The U. S. Board of Geographic Names does not recognize the Bermuda Triangle as an official name and does not maintain an official file on the area.
The "Bermuda or Devil's Triangle" is an imaginary area located off the southeastern Atlantic coast of the United States, which is noted for a high incidence of unexplained losses of ships, small boats, and aircraft.
Searches of the database of National Transportation Safety Board reveal some 75 aircraft have gone missing. Projecting Coast Guard statistics on missing boats is truly mind boggling, perhaps reaching over 2,000.
The apexes of the triangle are generally believed to be Bermuda; Miami, Florida; and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The US Board of Geographic Names does not recognize the Bermuda Triangle as an official name. The US Navy does not believe the Bermuda Triangle exists. It is reported that Lloyd's of London, the world's leading market for specialist insurance, does not charge higher premiums for vessels transiting this heavily traveled area.
But small ships and airplanes keep disappearing here. Let us look at some of the recent disappearances.
December 15, 2008, A Britten-Norman Islander. It caused quite a stir in the media.
Here is how MSNBC reported it.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Authorities were searching near the Turks and Caicos Islands on Tuesday for a plane that disappeared under mysterious circumstances, reportedly flown by an unlicensed pilot with 12 people aboard.
A flight plan indicated the plane took off from the Dominican Republic and was to land in the Bahamas, said Santiago Rosa, aerial navigation director for the Dominican Civil Aviation Institute.
But the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said the plane disappeared shortly after taking off from Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands just southeast of the Bahamas.
Some more planes disappeared.....
Piper PA-46-310P N444JH on April 10, 2007, near Berry Islands.
Piper PA-23 N6886Y on June 20, 2005, Between Treasure Cay, BI, to Fort Pierce, FL.
Piper PA-32-300 N8224C, November 13, 2003, over the Exumas, Bahamas.
The area did not receive its most famous nickname until 1964, but reports of bizarre happenings there, or nearby, have been recorded for centuries. In fact, many claim that Christopher Columbus bore witness to the Bermuda Triangle's weirdness.
As the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria sailed through the area in 1492, it is reported that Columbus's compass went haywire and that he and his crew saw weird lights in the sky.
The Bermuda Triangle legend really began in earnest on December 5, 1945, with the famed disappearance of Flight 19. Five Navy Avenger bombers mysteriously vanished while on a routine training mission, as did a rescue plane sent to search for them -- six aircraft and 27 men, gone without a trace.
The disappearance of FLIGHT 19
In January, 1945, five U.S. Navy Bombers vanished over the Bermuda Triangle. At 3:45 PM , the flight leader Lieutenant Charles C. Taylor, radioed the control tower.
"Calling tower. This is an emergency . We seem to be off course. We can not see land ... repeat ... we can not see land ."
"What is your position ?," the tower radioed back.
"We're not sure of our position. We can not be sure just where we are. We seem to be lost."
"Assume bearing due west."
"We don't know which way is west. Everything is wrong... strange. We can't be sure just where we are. We are not sure of any direction. Even the ocean doesn't look as it should."
Lieutenant Robert Cox, senior flight instructor at Fort Lauderdale, had been preparing to land, when he over heard the messages and he thought he knew where Flight 19 was. He radioed,"Flight 19 what is your altitude? I'll fly south to meet you."
Taylor should have welcomed any assistance, but for a few minutes he was silent before he cried, "Don't come after me! They look like ...." After that there was silence.
The time was 4:30 p.m. As the last message was being received, a huge Martin Mariner sea plane was sent on a rescue mission heard the bombers last estimated position. The mariner plane sent one message and then followed the bombers' into the oblivion. Within a few hours six Naval Aircrafts had vanished.
Marine Sulphur Queen
In February, 1963, a tanker of 503 feet, the Marine Sulphur Queen, was carrying a large crew and a cargo of sulphur.
All went fine and Norfolk received regular routine radio calls. Then when the ship sailed into the Bermuda Triangle they lost contact with the ship. A few life jackets were found in the area but they could not tell if they were the ones on that fateful ship.
Cyclops
In March 1918, a ship with the length of 504 feet and weighing 14,500 tons disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean. It was carrying a full cargo of coal and a crew of 109.
It was moving from Barbados to Norfolk, Virginia, to transport coal for the Navy. Its voyage took it right through the Bermuda Triangle.
On March 13th Cyclops was reported missing in from Norfolk. Norfolk had reported no trouble from the Cyclops and their radio. Thousands of miles of sea were searched. No trace of the ship was ever found.
After President Woodrow read the article on the missing ship he recalled, "Only God and the sea know what happened to the great ship."
Since America was at war with Germany at the time, people believed that the ship was torpedoed but no sign of wreckage was ever found.
MARY CELESTE
The crew of the Mary Celeste would have alot to say if we knew where they were.
On December 4th, 1872, Captain David Morehouse of the Dei Gratia sighted a ship. When they got closer they sighted the words Mary Celeste. The Mary Celeste was a 103 foot ship that weighed 282 tons. It left New York a month earlier. The ship carried 1,700 barrels of alcohol and also carried ten people. Three of those people were the ship's captain, his wife and their baby daughter.
When the Dei Gratia reached the ship they found no one on board. The ship wasn't damaged, the cargo was still there, even personal objects were left in their place.Toys were on the captain's bed as though he had been playing with the baby.
Some people say that a tornado struck the ship but why was the ship undamaged? Some others say pirates claimed the ship but why was the cargo left? We may never know.
The Spray- Joshua Slocum
The Bermuda Triangle claimed one of the greatest sailors of all time. His name was Joshua Slocum.
On April 24th, 1895, at the age of 51, Joshua Slocum left Boston and began a one man journey around the world. Slocum sailed in a small poorly equipped boat. The Spray was less than 37 feet long.
Slocum sailed that boat on a 46,000 mile trip around the world. This took him three years. When he finished, he became the first man in history to sail around the world alone.
In 1909, he set out on a one man trip to the West Indies. In November he stopped at Miami for supplies. That was the last time anybody saw him. His next route took him into the Bermuda Triangle.
In January, 1948, a British airliner called,"Star Tiger" was coming to the end of a routine flight from Azores to Bermuda. The plane was expected to arrive on time, but it didn't arrive at all. A search was being made to look for survivors or wreckage, when a radio station picked up a faint message supposedly to be from the aircraft.
But sceptics keep churning out theories to explain the mystery of Bermuda Triangle.
Possible explanations
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.
An area called the "Devil's Sea" by Japanese and Filipino seamen, located off the east coast of Japan, also exhibits the same magnetic characteristics. It is also known for its mysterious disappearances.
The Gulf Stream. It is extremely swift and turbulent and can quickly erase any evidence of a disaster. The unpredictable Caribbean-Atlantic weather pattern also plays its role. Sudden local thunder storms and water spouts often spell disaster for pilots and mariners.
The topography of the ocean floor varies from extensive shoals around the islands to some of the deepest marine trenches in the world. With the interaction of the strong currents over the many reefs the topography is in a state of constant flux and development of new navigational hazards is swift.
Human error- A large number of pleasure boats travel the waters between Florida's Gold Coast and the Bahamas. All too often, crossings are attempted with too small a boat, insufficient knowledge of the area's hazards, and a lack of good seamanship.
But why do these things happen in the Bermuda Triangle. And why do the disappearances don't stop? Any real, satisfactory answers, anyone?
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