more than 600 kilometers from its limits.

It is estimated that in the last 100 years some 10 million ships have passed through this area (100,000 per year). It is believed that since the mid-19th century a total of 100 ships and 50 aircraft have disappeared, that is, 0.001% of all the ships that have passed through said triangle.

Disappearances within the area, since although the area is one of the areas with the most air and sea traffic, the frequency of accidents is proportionally very low, compared to other parts of the globe. Marine insurer Lloyd of London has determined that the triangle is no more dangerous than any other area of the ocean, and does not charge additional fees for passage through this region.

Coast Guard files confirm this conclusion. In fact, the number of alleged disappearances is relatively insignificant considering the number of ships and planes that regularly pass through the triangle.

Although the Gaddis precedent already existed, as explained, the accident rate in the area did not offer enough cases of disappearances that he could include in his book and that had some unresolved point in the clarification of the accident. For this reason, Berlitz resorted to various stratagems to inflate his work.

Several of the ships that Berlitz mentioned were not in that geographic enclave. This is the case of the Mary Celeste, which sank between the Azores Islands and the Iberian Peninsula. The Freya also places it in Bermuda, but it disappeared in the Pacific, as did the Raifuku Maru, which disappeared in the North Atlantic. Others he misnames, such as Atlanta, actually called Atalanta.

There are also disappearances that are not such, such as the case of the warships Proteus and the Nereus (1941), which have been found to have sunk in warfare. For the sinking of the Rubicon, Berlitz lied stating that she disappeared under normal weather circumstances when it is proven that there was a strong storm in the area. On other occasions, he resorted to writing about fictional ships, such as the Stavenger.

In addition, the Bermuda Triangle is one of the areas with the most air and naval traffic in the world and with climatic incidents such as storms and hurricanes that make the number of sunken ships very feasible and explainable, especially before the invention of current navigation systems. These have derailed Berlitz's invention, since not a single case of a missing aircraft in one of the areas with the most air traffic in the world has been registered again, although supposed "witnesses" have not been confirmed. they talk about the "incidents" who suffered with their private planes and who ended happily.

Once deep-sea diving techniques are perfected it is likely that most of the lost ships will be recovered.

Kusche refutes Berlitz

Lawrence Kusche, a librarian at Arizona State University at the time of the Flight 19 incident in early 1975, was intrigued by the number of students who came in asking about the Bermuda Triangle. He then began an exhaustive follow-up investigation of the original reports. He finally published his findings in 1975 in The Bermuda Triangle Mystery: Solved.

Kusche's investigation revealed a large number of inconsistencies and inaccuracies between the Berlitz reports and the original statements of witnesses, participants, and others involved in the initial incidents.

He showed that many of the cases cited by the spreaders of the supposed mystery did not even exist (they had false flight numbers or made up ships), and that most of the tragedies that did occur were located outside the limits of the Triangle (see external link below). He noted that there were cases where relevant data was not reported, for example in the case of circumnavigator Donald Crowhurst, which Berlitz presented as a mystery, despite the fact that there was clear evidence that Crowhurst had engineered his voyage and probably committed suicide

According to Kusche, Berlitz's credibility “is so low as to be virtually non-existent. If Berlitz reported that a ship is red, the chances that it was another color would be almost a certainty. He says things that just aren't true. He leaves out all material that contradicts the "mystery" of him ».

Another example was the transport ship that Berlitz described as lost without trace for three days in the Atlantic when it was lost for three days in a port of the same name (Manzanillo) in the Pacific Ocean.

Kusche also argued that a large percentage of the incidents that Berlitz attributes to the mysterious influence of the Bermuda Triangle actually occurred far away. Kusche drew several conclusions:

• The proportion of ships and aircraft reported to be lost, and those who are in trouble the Bermuda Triangle was not significantly higher than in any other area of the ocean.
• In an area where sudden tropical storms are frequent, the total disappearance of some ships should not be considered rare, disproportionate, unlikely, or mysterious.
• Case statistics were exaggerated due to poor research. For example, some boats reported as lost and eventually returned to their port with delay remained registered as "lost".
• In Berlitz's reports, the circumstances of the confirmed disappearances lie or exaggerate. For example, when Berlitz reported that a ship had disappeared on a sunday, the time reports of that date indicate a tropical storm.
• "The Legend of the Bermuda Triangle is a mystery manufactured... perpetuated by writers who, intentionally or ignorantly, made use of misconceptions, defective reasoning and sensationalism."

Skeptical criticism of the belief in the Bermuda Triangle

Critics allege that Berlitz and others have exaggerated the "mysterious" aspects of some cases (Berlitz himself did not advocate any paranormal explanation), and argue that there are no more "disappearances" in the Bermuda Triangle than anywhere else. another comparable area of the ocean. It is noteworthy that the insurance company Lloyd's of London has determined that the triangle is no more dangerous than any other part of the ocean, and does not charge any unusual insurance fee for passing through that area. Also the Coast Guard confirms this.

In a 2013 study, the World Wide Fund for Nature identified the ten most dangerous marine areas for navigation, and the "Bermuda Triangle" was not among them.

Rational responses

Despite popular belief, the US Coast Guard and other sources cite statistics indicating that the number of incidents involving lost aircraft and ships is no greater than in another equally busy part of the world.

While many of the alleged mysteries have been shown not to be mysteries upon close scrutiny, with inaccuracies circulating for decades, a few remain unexplained.

The rest of the cases can be explained in banal terms.

Methane hydrates

Global distribution of methane hydrate deposits in 1996.

One explanation for some of the disappearances points to the presence of vast deposits of methane hydrates under the continental plates. In 1981, the United States Geological Survey reported the occurrence of methane hydrates in the Blake Ridge area, on the southeast coast of the United States.

Periodic methane eruptions could produce regions of foamy water that might not provide enough lift for ships. If such an area were to form around a ship, it would sink very quickly without warning. Experiments in the laboratory have proven that the bubbles can actually sink a ship to scale, because the density of the water is decreased.

Some writers have suggested that this suddenly released methane hydrate in the form of giant bubbles of gas, with diameters comparable to the size of a ship, could sink the ship.

While carrying out the experiment with an airplane, it is noted that the speed indicators, altimeters, OAT (outside air temperature) meters, turn and bank indicators (gyroclinometer), compasses, vertical speed and gyros, which would make the plane noticeable as it is climbing to a dangerous height and would eventually cause the plane to descend, as it descended it could even hit the water, or else, as written above, it could achieve tamper with his compass and head into the middle of the triangle until it runs out of fuel and eventually collapses into the water.

Elsewhere

Other areas that have been compared to the Bermuda Triangle are:

• The Dragon Triangle or Death Triangle, known by those two names located in the Devil Sea, near Japan. He is only known in literature about the Bermuda Triangle.
• The Marysburgh Vortex located east of Lake Ontario (between the United States and Canada).