Off the southern tip of Florida lies a phenomenon called the Bermuda Triangle.
Ships, planes, and over one thousand lives were lost in the Triangle without a
trace. Theories have been put forth, but still no universally accepted explanation
exists for the mystery that surrounds the Bermuda Triangle.
The Bermuda Triangle covers almost 440,000 square miles of the Atlantic Ocean.
An imaginary line that begins near Melbourne, Florida, extends south to
Bermuda, and west to Puerto Rico before turning north to Florida, forms the
Triangle. From 1972-1999, more than one hundred planes and ships have vanished
into thin air. More than one thousand lives have been lost as well. One
frightening aspect of this entire saga is that disappearances continue to occur
at an alarming rate.
A small part of the Bermuda Triangle lies in the Sargasso Sea. This sea is best
known for its tall, thick, floating seaweed called Sargassum. The seaweed is
thought to be a forest that once rested on an island in the Atlantic Ocean.
According to legend, the island sank at a very quick pace, taking with it the
forest and vegetation.
One of the most notable disappearances is that of Flight 19. This was basically
what started the craze. The flight consisted of five Navy TBM Avenger torpedo
bomber planes. Mechanics had certified the planes fit for flight. Flight planes
were checked thoroughly and appropriately filed with the proper authorities.
There were no indications that this mission would be anything other than a routine
experience for the crews of these aircraft. Even the weather was cooperation.
The forecast predicted clear skies and calm winds.
Flight 19 left the Fort Lauderdale Airport at 2:10 p.m. on December 5, 1945. At
3:40 p.m. Lieutenant Robert Cox noticed his radio begin to crackle. The
transmission seemed to be directed to “Powers.” The person identified himself
as FT-28, the call sign for Flight 19. FT-28 radioed that both of his compasses
were out, and he was trying to find land.(Kusch)
At 4:26 p.m. Fort Everglades Rescue intercepted a transmission from FT-28.
Immediately, the rescue team called several stations along the coast and asked
them to turn on their radar and attempt to locate the lost flight. At 6:04 p.m.
Lieutenant Taylor radioed his flight crew to tell them they were off course and
needed to adjust their course to a more easterly direction. That exercise
appears to have mysteriously taken them further from land. At 7:04 p.m. all
radio communication ceased. (Kusch, 106, 114)
In an attempt to find the lost flight, a Martin Mariner PBM-5 flying boat was
sent to search for the mission squadron. The flying boat left Fort Lauderdale
Airport at 7:27 p.m. (Cusack, 16). At 7:30 p.m. the plane’s radio failed, and
flight disappeared forever.
By dawn on December 6, 1945, the largest search and rescue mission over air
and sea was underway. Before the sun would rise that day, over 240 planes and
18
ships would be deployed to search for Flight 19. Later that morning, the Royal
Air
Force would send out planes to assist in the search. Numerous land teams would
crisscross the Bahamas and the Florida Keys searching in vain for signs of
survivors or wreckage that may have washed ashore. One search and rescue ship,
the S.S. Gaines Mills, radioed at 7:50 p.m. that they had observed a burst of
flames that rose one hundred feet high and lasted for about ten minutes. Ships
and planes rushed to the area, but no signs of debris or survivors were found.
After five days of intense searching, the rescue mission was canceled. No
wreckage, survivors, or explanations were found for the disappearance of Flight
19.
Forty-six years later, May 8, 1991, a computer-controlled submarine scanned the
ocean floor for sunken galleons. On this day, the crew of the Deep Sea would be
unsuccessful in their search for galleons. Instead, 750 feet below the surface
of the ocean, they would discover the outline of an airplane that clearly
appeared to be a Navy Avenger. Two hundred yards away they discovered another
plane and eventually accounted for five aircraft.(Naval)
The planes appear to have been ditched. The canopies were open, and some of the
propellers were bent back. One of the planes had the marking “FT” on its side,
which was the designation for Fort Lauderdale. The plane also had the number 28
on it, which was Lieutenant Taylor’s plane number. (Kusch,
Several theories have been submitted to the Navy, civilian government
officials, and newspapers regarding the disappearance of this flight. An
engineer in New York submitted a set of very detailed drawings in which he
depicted the five planes and the flying boat in a massive mid-air collision.
Unfortunately, the drawings left too many questions unanswered. Many theories
insisted the wind blew the planes off course; however, the Navy insisted that
the prevailing winds on this night were not strong enough to support such a
theory.
Airplanes aren’t the only things disappearing in the Bermuda Triangle. Many
large and obviously heavy ships and tankers, approximately twenty, have
disappeared
as well. One of the more intriguing disappearances was that of a U.S. Navy
supply
ship. Known as the U.S.S. Cyclops, it measured over five hundred feet long and
weighed more than nineteen thousand tons. The ship set sail on March 4, 1918,
during World
War I. The oddest thing about this ship was its crew. The captain was a German
who was thought to be mentally ill because he often walked about the ship in
long underwear and a derby hat. Among the passengers were the former U.S.
Consul to Brazil, three naval prisoners under indictment for murder, and two
AWOL marines. The U.S.S. Cyclops disappeared without a trace. No record exists
of a distressed radio communication coming from the area. Researchers do not
believe the ship encountered bad weather, and no wreckage was ever discovered.
Many have suggested that a tidal wave struck and flipped the U.S.S. Cyclops,
but did not sink the huge vessel. The Navy quickly discounted that theory
because the ship was not in a storm and no wreckage was found. Others thought
that the German captain took over and held the ship, but the government never
found any trace of the ship or the crew after the war.
Not only have ships disappeared in the Triangle, but also many ships have been
found with no one aboard. One very mysterious case involved a boat called the
Mary Celeste. In November 1972, a ship came upon the Mary Celeste and hailed
her. After receiving no reply, the captain boarded her and found the boat
deserted. All sails were cast, and the casks of cargo she was carrying were
untouched. There was plenty of food and water onboard, but the crew of ten was
nowhere to be found. Money, personal possessions, and even the captain’s log
were still intact on the boat. The most unusual circumstances were that of the
captain’s room, which was boarded up as if to repel attackers. The captain who
stumbled upon her took the boat, and to this day there is no explanation for
the disappearance of the crew.
Numerous industrial and commercial airliners have been lost in the Bermuda
Triangle. British South American Airways had a short, unhappy life due to the
Triangle. The airline lost three large planes. Two of them, the Star Tiger and
the Star Ariel, vanished without a trace. Later, the Star Dust disappeared with
no explanation near Santiago, Chile. The Star Ariel was on a flight to Chile on
January 17, 1949, when it stopped in Bermuda for a brief rest. Upon
continuation of its journey, the pilot radioed the command center that he was
changing radio frequencies because of static on the line. The plane and its
passengers were never heard from again. The plane was lost close to the same
location as her sister plane, the Star Tiger, almost exactly one year earlier.
In 1969, a National Airlines 727 passenger plane was approaching the Miami Airport
in anticipation of landing. While being closely tracked by the Miami Air
Control Center, the plane suddenly disappeared from the radar screen. Ten
minutes later, the plane reappeared on the screen and landed without incident.
Upon arrival at the terminal, the flight crew was surprised to hear that their
plane had temporarily and mysteriously disappeared. Flight instruments were
checked for accuracy with no abnormalities discovered. Suddenly, a member of
the flight crew noticed his watch was ten minutes behind that of a ground crew
member. The rest of the flight crew soon confirmed their watched were also ten
minutes slow. This was especially odd because the flight crew had performed a
routine time check only twenty minutes before the incident, and at that time
there was no difference.
Many unidentified objects have been seen entering and leaving the sea and in
the sky. Captain Dan Delmonico is a lifelong sailor. His reputation is that of
a calm observer not susceptible to over-reacting. He made two almost identical
observations in April 1973. Both sightings were made at about four o’clock in
the afternoon. He saw a gray object shoot through the water directly in front
of his boat. He guessed its size to be 150 to 200 feet long and its speed to be
at least sixty to seventy miles per hour. As it approached, it veered around
the boat to pass as if it knew he was there. As it passed, he noticed that it
invoked no turbulence and the surface of the water never broke. This is unlike
any submersible known to man. Some say it would be impossible for an object
that size to cause no turbulence as close to the surface as it was.
Although many lives have been lost in the Triangle, people have survived crises
in this area. People from all walks of life have proposed several theories
about these abnormalities. Suggestions that a gigantic octopus exists seem too
far-fetched. Scientists studying the conditions in the Triangle agree that it
could be an atmospheric, gravitational, or electromagnetic disturbance. Many
doctors of science also submitted suggestions. Dr. Manson Valentine suggested a
magnetic phenomenon that could have been set up by flying saucer. Dr. Stanley
Krippner believed a black hole in space, called a vortex, existed where planes
and ships that entered the Triangle did not come out. (Kusch)
In spite of today’s advanced technology, scientists are no closer to solving
the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle. Only the stories exist to explain the loss
of over one hundred planes and more than one thousand live to this “Triangle of
Terror.” The discovery of Flight 19 raised more questions than it answered. No
matter how it’s looked at something does happen whether it has a scientific
explanation or not in “The Bermuda Triangle”. It can’t be denied that nothing
happens there with all of the recorded tragedies on this area. The way to look
at it is documentation is proof so it does exist.
Works Cited
Baumann, Elwood D. The Devil’s Triangle. Franklin Watts: New York, 1976
Berlitz, Charles. The Bermuda Triangle: An Incredible Saga of Unexplained
Disappearances. Doubleday and Company, Inc.: New York, 1974
Burnvand, Jan Herold. “Bermuda Triangle.” Encarta Encyclopedia. 1999 ed.
Jeffrey, Kent Thomas. Triangle of Terror and Other Eerie Areas. Warner Books:
New
York, 1975