The Bermuda Triangle is a large area of ocean between Florida, Puerto Rico, and Bermuda. Famously known as the Devil's Triangle, is a region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean. There a number of aircraft and ships are said to have vanished under mysterious circumstances. Valuable sources dismiss the idea that there is any mystery. The domain of the Bermuda Triangle is amongst the most heavily travelled shipping lanes in the world, with ships frequently crossing through it for ports in the Americas, Europe and the Caribbean islands. Cruise ships and pleasure craft regularly sail through the region, and commercial and private aircraft too.
The Bermuda Triangle's bad reputation started with Christopher Columbus. According to his log, on October 8, 1492, Columbus looked down at his compass and noticed that it was giving weird readings. He didn't alert his crew at first, because having a compass that didn't point to magnetic north may have sent the already on edge crew into a panic. This was probably a good decision considering three days later when Columbus simply spotted a strange light, the crew threatened to return to Spain.
This and other reported compass issues in the region gave rise to the myth that compasses will all be off in the Triangle, which isn't correct, or at least is an exaggeration of what is actually happening as you'll see. Despite this, in 1970 the U.S. Coast Guard, attempting to explain the reasons for disappearances in the Triangle, stated:
First, the "Devil's Triangle" is one of the two places on earth that a magnetic compass does point towards true north. Normally it points toward magnetic north. The difference between the two is known as compass variation. The amount of variation changes by as much as 20 degrees as one circumnavigates the earth. If this compass variation or error is not compensated for, a navigator could find himself far off course and in deep trouble.
Natural explanations usually range from compass problems, to changes in the Gulf Stream, or violent weather, the presence of methane hydrates, and to a large coincidence of human error. That doesn’t mean there hasn’t been a strange amount of disappearances that let the conspiracy theories gain some traction.
From 1946 to 1991, there have been over 100 disappearances, according to TIME magazine. These are some of the military disappearances that have been recorded in the Bermuda Triangle :
- USS Cyclops—March 4, 1918
- USS Proteus and USS Nereus—November 23 and December 10, 1941
- Flight 19—December 5, 1945
- MV Southern Districts—December 5, 1954
- Flying Box Car out of Homestead AFB, FL—June 5, 1965
The Bermuda Triangle is believed to have claimed more than 300 ships in its murky waters - including the immense US cargo ship Cyclops - as well as up to 75 aircraft.
No one knows exactly why the Bermuda Triangle causes these crafts to disappear - and many of the wrecks have never been recovered.
The area is steeped in mystery and even the Mary Celeste - the mystery ship found adrift without a single member of crew on board years after going missing - is believed to have got entangled in this dangerous web.
Some claim the disappearances in this area of the Atlantic Ocean, branded 'Isle of the Devil', are caused by huge freak waves, swallowing up everything in their path - while others point to the legends of ferociously strong whirlpools, mercilessly sucking down ships that get caught in them.