Speculations About The Major Accidents in The Bermuda Triangle

One of the most talked about mysteries of modern time is of The Bermuda Triangle. It is a triangular area in the Atlantic Ocean between Bermuda, Miami (Florida) and San Juan (Puerto Rico) but there is no clear-cut demarcation of the boundaries of this area. A lot of mis happenings are attributed to this mysterious part of the ocean. There are a lot of ships, small boats, aircrafts that went missing which going through this mysterious area and left no mark whatsoever. Because the number of tragedies which are associated to this notorious are is very high, it has become a subject of debate and various kinds of speculations. In this piece of paper, we will explore all such speculations and try to find how much truth is there in each of them.

There are a number of books and documentaries which are made on this topic and lot of people have tried to come up with explanation of why things happen the way they happen in this area. Some people attribute it to the unforgiving weather conditions that this area experience, some give it to the high traffic in this region. And some say that there are some paranormal and extra-terrestrial activities going on in this area.

Major Accidents Associated With Bermuda Triangle

1. The USS Cyclops

The major incident which is associated with Bermuda triangle is sinking of the USS Cyclops. It was not a small ship and because of its sheer size the fact that it got disappeared without leaving a trace behind was troubling. It was in March 1918, that USS cyclops on its course to West Indies got disappeared. It was some 550 feet in length and had a crew consisting of 306 people. It was carrying about 11,000 tons of manganese. It was in the march of 1918 that it was given a cargo of dense manganese ore and was on his way to Barbados. The weather was fair and the sky was clear. Everything was okay till the 9th day and something happened, after which there was no trace of the ship was found and none of the crew member were seen of came in contact. This incident was published in many magazines caring sensationalist headlines, describing the incident in the most eye-catching way. It has been 100 years since this incident happened no plausible reason have been found.

2. Sulphur Queen SS Marine

The SS Sulphur Marine was a very large commercial tanker built in 1944. It was mainly built to carry sulphur from one place to another. On its voyage to Norfolk in Feb 1963 when it was carrying about 15000 tons of sulphur with a crew of 39 members which proved to be its last voyage. The last communication which received from the mariner was on 4th of Feb. It was a normal message and it didn’t indicate any sort of danger. But after that, nothing was heard from their side. This led to a search operation and what they found was just some life preservatives and some waste. There was no sign, not even a single trace of the massive ship. It disappeared along with the crew members. Further investigations into the case revealed that the mariner could have gushed through rough waves and through difficult weather conditions. Since it was s sulphur tank and was used to transport molten sulphur, there was a mechanism used to keep the sulphur in the tank molten. One of the reasons which is speculated for the disappreance of this ship is that the system would have malfunctioned and it must have caught fire. But even after that, leaving no trace behind is something which raised everyone’s eyebrow.

3. Flight 19 Incident

One of the most sensationalist accident that happened in Bermuda triangle was that of Fight 19. It was something which had such a sensationalist effect that it became a news overnight. It was on December 5th 1945 that a fleet of 6 navy planes that were on some training mission which was expected to last for two hours. The training started by taking off from the Naval Air Station at Florida. Then, they had to move 160 miles towards East, followed by 40 miles in the North, and then finally return to their base. It was the part of their normal routine training mission. Since none of the incident has happened before they had let their guards down and were not aware of the possible dangers and consequences. The crew consist of pilots well trained to handle all sorts of turbulences and emergencies. Before taking off, they had done all the checks of instruments and body parts before taking off. It was the time to take off and they did so, at 2 PM. The weather was okay and they were running on full tank. The sun was shining and the sky was clear. But, suddenly at 3:15 P.M, the Air Station at Florida received an unusual message from the Flight Leader (Lieutenant Charles Taylor), that “everything is wrong”, “We cannot see the land”, “We can’t be sure of the direction”, “The Ocean doesn’t look as it should”. The planes lost direction and were just hovering above the sea. The compasses were not working and were showing different reading every time. The gyro meter was not working as well. The commanders of the five planes were not able to make contact with each other. However, their communication could be heard at the Florida Air Station. A Maritime Mariner, with a rescue team of thirteen members was sent to rescue the commanders, but it had disappeared as well. An intensive search operation was carried out to find the remains of the Flight 19. The search involved 240 planes, several submarines, hundreds of private planes, Coast Guard vessels, boats, PBMs from the Banana River Naval Air Station. Even after an intensive search operation of 4,100 hours, nothing could be found – no wreckage, no oil slicks, and no life. On the same day, at 7:30 P.M a merchant ship noticed an explosion in the sky. But it is found that the explosion was not of the Flight 19 airplane, because it was not possible for the airplanes to fly in the sky hours after their fuel was exhausted. The commandos were well trained to land the plane on the sea for about 90 seconds and evacuate the plane within 60 seconds. Life rafts were also available. The amusing thing here is, that it just disappeared. Even if the weather was not good, the electric equipment and the compass should 4 work. There was an unusual reference to white water by the flight leader. This white water could be the thick fog which is not unusual in oceans. A Naval Board of Inquiry report says that “the Board is not able to make any conclusion of what could have happened”. The plane vanished as if there was space travel or a possible UFOs sighting.

4. Star Tiger

Star Tiger was a British South American Tudor IV (capacity to accommodate four passengers), converted into Lancaster Bomber. On 29th January 1948, it was flying from Azores to Bermuda. It 5 was carrying 25 passengers. It was scheduled to land at Bermuda. Shortly before landing at around 10:30 P.M the pilot of the plane sent a message via radio that “weather and performance was excellent. This message was sent 380 miles the coast of Bermuda. Unfortunately, the plane never arrived. There was no indication of the flight not functioning, nor was any SOS message sent. Nothing was sited during the rescue operations which was carried out for several days. Numerous ham radios picked up unclear messages spelled out “Tiger” using numbered dots. It was as if the sender was unaware of the Morse code.

5. Cyclops

Cyclops was a US Navy supply ship which was 500 feet in height. It sailed from Barbados to Norfolk with 309 passengers, on 4th March, 1918. There was no report of a bad weather, nor was any radio message found. The wreckage was not found as well.

6. Rosaline

In 1840, Rosaline, a French ship was all set on a journey towards Havana. The strange thing which happened here is that the ship did not disappear, but the passengers and the crew members were missing. The sails were all set and the cargo was all intact. This shows that the evil doer was more interested in the people and not the cargo. Hence the option of pirate attack can be ruled out. There were no cases of sickness, because there was no such indication.

7. Disappearance of DC-3 NC16002

Another very high-profile case of disappreance is of Flight DC-3 which was on its way to Miami from Puerto Rico. Just like in almost all the cases there was no problem with the weather and it was okay to take a flight. There was a continuous exchange of message between the pilot and the control room. But when it was just 20 minutes short of completing its journey, the plane suddenly got disappeared in thin air along with the pilot, crew and passengers alike.

Now a lot of explanations are given for its sudden isoprene, some say that an explosion must have happened but given the extend of such and explosion that would‘ve happened, there were no signs nothing of that sour was found out. Another explanation which was given was that the transmitter must have been faulty and due to which they could’ve lost the track and took a different route. After sometime they must’ve got ran out of fuel and crashed. But this explanation does not seem probable as it was just 20 min short of reaching its destination and was just 50 miles away, the argument that because of faulty transmitter, they lost their way seems highly improbable. It has been 46 years since this fateful incident but it is still unresolved.

Possible Reasons for Such Incidents

1. Natural Calamities

One of the most plausible reason given for such events happening is that region has faced a lot of natural calamities both above as well as under water. Natural calamities like underwater earthquakes, landslides, waterspouts, tornadoes which end up going into the sea, storms, hurricanes, and atmospheric pressure can lead to the disappearance of the ships and airplanes. A waterspout or tornado can easily sink a boat, ship or a plane. Huge waves caused due to tsunami can go up to the height of 200 feet, which can easily sink huge ships. Underwater 8 landslides are caused due to fault in the earth’s crust, which causes seiche waves. These waves are powerful enough to engulf a ship.

2. Electromagnetic Effects

Another possible reason given for such occurrences is the electromagnetic effect. Most of the sailors have told about facing difficulty with their instruments not just inside Bermuda triangle but around it. Hugh Brown, an electrical engineer has noticed that there are certain locations on the earth where the magnetic field has been reversed. This might explain the reasons for fluctuations in the magnetic needles and devices. There are some “areas of reduced binding” which caused a turbulence great enough to destroy a plane. Also, the Bermuda Triangle is one of the places on the earth, where the compass needle points the true north. So, the compass variation, that is, the difference between the true north and the magnetic north, can lead to inaccurate readings if not taken into consideration.

3. Blue Holes

The Blue Holes are large sinkholes created due to the presence of caves thousands of years ago. Bahamas has a large number of Blue Holes. Thousands of years ago, these holes were limestone caves present above water. However, the sea level has rose at a huge rate due to the melting of glaciers. The sea water filled these caves and these caves became the blue holes. These holes are located at various locations. There are a lot of adventurous divers who have dived into these blue holes and found the existence of marine life underwater. They also observed a lot of ships which were submerged in the blue holes. The ocean current is very strong in these blue holes. During tide, a strong funnel effect is created when water enters these holes. This leads to the formation of powerful whirlpools which can easily engulf ships. However, this phenomenon does not explain the disappearance of planes.

4. Human Error

One of the most plausible reasons given for the happenings of such incidents is that the region is very challenging to travel through and human error could be one of the most likely reasons why such incidents keep on happening.

5. Sea Creatures

Now we came to the domain of things which looks like fiction. Many people have claimed that they have seen a giant sea monster living in the Bermuda triangle. People have named it as “Pliocene Mesosaurus or Ichthyosaurus”. The creature was six-feet in length and was similar to tadpole. It was found out that once the creature grew, it would be around 72 feet long.

6. Space, Time Wraps, Other worlds and UFOs

Another reason given for such occurrences of such accidents is the play of space, time wraps which could be a doorway to some other worlds like parallel universe. The true north and the magnetic north become aligned at the Bermuda triangle. This have led scientist to come up with the term of anti-gravity where the natural forces of gravity and magnetism don’t work. Certain ships which went to study these regions for their anomalies too got trapped and all the scientists they had on-board disappeared. There have been some traces of contra-terrene matter which has been found and it is unlike the material found in the crust of the earth.

Some researchers have gone to the extent of saying that the disappearances of the airplanes, ships, boats are due to the activity of UFOs which seem to have gulped them. They say that these UFOs are way more powerful than the human made modes of transport and are thus able to overpower them quite easily. The MS Mariner Sulphur Queen disappeared in 1963 without leaving any traces. It had 39 members on board. This ship disappeared somewhere in the Dry Tortugas in the month of February. No trace of the driver or any crew was found ever. Only a life jacket was found. That too was torn and tattered. This has led to the conclusion that some paranormal or alien activities must have contributed to such accidents. Much of these speculations are put forwards by the fanatics of US though which think that aliens have some special interest in them.

My opinion on Bermuda Triangle Mystery

The Bermuda Triangle is altogether a result of mainstream society, fiction books and motion pictures. There are numerous such triangles all through the world and the main characteristic in like manner between them is they happen in districts where warm and chilly climate fronts once in a while meet making abrupt and savage tempests. On the off chance that over a sea these can likewise offer ascent to typhoons. Unpractised pilots and boaters incidentally may lose their lives and vessels whenever got off guard.

The Great Lakes Triangle has had more art and lives lost truly than the Bermuda Triangle. Be that as it may, with better specialties and preparing, not many misfortunes happen anything else in these regions – measurably close to some other zone of the sea.

There are no UFO's, outsiders or Atlantis' in any of these zones. There is positively no secret to them at all. Be that as it may, mainstream society cherishes a riddle thus you get intellectuals who continue having confidence in the fantasies.

Bermuda Triangle made into prevalence with Columbus' portrayal of strange occurrences in the zone, and after pseudo-science took a hold of it, the fantasies got well known both as a subject of interest and writing.

Although the reasons which were mentioned above may have some weight but there are many such places which are regularly hit with natural calamities and have issues with electromagnetic interference or places where extreme weather conditions or environment is such which increases the chances of human error. And most of these places have experienced such accidents happening much more than other areas. But that does not mean that we should relate it with something supernormal.

References:

• https://www.theweek.co.uk/95557/bermuda-triangle-five-theories-on-the-mysterious-disappearances
• https://www.travelchannel.com/interests/haunted/articles/the-mysteries-of-the-bermuda-triangle
• https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ev8kam/the-enduring-mystery-of-the-bermuda-triangle-and-its-many-scientific-explanations
• https://www.bermuda-attractions.com/bermuda2_00009f.htm
• https://curiosity.com/topics/the-bermuda-triangle-isnt-actually-a-mystery-curiosity/
• https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-tips/what-is-the-bermuda-triangle
• https://www.britannica.com/place/Bermuda-Triangle