Electromagnetism:

Certainly electromagnetism has played a role in the mystery surrounding the Bermuda Triangle. This is one of only two places in the world where the compass points true north. However, the fact is that as you circumnavigate the earth you find compass variations of up to 22 percent at various locations. At first glance, this does not seem significant in any real sense, but again, if one looked worldwide very closely, this points to a strong vortex of some sort within the Bermuda Triangle area. We are continuing research in this area and will post updates soon.

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Portal to Another Dimension:

Another interesting theory about the Bermuda Triangle area is that certain places there serve as portals to other dimensions. The sheer number of credible eyewitness UFO reports makes this an area warranting serious further study with respect to either permanent or ever-changing possible portal sites. Credible scientists making careful observations in the area have reported anomalies in magnetism and gravitational forces here that cannot be explained by conventional physics, introducing the possibility that there is a dynamic opening and closing of other dimensional doorways in the vicinity.

In summary, the Bermuda Triangle is a fascinating area with a rich history that does seem to be conducive to supernatural phenomena in some respects, though further analytical study is definitely needed. There is speculation that the US government is already conducting covert tests in the Bahamas area, specifically Bimini, though exactly what they are looking for is as much a mystery as the area itself. Indeed, the famous "Bimini Road" is located on this island, where some say portions of the ruins of Atlantis can be seen in the clear shallow water. The National Geographic Society is reportedly investigating the reports of the lost city beneath the waters off Cuba, but they have not made any public announcements about what they have found to date. We will be keeping an eye on this development, so do check back often for further information.

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Top 5 things to do in Bermuda

Few people think to travel to Bermuda but those who do find a charm unknown on many more popular islands. While Bermuda is technically a British overseas territory, the residents of Bermuda consider themselves very much an independent nation. Bermudians are known for their practicality, integrity and simple luxuries - they are fiercely proud of their heritage and it shows in all aspects of their island.

It's hard to find an unattractive place in Bermuda. Thanks to the turquoise waters and multi-million dollar homes, Bermuda is utterly elegant. But like most anywhere, there's a hidden side to Bermuda that will take a tourist past the pink sands and inside the history that makes Bermuda such a great destination spot.

1. Dark and Stormy's: There's no drink a Bermudian loves more than a good Dark and Stormy, which is why it's known as the national drink of the island. The Dark and Stormy gained popularity in the sailing community along the east coast, thanks to black rum brought home by various sailors who frequented Bermuda. Made with Gosling's® Black Seal rum and ginger beer, the drink is poured over ice and garnished with a lime. Some variations of the dark and stormy include adding gingerale, muddling the lime and decorating the rim of the glass with sugar but in Bermuda, simple is best and the old standby is the best: Pour the rum, add the ginger beer, and enjoy!

2. Golf at Tucker's Point: The Tucker's Point golf course is one of the most talked about courses among golf's elite. In its 2005 World's Best Golf Resorts issue, Travel + Leisure Golf's readers placed the club in the top three in categories of Best Golf Resort and Best Restaurants in the Caribbean, but there's a special place on this course for beginners, too. Grab a lesson with one of the golf pros and tee off amid some of the most breathtaking views of the island, thanks to Tucker Point's perfect position along Castle Harbour and Harrington Sound. I took a turn on the links and while I'm not ready for any upcoming PGA tour, I enjoyed the exercise and scenery from my few hours on the course. The undulations and landscape make this course worth a visit for any traveler. After 18-holes (or nine, or just a few driving rounds), head into the Golf Clubhouse for food and drink in the private club, decorated with an authentic Bermuda in mind. Don't worry if you forget anything, the Golf Pro Shop has everything you could want from golf shorts and shirts to hats and shoes.

3. Boat ride to the stars: The beauty of Bermuda lies in its intimacy, which is why many celebrities look for a home on the island. Hope a boat ride to the outskirts of the island and take a glimpse of the famous homes of the stars including Ross Perot, David Bowie and his wife Iman, and Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones. While you're out and about, tuck into a few of the hidden coves and awe at the homes and boats of Bermuda's wealthiest residents. Why? Because you can.

4. St. George's town: St George's was Bermuda's original settlement and one-time capital located at the east end of the country. It's a great way to kill a few hours and spot some historic architecture. A walking tour is a good way to explore the museums and shops and if you're lucky, you'll run into the Town Crier along the way, who will reenact some of Bermuda's famous moments in history. The hub of town life is King's Square where you'll find Town Hall and the State House, dating back to the early 1600s. Nearby are art galleries and museums, but the best part of the area are the narrow sidewalks and hidden streets that frame the picturesque homes.

5. Bermuda glassblowing: While you're here, don't miss a visit to the Bermuda Glassblowing Studio. Watch the artists in action and marvel at how color and shapes are made with hot glass. Bring your wallet because it's likely you'll want to walk out with a treasure from this idyllic island.

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Wreck diving in Bermuda

For as long as Bermuda has been on the map it has been infamous as a land of shipwrecks. A place that makes widows out of sailors’ wives and around which superstitious warnings swirl.

But the very thing that makes this Atlantic archipelago such a hazard for seafaring folk turns out to be a great boon for snorkelers and scuba divers, who flock to these blue waters to experience some of the best wreck diving in the world.

Bermuda’s penchant for ship swallowing can be largely explained by its position in the Atlantic Ocean. Think of the island as a giant pothole in the middle of a freeway. The Gulf Stream draws ships into her path, where Bermuda’s shallow reef effortlessly devours them. Add to that the occasional hurricane and it’s a pile up waiting to happen.

Back in 1505, Juan de Bermúdez was the first European sailor to brave the treacherous reef. He survived the ordeal unscathed but others were not so lucky. In fact, many of today’s Bermudans are descended from shipwreck survivors. The Sea Venture, which ran aground in 1609, is the Bermudan version of the Mayflower. Since then, more than 400 other vessels have suffered a similar fate.

The shallow water and remarkable visibility in the seas surrounding Bermuda make diving here an unforgettably vivid experience: a typical dive allows plenty of time to explore the coral encrusted hulls, barnacled cannons and holds populated with a kaleidoscopic array of parrot fish, barracuda and angel fish. The deck of some boats, such as the Taunton, a 228 foot Danish steamer built in 1902, lie just 10ft below the surface, an easy duck dive for even an average swimmer.

Diving the wrecks of Bermuda is also a lesson in history. Tragic and heroic tales abound in equal measure. One of the most popular dives is the Cristobal Colon. The 500 foot Spanish luxury liner (the largest wreck in Bermuda’s waters) was one of the fastest boats in her day. Her speed proved her downfall in 1936. A signal malfunction on shore meant the captain misjudged the channel and ran aground. A year later the 250 foot Norwegian freighter Iristo suffered an identical fate while trying to avoid her.

Bermuda has so many wrecks they are literally piled on top of one another. In spite of the rough weather, the sheer number of sites and strict marine preservation means that many wrecks remain remarkably intact. The most famous example is the Constellation, a 200ft schooner which was writer Peter Benchley’s inspiration for the film, The Deep. This ship was carrying building materials, medicinal drugs, and 700 cases of scotch whiskey to Venezuela when she went down in 1943. Among the hardened concrete bags, storm swells continue to unearth the occasional ampoule.

The San Pedro’s cargo was far more valuable. She wrecked in 1596 and lay undisturbed for hundreds of years. Local historian and marine archaeologist, Teddy Tucker (who runs the Bermuda Underwater Marine Institute) discovered the site in 1955 and unearthed many gold buttons, precious stones, chains and the famous Tucker Cross, an emerald studded crucifix made by Incan natives.

While many a fortune has been made scavenging the wrecks, it’s a pastime best left to the professionals. Not all that glitters underwater is gold: The Pollockshields, for instance, which sunk a century ago, is still laden with live ammunition and shell casings. But novices need not fear: local dive masters know how to best match the site to the prevailing conditions. Unlike the wretched sailors of old, there’s little chance of joining the remarkable display of marine archaeology in Davy Jones’ Locker.

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The "Mystery" of the Bermuda Triangle

The Bermuda Triangle (sometimes also referred to as the Devil's Triangle) is a stretch of the Atlantic Ocean bordered by a line from Florida to the islands of Bermuda, to Puerto Rico and then back to Florida. It is one of the biggest mysteries of our time - that perhaps isn't really a mystery.

The term "Bermuda Triangle" was first used in an article written by Vincent H. Gaddis for Argosy magazine in 1964. In the article, Gaddis claimed that in this strange sea a number of ships and planes had disappeared without explanation. Gaddis wasn't the first one to come to this conclusion, either. As early as 1952, George X. Sands, in a report in Fate magazine, noted what seemed like an unusually large number of strange accidents in that region.

In 1969 John Wallace Spencer wrote a book called Limbo of the Lost specifically about the Triangle and, two years later, a feature documentary on the subject, The Devil's Triangle, was released. These, along with the bestseller The Bermuda Triangle, published in 1974, permanently registered the legend of the "Hoodoo Sea" within popular culture.

Why do ships and planes seem to go missing in the region? Some authors suggested it may be due to a strange magnetic anomaly that affects compass readings (in fact they claim Columbus noted this when he sailed through the area in 1492). Others theorize that methane eruptions from the ocean floor may suddenly be turning the sea into a froth that can't support a ship's weight so it sinks (though there is no evidence of this type of thing happening in the Triangle for the past 15,000 years). Several books have gone as far as conjecturing that the disappearances are due to an intelligent, technologically advanced race living in space or under the sea.

Kusche's Theory:

n 1975 Larry Kusche, a librarian at Arizona State University, reached a totally different conclusion. Kusche decided to investigate the claims made by these articles and books. What he found he published in his own book entitled The Bermuda Triangle Mystery-Solved. Kusche had carefully dug into records other writers had neglected. He found that many of the strange accidents were not so strange after all. Often a Triangle writer had noted a ship or plane had disappeared in "calms seas" when the record showed a raging storm had been in progress. Others said ships had "mysteriously vanished" when their remains had actually been found and the cause of their sinking explained. In one case a ship listed missing in the Triangle actually had disappeared in the Pacific Ocean some 3,000 miles away! The author had confused the name of the Pacific port the ship had left with a city of the same name on the Atlantic coast. More significantly, a check of Lloyd's of London's accident records by the editor of Fate in 1975 showed that the Trianglewas no more dangerous than any other part of the ocean. U.S. Coast Guard records confirmed this and since that time no good arguments have ever been made to refute those statistics. So many argue that the Bermuda Triangle mystery has disappeared, in the same way many of its supposed victims vanished. Even though the Bermuda Triangle isn't a true mystery, this region of the sea certainly has had its share of marine tragedy. This region is one of the heaviest traveled areas of ocean in the world. Both small boats and commercial ships ply its waters along with airliners, military aircraft and private planes as they come to and from both the islands and more distant ports in Europe, South America and Africa. The weather in this region can make traveling hazardous also. The summer brings hurricanes while the warm waters of the Gulf Stream promote sudden storms. With this much activity in a relatively small region it isn't surprising that a large number of accidents occur. Some of the ones commonly connected to the Triangle story are:

The USS Cyclops Sinking:

One of the first stories connected to the Triangle legend and the most famous ship lost in the region was the USS Cyclops which disappeared in 1918. The 542 foot long Cyclops was launched in 1910 and served as a collier ( a ship that carries coal) for the U.S. Navy during World War I. The vessel was on its way from Bahia, Salvador, to Baltimore, Maryland, but never arrived. After it had made an unscheduled stop at Barbados on March 3rd and 4th to take on additional supplies, it disappeared without a trace. No wreckage from the ship was ever found and no distress signal was received. The deaths of the 306 crew and passengers of the USS Cyclops remains the single largest loss of life in U.S. Naval history not directly involving combat.
While the sinking of the Cyclops remains a mystery, the incident could have happened anywhere between Barbados and Baltimore, not necessarily in the Bermuda Triangle. Proponents of the Bermuda Triangle theory point to the lack of a distress call as evidence of a paranormal end for the vessel, but the truth is that wireless communications in 1918 were unreliable and it would not have been unusual for a rapidly-sinking vessel to not have had a chance to send a successful distress call before going under.

SS Marine Sulphur Queen Vanishes:

The SS Marine Sulphur Queen, a tanker ship carrying molten sulphur, disappeared off the southern coast of Florida in 1963. The crew of 39 was all lost and no wreckage from the tanker was ever found. While the disappearance of the ship is mentioned in several books about the Triangle, authors don't always include that the Coast Guard concluded that the vessel was in deplorable shape and should have never gone to sea at all. Fires erupted with regularity on the ship. Also, this class of vessel was known to have a "weak back", which means the keel would split when weakened by corrosion causing the ship to break in two. The ship's structure had been further compromised by a conversion from its original mission as an oil tanker to carrying molten sulphur. The conversion had left the vessel with an extremely high center of gravity, increasing the chance that it would capsize. The SS Marine Sulphur Queen was all-in-all a disaster waiting to happen and it seems unfair to blame its demise on the Bermuda Triangle.

The Disappearance of NC16002:

NC16002 was a DC-3 passenger plane that vanished on the night of December 28, 1948, during a flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Miami, Florida. The weather was fine with high visibility and the flight was, according to the pilot, within 50 miles of Miami when it disappeared with its three crew members and twenty-nine passengers. Though no probable cause for the loss was determined by the official investigation, it is known that the plane's batteries were not fully charged on takeoff and this may have interfered with communications during the flight. A message from Miami to the plane that the direction of the wind had changed may have not been received by the pilot, causing him to fly up to fifty miles off course.

The Fate of Flight 19:

The tale of Flight 19 started on December 5th, 1945. Five Avenger torpedo bombers lifted into the air from the Naval Air Station at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at 2:10 in the afternoon. It was a routine practice mission and the flight was composed of all students except for the Commander, a Lt. Charles Taylor.

The mission called for Taylor and his group of 13 men to fly due east 56 miles to Hens and Chicken Shoals to conduct practice bombing runs. When they had completed that objective, the flight plan called for them to fly an additional 67 miles east, and then turn north for 73 miles and finally straight back to base, a distance of 120 miles. This course would take them on a triangular path over the sea.

About an hour and a half after the flight had left, Lt. Robert Cox at the base picked up a radio transmission from Taylor. Taylor indicated that his compasses were not working, but he believed himself to be somewhere over the Florida Keys (the Keys are a long chain of islands south of the Florida mainland). Cox urged him to fly north toward Miami; if Taylor was sure the flight was over the Keys.

Planes today have a number of ways that they can check their current position including listening to a set of GPS (Global Positioning Satellites) in orbit around the earth. It is almost impossible for a pilot to get lost if he has the right equipment and uses it properly. In 1945, though, planes flying over water had to depend on knowing their starting point, how long and fast they had flown, and in what direction. If a pilot made a mistake with any of these figures, he was lost. Over the ocean there were no landmarks to set him right.

Navigational Confusion:

Apparently Taylor had become confused at some point in the flight. He was an experienced pilot, but hadn't spent a lot of time flying east toward the Bahamas which was where he was going on that day. For some reason Taylor apparently thought the flight had started out in the wrong direction and had headed south toward the Keys, instead of east. This thought was to color his decisions throughout the rest of the flight with deadly results.

The more Taylor took his flight north to try to get out of the Keys, the further out to sea the Avengers actually traveled. As time went on, snatches of transmissions were picked up on the mainland indicating the other Flight 19 pilots were trying to get Taylor to change course. "If we would just fly west," one student told another, "we would get home." He was right.

By 4:45 P.M. it was obvious to the people on the ground that Taylor was hopelessly lost. He was urged to turn control of the flight over to one of his students, but apparently he didn't. As it grew dark, communications deteriorated. From the few words that did get through it was apparent Taylor was still flying north and east, the wrong direction.

At 5:50 P.M. the ComGulf Sea Frontier Evaluation Center managed get a fix on Flight 19's weakening signals. It was apparently east of New Smyrna Beach, Florida. By then communications were so poor that this information could not be passed to the lost planes.

At 6:20 a Dumbo flying boat was dispatched to try and find Flight 19 and guide it back. Within the hour two more planes, Martin Mariners, joined the search. Hope was rapidly fading for Flight 19 by then. The weather was getting rough and the Avengers were very low on fuel.

Two Martin Mariners were supposed to rendezvous at the search zone. The second one, designated Training 49, never showed up, joining the 5 Avengers as "missing."

The last transmission from Flight 19 was heard at 7:04 P.M. Planes searched the area through the night and the next day. There was no sign of the Avengers.

Nor did the authorities really expect to find much. The Avengers, crashing when their fuel was exhausted, would have been sent to the bottom in seconds by the 50 foot waves of the storm. As one of Taylor's colleagues noted, "...they didn't call those planes 'Iron Birds' for nothing. They weighed 14,000 pounds empty. So when they ditched, they went down pretty fast."

What happened to the missing Martin Mariner? Well, the crew of the SS Gaines Mill observed an explosion over the water shortly after the Mariner had taken off. They headed toward the site and there they saw what looked like oil and airplane debris floating on the surface. None of it was recovered because of the bad weather, but there seems little doubt this was the remains of the Mariner. The plane had a reputation as being a "flying bomb" which would burst into flame from even a single, small spark. Speculation is that one of 22 men on board, unaware that the unpressurized cabin contained gas fumes, lit a cigarette, causing the explosion.

Missing Avengers become the Triangle's "Lost Squadron":

So how did this tragedy turn into a Bermuda Triangle mystery? The Navy's original investigation concluded the accident had been caused by Taylor's navigational confusion. According to those that knew him he was a good pilot, but often navigated "flying by the seat of his pants" and had gotten lost in the past. Taylor's mother refused to accept that and finally got the Navy to change the report to read that the disaster was for "causes or reasons unknown." This may have spared the woman's feelings, but blurred the actual facts.

The saga of Flight 19 is probably the most repeated story about the Bermuda Triangle. Vincent Gaddis put the tale into the same Argosy magazine article where he coined the term "Bermuda Triangle" in 1964 and thetwo have been connected ever since. The planes and their pilots even found their way into the science fiction film classic, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Where is Flight 19 now? Well, in 1991 five Avengers were found in 750 feet of water off the coast of Florida by the salvage ship Deep Sea. Examination of the plane's ID numbers, however, showed that they were not from Flight 19 (as many as 139 Avengers were thought to have gone into the water off the coast of Florida during the war). It seems the final resting place of the lost squadron and their crews is still a real Bermuda Triangle mystery.

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The Bermuda Triangle: A Selective Bibligraphy

Adams, Michael R. "Texaco Oklahoma: Another Bermuda Triangle Victim?" U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings 102, no.3 (March 1976): 109-110.

The Bermuda Triangle: A Collection of Articles From the Brevard County Federated Library System. Merritt Island FL: Brevard County Federated Library System, cl975. OCLC 15432889.

The Bermuda Triangle: An Annotated Bibliography. Buffalo NY: B & ECPL Librarians Assn. and the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, cl975. OCLC 2653229.

Brock, Paul. "They Sailed Into Oblivion." The Lookout [Seamen's Church Institute of N.Y.] 62, no.3 (Apr. 1971): 3-4, 11.

Burgess, Robert Forrest. Sinkings, Salvages, and Shipwrecks. New York: American Heritage Press, cl970. OCLC 104609.

Charroux, Robert. Forgotten Worlds: Scientific Secrets of the Ancients and Their Warning for Our Time. New York: Popular Library, cl973. OCLC 10352111.

Dolan, Edward F. The Bermuda Triangle and Other Mysteries of Nature. New York: Bantam, cl980. OCLC 7899556.

Edwards, Frank. Stranger Than Science. Secaucus NJ: Citadel Press, cl987. OCLC 24472013.

Gaddis, Vincent H. Invisible Horizons: True Mysteries of the Sea. Philadelphia PA: Chilton, 1965. OCLC 681276.

Gaffron, Norma. The Bermuda Triangle: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego CA: Greenhaven Press, cl995. OCLC 29848261.

Godwin, John. This Baffling World. New York: Bantam Books, cl968. OCLC 3621448.

Hoehling, Adolph A. They Sailed Into Oblivion. New York: T. Yoseloff, C1959. OCLC 1675249.

Keyhoe, Donald E. The Flying Saucer Conspiracy. New York: Holt, cl955. OCLC 721456.

Kusche, Larry. The Bermuda Triangle Mystery--Solved. Buffalo NY: Prometheus Books, cl986. OCLC 13439973.

Landsburg, Alan. In Search of Ancient Mysteries. New York: Bantam Books, cl974. OCLC 849943.

McDonell, Michael. "Lost Patrol." Naval Aviation News (Jun. 1973): 8-16.

Rosenberg, Howard L. "Exorcising the Devills Triangle" Sealift [Military Sealift Command] 24, no.6 (June 1974): 11-16.

Sanderson, Ivan Terence. Invisible Residents: A Disquisition Upon Certain Matters Maritime, and the Possibility of intelligent Life Under the Waters of This Earth. New York: World Pub. Co., cl970. OCLC 110221.

_____. More Things. New York: Pyramid Books, cl969. OCLC 6449730.

Spencer, John Wallace. Limbo of the Lost -- Today: Actual Stories of the Sea. New York: Bantam Books, cl975. OCLC 2472652.

Stancil, Carol F. The Bermuda Triangle: An Annotated Bibliography. Los Angeles: Reference Section, College Library, UCLA, cl973. OCLC 14197265.

Stewart, Oliver. Danger in the Air. New York: Philosophical Library, cl958. OCLC 1997220.

Titler, Dale Milton. Wings of Mystery: True Stories of Aviation History. New York: Dodd Mead, cl981. OCLC 7282120.

Upchurch, C. Winn. "Jinxed Seas." U.S, Coast Guard Academy Alumni Bulletin (1970): 40-45.

Wilkins, Harold Tom. Strange Mysteries of Time and Space. New York:Citadel Press, cl958. OCLC 1906564.

Winer, Richard. The Devil's Triangle. New York: Bantam Books, cl974. OCLC 1062766.

This bibliography is intended to provide research assistance only, and does not imply any opinion concerning the subject on the part of the US Navy.

12 May 1996

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Bermuda triangle Pictures, Barmuda Triangle Pictures

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