The Bermuda Triangle is one of the few places on the earth that remains shrouded in the timeless mystery. The area has gained notoriety as a mysterious graveyard where men, ships, and planes disappear all of a sudden, without any logical explanation.

The Bermuda Triangle is a mythical geographic area consisting of 500,000 square mi in the Atlantic Ocean running between Puerto Rico, Bermuda, and Miami. The area has often been credited with the death and disappearances of more than 8,000 lives since the mid-19th century, turning it into the subject of endless legends. 

Often referred to as the Devil’s Triangle, Limbo of the Lost, the Twilight Zone, and Hoodoo Sea, the term “Bermuda Triangle” seems to have been popularised by Vincent Gaddis in a 1964 article titled “The Deadly Bermuda Triangle” published in Argosy magazine. 

Even before the legend of the Bermuda Triangle originated, Bermuda had already gained notoriety as an enchanted island. It was nicknamed “The Devil’s Islands” by early seafarers, who seem to be intimidated by the cries of cahow birds and wild pigs. 

The early origins of the legend date back to the time when Christopher Columbus’s set out on the first voyage to the New World. Columbus, according to his logbook entry, witnessed strange lights and a burst of flame crashing into the sea while passing through the Triangle.

The mysterious waters that swallow ships, boats, and aircrafts

In the last 500 years, at least 50 ships and 20 airplanes have mysteriously disappeared in the area – without a trace, deepening the mystery surrounding the Bermuda Triangle. 

The Bermuda Triangle – The Major Disappearances

Disappearance #1 – Thomas Lynch, Jr. 

The earliest recorded instance of disappearance in the Bermuda Triangle area dates back to 1779 when Thomas Lynch, Jr., and his wife disappeared while sailing to the West Indies. Lynch was a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of South Carolina. 

Disappearance #2 – Joshua Slocum with his boat – “Spray”. 

In 1895, Joshua Slocum vanished with his boat, “Spray”, on a voyage from Martha’s Vineyard to South America. Joshua Slocum, the first man to complete a solo sailing mission around the world, was known for his sailing skills and could not have been lost at sea. He was eventually declared dead in 1924.

Disappearance #3 – USS Cyclops – The Biggest and Fastest Fuel Ship in the US Navy

The USS Cyclops was an enormous, 550-feet-long ship with a crew of 309 people. Since 1910, Cyclops had been successfully moving coal and helping refugees between the Baltic Sea, the Caribbean, and Mexico. 

In March 1918, the ship left Brazil with 11,000 tons of dense manganese ore, then voyaged to Barbados for the resupply before finally sailing off on a nine-day long journey back home to the steelyards of Baltimore. But something went wrong, and the ship, along with its crew, vanished never to be seen again. 

The exhaustive search did not yield any results. There were absolutely no signs of The USS Cyclops – not even the debris or the oil slick. 

The Navy eventually issued a statement announcing that the ship and its 309 men were presumed lost at sea. This remains the greatest loss of life in the US Naval history that was not the result of combat.

Disappearance #4 – USS Proteus and USS Nereus

In 1941, the USS Proteus was ferrying 58 passengers and a cargo of ore from St. Thomas to the East Coast when it suddenly disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle. About a month later, its sister ship, The USS Nereus, also disappeared with 61 people aboard in the same area.

Disappearance #5 – Flight 19

On December 5, 1945, a group of five TBM Avenger torpedo bombers, known as ‘Flight 19’, departed U.S. Naval Air Station at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for a routine bombing run with Lieutenant Charles C. Taylor as the flight leader. Manned by fourteen crewmen, the Avengers were supposed to complete the exercise in three hours.

Flight 19 was to fly to the east from the Florida coast, conduct bombing runs at a place called Hens and Chickens Shoals, turn north, then proceed over Grand Bahama Island. The flight’s last leg was to fly back to Naval Air Station at Fort Lauderdale. 

On the first leg of the mission, everything went as per the plan as they dropped practice bombs without any incident. Trouble began as Flight 19 began to turn north for the second leg of their mission. Lt. Taylor sent a distress message to the Fort Lauderdale flight tower. He sounded confused and worried, reportedly, due to the failure of his compass. 

Due to inexplicable reasons, Lt. Taylor believed that the planes were heading in the wrong direction and instructed his fleet to fly northeast believing this would put the flight back on track for Florida. But, unfortunately, he was moving deeper into the Atlantic.

Their contact was lost for about 10 minutes. When the contact resumed, it was the voice of another pilot from the fleet. Lt. Taylor had turned over his command to another pilot for reasons unknown. 

The pilot said, “We can’t find west. Everything is wrong. We can’t be sure of any direction. Everything looks strange, even the ocean. It looks like we are entering white water. We’re completely lost.”

Then the signals began fading and their communication was lost. The planes were never seen again.

Two PBM Mariner flying boats were dispatched to hunt for the missing fleet. However, just twenty minutes after its take-off, one of the Mariners with its 13 crewmen, suddenly lost contact and disappeared from the radar, never to be found again. 

Six planes and twenty-seven lives were lost – fourteen from Flight 19 and thirteen from the PBM Mariner.

The Navy search party, with more than 300 boats and aircraft, combed through more than 300,000 square miles for five days but could not find the missing men, planes, or the remains. 

The Navy board of investigation attributed the disappearance to “causes or reasons unknown.”

Disappearance #6 – Douglas DC-3 commercial flight

On December 28, 1948, the DC-3 commercial flight took off at 10.03 p.m. from San Juan International Airport, Puerto Rico for Miami, Florida. The last message from the flight captain indicated the flight’s position as 50 miles (80 k.m.) south of Florida, after which it suddenly disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle area with all its 29 passengers and 3 crew members.  

Disappearance #7 – Star Tiger 

In January 1948, an Avro York Tudor IV aircraft dubbed “Star Tiger”, departed Santa Maria for Bermuda with a crew of six and 26 passengers. The flight disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle while it was on the second leg of a scheduled journey from London to Havana.

Disappearance #8 – Star Ariel 

On January 17, 1949, Star Ariel Avro Tudor IV departed from Bermuda to Kingston, Jamaica with 20 passengers and crew. Though the weather was reportedly excellent, the flight suddenly lost communications and disappeared over the Triangle area, never to be seen or heard from again. 

Disappearance #9 – The SS Marine Sulphur Queen

In February 1963, the SS Marine Sulphur Queen, a 504-foot tanker sailing from Beaumont, Texas to Norfolk, Virginia with 39 passengers and molten sulfur, disappeared near the Florida Keys. After weeks of extensive searches, the rescue team managed to find only a few pieces of debris and life preservers – the ship remained untraced.

Disappearance #10 – S.S. Sylvia L. Ossa

In 1976, the 590-foot cargo ship, Sylvia L. Ossa, disappeared east of Bermuda with 37 people on board. Though the ship’s debris and a lifeboat were found, there was no trace of the ship. 

The Bermuda Triangle – A Fact or Fiction?

The marine experts disprove the involvement of any supernatural power in disappearances in the area. According to them, the number of disappearances in the area is consistent with any other well-traveled stretches of the ocean. 

Scientists have associated these disappearances with sharp weather variations, shallow waters, and methane gas eruptions in the Bermuda Triangle’s seabed.

Even with scientific explanations, the mysterious Bermuda Triangle continues to enchant the world!

Source: History.com, Washingtonpost.com, Forbes.com, History.navy.mil