The devil's triangle: history, mystery, and scientific explanations

¶ … Devil's Triangle

It is known as The Bermuda Triangle, The Devil's Triangle, and some call it the Hoodoo Sea, but whichever name you choose, the Triangle remains a mysterious triangle of ocean that has seen the disappearance of numerous unexplained losses of shops, small boats, and aircraft. This triangle encompasses an area of ocean located off the southeastern Atlantic coast of Florida. The apexes of the triangle are pinpointed to be Bermuda, Miami, Fla., and San Juan, Puerto Rico (Navy Historical Center 2001). While the U.S. Board of Geographic Names does not recognize the Bermuda Triangle as an official name or keep an official file on the triangular area, the name Bermuda Triangle was established with a 1952 article that appeared in Fate magazine (Loxton 2003) and it continues to remain unexplained how disappearances have occurred over time.

Some scientists believe that violent, unexpected storms or downward air currents destroyed the ships and planes. Swift ocean currents may then have swept the wreckage far from where the craft disappeared. Hurricanes, extreme storms, and violent seas are considered the main killers in this area of the world, but it remains unexplained how over the past 100 years, more than 1000 ships have vanished without a trace in the Bermuda Triangle. Each incident occurred without any warnings, distress calls, or even leaving signs of ship wreckage. Berlitz (1974) has reported that since 1945, over 100 ships and aircraft all carrying over 1,000 people have mysteriously disappeared while traveling within the area of the Triangle. His writings include reports of strangely spinning compasses and unexplained electrical failures aboard ships and planes crossing the triangle. Those who have traveled through this part of the Atlantic have noted great waterspouts and baffling stretches of 'white water'. This activity can be documented as far back as Christopher Columbus in the late 16th century.

The United States Coast Guard correlates their records with Berlitz and states that even with sophisticated state-of-the-art equipment, this number is very accurate. The mystery of The Devil's Triangle remains alive and continues to fascinate many who seek an answer while other may complain about the uncanny nature of the Sargasso Sea. Columbus wrote about compasses that malfunctioned, and reported a strange illumination in the distant horizon, while even once seeing "a large fireball crashing into the sea" (The Statesman 2003).

Travel Weekly reports during the late 19th century that a ship called the Ellen Austin, discovered an abandoned ship in the area of The Triangle. When part of the Ellen Austin's crew went aboard the abandoned vessel, they also disappeared (Travel Weekly 1995). The first recorded disappearance of a United States ship in the Bermuda Triangle occurred in March 1918, when the U.S.S. Cyclops vanished. On December 5, 1945, a squadron of five U.S. bombers disappeared, and a seaplane vanished while searching for the aircraft.

Many still continue the search for Navy Flight 19 that originated from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Naval Air Station. Six months after the end of World War II, a group of five Avengers set out on a routine flight that should have only taken two and a half hours. The team was made up of experienced pilots, and the routine flight should have been completed without incident. After flying out for a short time, several of the pilots became disorientated and lost their bearings. Each plane began to encounter problems and lose use of their compasses. Confusion remains documented and the planes began running out of fuel over the seas of the Bermuda Triangle. The last recorded information is that the pilots prepared to "ditch" from their planes, and no more information is known concerning the men of Flight 19. For six days, the largest air-sea rescue since the war searched in vain. One of the rescue planes exploded and crashed just twenty-three minutes after taking off and killed all thirteen men aboard. Nothing was ever found of the Flight 19 wreckage and only twisted metal was found from the rescue plane (Edwards 1999).

Other disappearances have also occurred. In November of 1978, Irving C. Rivers piloted a plan off of the coast of St. Croix. Rivers was an experienced pilot and had completed the trip many times before. However, after checking in, he soon loses sight of where he is scheduled to land. Suddenly, the plane disappears from the tower radar, never to be seen again. Another disappearance happened in October of 1980. The cargo ship known as the S.S. Poet never checked in for its scheduled time. The entire ship along with all 11,000 tons of cargo, thirty-four crewmembers, and all contents including lifeboats, life rings, completely disappeared. While many people explained that the disappearance was the result of a "freak storm," this theory soon failed since other ships had remained undisturbed (Quasar 2003). The age of technology had again failed. No trace of the ship could be found within the satellite messages, emergency calls or skip static that had occurred that day.

The terror of the Hoodoo Sea continued as it claimed Enrique Esme's plan as he flew off Nassau on May 12, 1999. He never returned to the area. All that was found of his plane was a few pieces of debris and Esm'e life jackets. On October 27, 2000, Hubert Helligar flew a small single-engine plane. Technology was apparent on his plane and included state-of -- the art equipment for the 21st century. Everything checked out normal for his flight, but after take-off, he disappeared leaving no clue.

The Statesman (2003) reports that the American Coast Guard "received numerous distress calls and had as many as thirty disappearances of aircraft and double the number of boats with over 8,000 people gone and not accounted for. The Carnival Cruiselines Ship known as Destiny recently experienced downed phones and electromagnetic disturbances, but the blame was placed upon technical problems that had only been corrected just a few months before the voyage crossing The Devil's Triangle.