Bermuda Triangle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Bermuda Triangle
Classification
Grouping: Paranormal places
Description
Also known as: Devil's Triangle
Country: International waters, The Bahamas
Status: Urban legend

The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a region of the northwestern Atlantic Ocean in which a number of aircraft and surface vessels are alleged to have disappeared in mysterious circumstances which fall beyond the boundaries of human error, pirates, equipment failure, or natural disasters. Popular culture has attributed some of these disappearances to the paranormal, a suspension of the laws of physics, or activity by extraterrestrial beings.[1]

A substantial body of documentation exists showing numerous incidents to have been inaccurately reported or embellished by later authors, and numerous official agencies have gone on record as stating that the number and nature of disappearances is similar to any other area of ocean, however proponents of paranormal phenomena claim that many incidents remained unexplained despite considerable investigation.[2][3][4]

Contents

[edit] The Triangle area

The area of the Triangle varies by author

The boundaries of the Triangle vary with the author; some stating its shape is akin to a trapezoid covering the Straits of Florida, the Bahamas and the entire Caribbean island area and the Atlantic east to the Azores; others add to it the Gulf of Mexico. The more familiar triangular boundary in most written works has as its points somewhere on the Atlantic coast of Florida; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and the mid-Atlantic island of Bermuda, with most of the accidents concentrated along the southern boundary around the Bahamas and the Florida Straits.

The area is one of the most heavily-sailed shipping lanes in the world, with ships crossing through it daily for ports in the Americas, Europe, and the Caribbean Islands. Cruise ships are also plentiful, and pleasure craft regularly go back and forth between Florida and the islands. It is also a heavily flown route for commercial and private aircraft heading towards Florida, the Caribbean, and South America from points north.

[edit] History of the Triangle story

[edit] Origins

The first article of any kind in which the legend of the Triangle began appeared in newspapers by E.V.W. Jones on September 16, 1950, through the Associated Press.[5] Two years later, Fate magazine published "Sea Mystery At Our Back Door" [6], a short article by George X. Sand covering the loss of several planes and ships, including the loss of Flight 19, a group of five U.S. Navy TBM Avenger bombers on a training mission. Sand's article was the first to lay out the now-familiar triangular area where the losses took place. Flight 19 alone would be covered in the April 1962 issue of American Legion Magazine.[7] It was claimed that the flight leader had been heard saying "We are entering white water, nothing seems right. We don't know where we are, the water is green, no white." It was also claimed that officials at the Navy board of inquiry stated that the planes "flew off to Mars." This was the first article to connect the supernatural to Flight 19, but it would take another author, Vincent Gaddis, writing in the February 1964 Argosy magazine to take Flight 19 together with other mysterious disappearances and place it under the umbrella of a new catchy name: "The Deadly Bermuda Triangle";[8] he would build on that article with a more detailed book, Invisible Horizons, the next year.[9] Others would follow with their own works: John Wallace Spencer (Limbo of the Lost, 1969, repr. 1973)[10]; Charles Berlitz (The Bermuda Triangle, 1974)[11]; Richard Winer (The Devil's Triangle, 1974) [12], and many others, all keeping to some of the same supernatural elements outlined by Eckert.[13]

[edit] Kusche's research

Lawrence David Kusche, a research librarian from Arizona State University and author of The Bermuda Triangle Mystery: Solved (1975)[14] has challenged this trend. 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. He 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 Berlitz recounted as lost without trace three days out of an Atlantic port when 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 which have sparked the Triangle's mysterious influence actually occurred well outside it. Often his research was surprisingly simple: he would go over period newspapers and see items like weather reports that were never mentioned in the stories.

Kusche came to a conclusion:

  • 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 storms, the number of disappearances that did occur were, for the most part, neither disproportionate, unlikely, nor mysterious; furthermore, Berlitz and other writers would often fail to mention such storms.
  • The numbers themselves had been exaggerated by sloppy research. A boat listed as missing would be reported, but its eventual (if belated) return to port may not have been reported.
  • Some disappearances had in fact, never happened. One plane crash was said to have taken place in 1937 off Daytona Beach, Florida, in front of hundreds of witnesses; a check of the local papers revealed nothing.

Kusche concluded that:

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.[14]

[edit] Further responses

When the UK Channel 4 television program "The Bermuda Triangle" (c. 1992) was being produced by John Simmons of Geofilms for the Equinox Programme, the marine insurer Lloyd's of London was asked if an unusually large number of ships had sunk in the Bermuda Triangle area. Lloyd's of London determined that large numbers of ships had not sunk there.[15]

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 which pass through on a regular basis.[citation needed]

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 V.A. Fogg in the Gulf of Mexico, the Coast Guard photographed the wreck and recovered several bodies[16], 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.[10]

The NOVA / Horizon episode The Case of the Bermuda Triangle (1976-06-27) 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."[17]

Skeptical researchers, such as Ernest Taves[18] and Barry Singer[19], 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 favour of books, TV specials, etc. which support the Triangle mystery, and against well-researched material if it espouses a skeptical viewpoint.

Finally, if the Triangle is assumed to cross land, such as parts of Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, or Bermuda itself, there is no evidence for the disappearance of any land-based vehicles or persons.[citation needed] The city of Freeport, located inside the Triangle, operates a major shipyard and an airport which annually handles 50,000 flights, and is visited by over a million tourists a year.

[edit] Supernatural 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 continent 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, though geologists consider it to be of natural origin.[20]

Other writers attribute the events to UFOs.[21] This idea was used by Steven Spielberg for his science fiction film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which features the lost Flight 19 as alien abductees.

Charles Berlitz, grandson of a distinguished linguist and author of various additional books on anomalous phenomena, has kept in line with this extraordinary explanation, and attributed the losses in the Triangle to anomalous or unexplained forces. [11]

[edit] Natural explanations

[edit] Compass variations

Compass problems are one of the cited phrases in many Triangle incidents. While some have theorized that unusual local magnetic anomalies may exist in the area, such anomalies have not been shown to exist. It should also be remembered that compasses have natural magnetic variations in relation to the Magnetic poles. For example, in the United States the only places where magnetic (compass) north and geographic (true) north are exactly the same are on a line running from Wisconsin to the Gulf of Mexico. Navigators have known this for centuries. 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.

[edit] Deliberate acts of destruction

This can fall into two categories: acts of war, and acts of piracy. Records in enemy files have been checked for numerous losses; while many sinkings have been attributed to surface raiders or submarines during the World Wars and documented in the various command log books, many others which have been suspected as falling in that category have not been proven. It is suspected that the loss of USS Cyclops in 1918, as well as her sister ships Proteus and Nereus in World War II, were attributed to submarines, but no such link has been found in the German records.

Piracy, as defined by the taking of a ship or small boat on the high seas, is an act which continues to this day. While piracy for cargo theft is more common in the western Pacific and Indian oceans, drug smugglers do steal pleasure boats for smuggling operations, and may have been involved in crew and yacht disappearances in the Caribbean. Historically famous pirates of the Caribbean (where piracy was common from about 1560 to the 1760s) include Edward Teach (Blackbeard) and Jean Lafitte. Lafitte is sometimes said to be a Triangle victim himself.

False-color image of the Gulf Stream flowing north through the western Atlantic Ocean. (NASA)

[edit] Gulf Stream

The Gulf Stream is an ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico, and then 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. It has a surface velocity of up to about 2.5 metres per second (5.6 mph).[22] A small plane making a water landing or a boat having engine trouble will be carried away from its reported position by the current, as happened to the cabin cruiser Witchcraft on December 22, 1967, when it reported engine trouble near the Miami buoy marker one mile (1.6 km) from shore, but was not there when a Coast Guard cutter arrived.

[edit] Human error

One of the most cited explanations in official inquiries as to the loss of any aircraft or vessel is human error. Whether deliberate or accidental, humans have been known to make mistakes resulting in catastrophe, and losses within the Bermuda Triangle are no exception. For example, the Coast Guard cited a lack of proper training for the cleaning of volatile benzene residue as a reason for the loss of the tanker V.A. Fogg in 1972. Human stubbornness may have caused businessman Harvey Conover to lose his sailing yacht, the Revonoc, as he sailed into the teeth of a storm south of Florida on January 1, 1958. Many losses remain inconclusive due to the lack of wreckage which could be studied, a fact cited on many official reports.

[edit] Hurricanes

Hurricanes are powerful storms which are spawned in tropical waters, and have historically been responsible for thousands of lives lost and 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. These storms have in the past caused a number of incidents related to the Triangle.

[edit] Methane hydrates

Worldwide distribution of confirmed or inferred offshore gas hydrate-bearing sediments, 1996.
Source: USGS

An explanation for some of the disappearances has focused on the presence of vast fields of methane hydrates on the continental shelves. Laboratory experiments carried out in Australia have proven that bubbles can, indeed, sink a scale model ship by decreasing the density of the water[23]; any wreckage consequently rising to the surface would be 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.

A white paper was published in 1981 by the United States Geological Survey about the appearance of hydrates in the Blake Ridge area, off the southeastern United States coast.[24] However, according to a USGS web page, no large releases of gas hydrates are believed to have occurred in the Bermuda Triangle for the past 15,000 years.[15]

[edit] Rogue waves

In various oceans around the world, rogue waves have caused ships to sink [25] and oil platforms to topple [26]. These waves are considered to be a mystery and until recently were believed to be a myth. [27] [28] However, rogue waves don't account for the missing aircraft.

[edit] Notable incidents

[edit] Flight 19

US Navy TBF Grumman Avenger flight, similar to Flight 19. This photo had been used by various Triangle authors to illustrate Flight 19 itself. (US Navy)

Flight 19 was a training flight of TBM Avenger bombers that went missing on December 5, 1945 while over the Atlantic. The squadron's flight path was scheduled to take them due east for 120 miles, north for 73 miles, and then back over a final 120-mile leg that would return them to the naval base, but they never returned. The impression is given that the flight encountered unusual phenomena and anomalous compass readings, and that the flight took place on a calm day under the supervision of an experienced pilot, Lt. Charles Carroll Taylor. Adding to the intrigue is that the Navy's report of the accident was ascribed to "causes or reasons unknown." It is believed that Taylor's mother wanted to save her son's reputation, so she made them write "reasons unknown" when actually Taylor was 50 km NW from where he thought he was.[29]

Adding to the mystery, a search and rescue Mariner aircraft with a 13-man crew was dispatched to aid the missing squadron, but the Mariner itself was never heard from again. Later, there was a report from a tanker cruising off the coast of Florida of a visible explosion at about the time the Mariner would have been on patrol.

While the basic facts of this version of the story are essentially accurate, some important details are missing. The weather was becoming stormy by the end of the incident, and naval reports and written recordings of the conversations between Taylor and the other pilots of Flight 19 do not indicate magnetic problems.[29] In addition, only Taylor had any significant flying time, but he was not familiar with the south Florida area and had a history of getting lost in flight, having done so three times during World War II, resulting in him twice ditching planes into the water.[citation needed]

[edit] Mary Celeste

The mysterious abandonment in 1872 of the 282-ton brigantine Mary Celeste is often but inaccurately connected to the Triangle, the ship having been abandoned off the coast of Portugal. The event is possibly confused with the loss of a ship with a similar name, the Mari Celeste, a 207-ton paddle steamer which hit a reef and quickly sank off the coast of Bermuda on September 13, 1864.[30][31] Kusche noted that many of the "facts" about this incident were actually about the Marie Celeste, the fictional ship from Arthur Conan Doyle's short story "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (based on the real Mary Celeste incident, but fictionalised).

[edit] Ellen Austin

The Ellen Austin supposedly came across an abandoned derelict, placed on board a prize crew, and attempted to sail with it to New York in 1881. According to the stories, the derelict disappeared; others elaborating further that the derelict reappeared minus the prize crew, then disappeared again with a second prize crew on board. A check of Lloyd's of London records proved the existence of the Meta, built in 1854; 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 placed on board a derelict which later disappeared.[32]

[edit] USS Cyclops

The incident resulting in the single largest loss of life in the history of the US Navy not related to combat occurred when USS Cyclops, under the command of Lt Cdr G. W. Worley, went missing without a trace with a crew of 309 sometime after March 4, 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.[33][34]

[edit] Theodosia Burr Alston

Theodosia Burr Alston was the daughter of former United States Vice President Aaron Burr. Her disappearance has been cited at least once in relation to the Triangle.[35] She was a passenger on board the Patriot, which sailed from Charleston, South Carolina to New York City on December 30, 1812, and was never heard from again. Both piracy and the War of 1812 have been posited as explanations, as well as a theory placing her in Texas, well outside the Triangle.

[edit] Spray

S.V. Spray was a derelict fishing boat refitted as an ocean cruiser by Joshua Slocum and used by him to complete the first ever single-handed circumnavigation of the world, between 1895 and 1898.

In 1909, Slocum set sail from Vineyard Haven bound for Venezuela. Neither he nor Spray were ever seen again.

There is no evidence they were in the Bermuda Triangle when they disappeared, nor is there any evidence of paranormal activity.

Schooner Carroll A. Deering, as seen from the Cape Lookout lightship on January 29, 1921, two days before she was found deserted in North Carolina. (US Coast Guard)

[edit] Carroll A. Deering

A five-masted schooner built in 1919, the Carroll A. Deering was found hard aground and abandoned at Diamond Shoals, near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina on January 31, 1921. Rumors and more at the time indicated the Deering was a victim of piracy, possibly connected with the illegal rum-running trade during Prohibition, and possibly involving another ship, S.S. 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. It is speculated that the Hewitt may have been this mystery ship, and possibly involved in the Deering crew's disappearance.[36]

[edit] Douglas DC-3

On December 28, 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 onboard was ever found. From the documentation compiled by the Civil Aeronautics Board investigation, a possible key to the plane's disappearance was found, but barely touched upon by the Triangle writers: the plane's batteries were inspected and found to be low on charge, but ordered back into the plane without a recharge by the pilot while in San Juan. Whether or not this led to complete electrical failure will never be known. However, since piston-engined aircraft rely upon magnetos to provide spark to their cylinders rather than a battery powered ignition coil system, this theory is not strongly convincing.[37]

[edit] 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 passenger aircraft operated by British South American Airways.[38]

[edit] KC-135 Stratotankers

On August 28, 1963 a pair of U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft collided and crashed into the Atlantic. The Triangle version (Winer, Berlitz, Gaddis[12][11][8]) of this story specifies that they did collide and crash, but there were two distinct crash sites, separated by over 160 miles (260 km) of water. However, Kusche's research[14] showed that the unclassified version of the Air Force investigation report stated 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.

[edit] SS Marine Sulphur Queen

SS Marine Sulphur Queen, a T2 tanker converted from oil to sulfur carrier, was last heard from on February 4, 1963 with a crew of 39 near the Florida Keys. Marine Sulphur Queen was the first vessel mentioned in Vincent Gaddis' 1964 Argosy Magazine article,[8] but he left it as having "sailed into the unknown", despite the Coast Guard report which not only documented the ship's badly-maintained history, but declared that it was an unseaworthy vessel that should never have gone to sea.[39][40]

[edit] Raifuku Maru

One of the more famous incidents in the Triangle took place in 1921 (some say a few years later), when the Japanese vessel Raifuku Maru (sometimes misidentified as Raikuke Maru) went down with all hands after sending a distress signal which allegedly said "Danger like dagger now. Come quick!", or "It's like a dagger, come quick!" This has led writers to speculate on what the "dagger" was, with a waterspout being the likely candidate (Winer). In reality the ship was nowhere near the Triangle, nor was the word "dagger" a part of the ship's distress call ("Now very danger. Come quick."); having left Boston for Hamburg, Germany, on April 21, 1925, she got caught in a severe storm and sank in the North Atlantic with all hands while another ship, RMS Homeric, attempted an unsuccessful rescue.[41]

[edit] Connemara IV

A pleasure yacht found adrift in the Atlantic south of Bermuda on September 26, 1955; it is usually stated in the stories (Berlitz, Winer[11][12]) that the crew vanished while the yacht survived being at sea during three hurricanes. The 1955 Atlantic hurricane season lists only one storm coming near Bermuda towards the end of August, hurricane "Edith"; of the others, "Flora" was too far to the east, and "Katie" arrived after the yacht was recovered. It was confirmed that the Connemara IV was empty and in port when "Edith" may have caused the yacht to slip her moorings and drift out to sea.[citation needed]

[edit] Triangle authors

The popular Triangle 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:

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Cochran-Smith, Marilyn (2003). "Bermuda Triangle: dichotomy, mythology, and amnesia". Journal of Teacher Education 54. 
  2. ^ "Introduction". Bermuda Triangle .org. http://www.bermuda-triangle.org/html/introduction.html. 
  3. ^ "Aircraft Losses". Bermuda Triangle .org. http://www.bermuda-triangle.org/html/aircraft_losses.html. 
  4. ^ "Missing Vessels". Bermuda Triangle .org. http://www.bermuda-triangle.org/html/missing_vessels.html. 
  5. ^ E.V.W. Jones (September 16, 1950). "unknown title, newspaper articles". Associated Press. 
  6. ^ George X. Sand (October 1952). "Sea Mystery At Our Back Door". Fate. 
  7. ^ Allen W. Eckert (April 1962). "The Lost Patrol". American Legion. 
  8. ^ a b c Vincent Gaddis (February 1964). "The Deadly Bermuda Triangle". Argosy: 28–29, 116–118.. http://www.physics.smu.edu/~pseudo/BermudaTriangle/vincentgaddis.txt. 
  9. ^ Vincent Gaddis (1965). Invisible Horizons. 
  10. ^ a b c John Wallace Spencer (1969). Limbo Of The Lost. ISBN 0-686-10658-X. 
  11. ^ a b c d e Charles Berlitz (1974). The Bermuda Triangle (1st ed.). Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-04114-4. 
  12. ^ a b c d Richard Winer (1974). The Devil's Triangle. ISBN 0553106880. 
  13. ^ "Strange fish: the scientifiction of Charles F. Berlitz, 1913–2003". Skeptic (Altadena, CA). March , 2004. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-12789881_ITM. 
  14. ^ a b c d Lawrence David Kusche (1975). The Bermuda Triangle Mystery Solved. ISBN 0-87975-971-2. 
  15. ^ a b "Gas Hydrate at the USGS, Bermuda Triangle". Woods Hole. http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/hydrates/bermuda.html. 
  16. ^ "V A Fogg" (PDF). USCG. http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-m/moa/boards/vafog.pdf. 
  17. ^ "The Case of the Bermuda Triangle". NOVA / Horizon. PBS. 1976-06-27.
  18. ^ Taves, Ernest (1978). The Skeptical Inquirer 111 (1): p.75–76. 
  19. ^ Singer, Barry (1979). The Humanist XXXIX (3): p.44–45. 
  20. ^ "A Geologist's Adventures with Bimini Beachrock and Atlantis True Believers". Skeptical Inquirer. January 2004. http://www.csicop.org/si/2004-01/geologists-adventures.html. 
  21. ^ http://ufos.about.com/od/classicufocases/a/bermudatriangle.htm
  22. ^ Phillips, Pamela. "The Gulf Stream". USNA/Johns Hopkins. http://fermi.jhuapl.edu/student/phillips/. Retrieved on 2007-08-02. 
  23. ^ "Methane Bubble". Monash Univ.. http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/monash-news/2003/bubble.html. 
  24. ^ "Gas Hydrate at the USGS". Woods Hole. 1981. http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/hydrates/usgspubs.html. 
  25. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/11/science/11wave.html?8dpc
  26. ^ http://www.uscg.mil/hq/gm/moa/boards/oceanranger.pdf
  27. ^ http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMOKQL26WD_index_0.html
  28. ^ http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/080804-rogue-waves.html
  29. ^ a b "The Disappearance of Flight 19". Bermuda Triangle .org. http://www.bermuda-triangle.org/html/the_disappearance_of_flight_19.html. 
  30. ^ Mari Celeste Wreck
  31. ^ a b Daniel Berg (2000). Bermuda Shipwrecks. ISBN 0-9616167-4-1. 
  32. ^ "Ellen Austin". Bermuda Triangle .org. http://bermuda-triangle.org/html/ellen_austin.html. 
  33. ^ "Bermuda triangle". D Merrill. http://website.lineone.net/~dmerrill/html/bermuda_triangle.html. 
  34. ^ "Myths and Folklore of Bermuda". Bermuda Cruises. http://www.bermudacruises.net/bermuda-information/myths_folklore.htm. 
  35. ^ a b Adi-Kent Thomas Jeffrey (1975). The Bermuda Triangle. ISBN 0446599611. 
  36. ^ "Carroll A Deering". Graveyard of the Atlantic. http://www.graveyardoftheatlantic.com/Deering/CADeeringHome.html. 
  37. ^ "Airborne Transport, Miami, December 1948" (PDF). Aviation Safety. 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. 
  38. ^ "The Tudors". Bermuda Triangle .org. http://www.bermuda-triangle.org/html/the_tudors.html. 
  39. ^ "Marine Sulphur Queen" (PDF). USCG. http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-m/moa/boards/marsulqueen.pdf. 
  40. ^ "The Queen with the Weak Back". TIME. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,896573,00.html. 
  41. ^ "The Case of the Bermuda Triangle". NOVA / Horizon. PBS. 1976-06-27.

[edit] Other sources

[edit] Newspaper articles

Proquest[1] has newspaper source material for many incidents, archived in .pdf format. The newspapers include the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Atlanta Constitution. To access this website, registration is required, usually through a library connected to a college or university.

[edit] Flight 19

  • "Great Hunt On For 27 Navy Fliers Missing In Five Planes Off Florida," New York Times, December 7, 1945.
  • "Wide Hunt For 27 Men In Six Navy Planes," Washington Post, December 7, 1945.
  • "Fire Signals Seen In Area Of Lost Men," Washington Post, December 9, 1945.

[edit] Raifuku Maru

  • "Japanese Ships Sinks With A Crew Of 38; Liners Unable To Aid," New York Times, April 22, 1925.
  • "Passengers Differ On Homeric Effort To Save Sinking Ship," New York Times, April 23, 1925.
  • "Homeric Captain Upheld By Skippers," New York Times, April 24, 1925.
  • "Liner Is Battered In Rescue Attempt," New York Times, April 25, 1925.

[edit] SS Cotopaxi

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

[edit] USS Cyclops (AC-4)

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

[edit] Carroll A. Deering

  • "Piracy Suspected In Disappearance Of 3 American Ships," New York Times, June 21, 1921.
  • "Bath Owners Skeptical," New York Times, June 22, 1921. piera antonella
  • "Deering Skipper's Wife Caused Investigation," New York Times, June 22, 1921.
  • "More Ships Added To Mystery List," New York Times, June 22, 1921.
  • "Hunt On For Pirates," Washington Post, June 21, 1921
  • "Comb Seas For Ships," Washington Post, June 22, 1921.
  • "Port Of Missing Ships Claims 3000 Yearly," Washington Post, July 10, 1921.

[edit] Wreckers

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

[edit] S.S. Suduffco

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

[edit] Star Tiger and Star Ariel

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

[edit] DC-3 Airliner NC16002 disappearance

  • "30-Passenger Airliner Disappears In Flight From San Juan To Miami," New York Times, December 29, 1948.
  • "Check Cuba Report Of Missing Airliner," New York Times, December 30, 1948.
  • "Airliner Hunt Extended," New York Times, December 31, 1948.

[edit] Harvey Conover and Revonoc

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

[edit] KC-135 Stratotankers

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

[edit] B-52 Bomber (Pogo 22)

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

[edit] Charter vessel Sno'Boy

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

[edit] SS Marine Sulphur Queen

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

[edit] SS Sylvia L. Ossa

  • "Ship And 37 Vanish In Bermuda Triangle On Voyage To U.S.," New York Times, October 18, 1976.
  • "Ship Missing In Bermuda Triangle Now Presumed To Be Lost At Sea," New York Times, October 19, 1976.
  • "Distress Signal Heard From American Sailor Missing For 17 Days," New York Times, October 31, 1976.

[edit] Website links

The following websites have either online material which supports the popular version of the Bermuda Triangle, or documents published from official sources as part of hearings or inquiries, such as those conducted by the United States Navy or United States Coast Guard. Copies of some inquiries are not online and may have to be ordered; for example, the losses of Flight 19 or USS Cyclops can be ordered direct from the United States Naval Historical Center.

[edit] 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 E-Bay or Amazon.com. It should be noted that these books are often the only source material for some of the incidents which have taken place within the Triangle.

  • Into the Bermuda Triangle: Pursuing the Truth Behind the World's Greatest Mystery by Gian J. Quasar, International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press (2003) ISBN 0-07-142640-X; contains list of missing craft as researched in official records. (Reprinted in paperback (2005) ISBN 0-07-145217-6).
  • The Bermuda Triangle, Charles Berlitz (ISBN 0-385-04114-4): Appears to be currently out of print; however, there are many other books available covering the same material, frequently the same stories.
  • The Bermuda Triangle Mystery Solved (1975). Lawrence David Kusche (ISBN 0-87975-971-2)
  • Limbo Of The Lost, John Wallace Spencer (ISBN 0-686-10658-X)
  • The Evidence for the Bermuda Triangle, (1984), David Group (ISBN 0-85030-413-X)
  • The Final Flight, (2006), Tony Blackman (ISBN 0-9553856-0-1) It should be noted that this book is a work of fiction.
  • Bermuda Shipwrecks, (2000), Daniel Berg(ISBN 0-9616167-4-1)
  • The Devil's Triangle, (1974), Richard Winer (ISBN 0553106880); this particular book sold well over a million copies by the end of its first year; to date there have been at least 17 printings.
  • The Devil's Triangle 2 (1975), Richard Winer (ISBN 0553024647)
  • From the Devil's Triangle to the Devil's Jaw (1977), Richard Winer (ISBN 0553108603)
  • Ghost Ships: True Stories of Nautical Nightmares, Hauntings, and Disasters (2000), Richard Winer (ISBN 0425175480)
  • The Bermuda Triangle (1975) by Adi-Kent Thomas Jeffrey (ISBN 0446599611)

[edit] External links

Personal tools