Bermuda triangle, also known as the Devil’s Triangle, happens to be one of the most mysterious places on this planet. Located off the Southeastern coast of the US in the Atlantic Ocean, between Bermuda, Florida and Puerto Rico, the region has become the Centre of unresolved mysteries. Covering an area of 440,000 miles of sea, Bermuda triangle is part of a busy shipping route in the world, with a number of vessels heading to America, Europe and the Caribbean crossing through every day.
It is more due to the inexplicable outcomes that make it a highly studied and yet enigmatic component of earth’s surface. Over the centuries, a large number of ships and planes have been reported to have mysteriously disappeared in the region. Also, this Devil’s Triangle has been blamed for the disappearance of thousands of people in the past decades. The term “Bermuda Triangle” was first used by Vincent Gaddis in 1964 in his article published in Argosy magazine.
The stories around Bermuda triangle begins in the time of Christopher Columbus when he reportedly saw a flame of fire crashing into the sea in the triangle during his first voyage to the New World. However, the mysterious behaviour of the region came into the public attention only in the 20th century when the Navy cargo ship, USS Cyclops, with more than 300 people onboard, went missing in the Bermuda triangle. The latest such incident in the region is the disappearance of a small twin-engine plane in May this year. The plane, with four people on board, suddenly disappeared from the radar when it was flying from Puerto Rico to Florida, and the debris appeared to be from the missing plane was found later. The recent incident that involved a ship was the sinking of a cargo vessel in the Bermuda Triangle during a deadly hurricane in October 2015.
As the accidents, often mysterious, continue to happen in the Bermuda Triangle region, many have offered a number of explanations for the mystery behind them. The role of paranormal activities and the presence of aliens have been strongly suggested by those who believe something odd is happening, while many with scientific view disputed this argument offering rational explanations to the phenomenon. Among the few proposed scientific explanation, the more popular is the theory of electromagnetic interference that causes compass problems. This theory claims that there is a very high pull of the earth’s natural magnet which redirects the compass and other sophisticated equipment, and disallows them to take their intended route through the waters. However, as no single theory could offer a concrete explanation, many still believe there is nothing strange with the region as most of the incidents were inaccurately reported or fictionalised versions of the accidents.
Notwithstanding there is no proven theory for the exact reason behind the mystery of Bermuda Triangle, the accidents continue to happen in the region every year. And, the legends of Bermuda Triangle consists a number of mysterious disappearance of vessels in the region, most of them remain least clueless still. Here is a list of most noted stories of disappearance or the unresolved mysteries of ship accidents in the Devil’s Triangle.
1. Mary Celeste
Possibly one of the most mysterious stories of shipwrecks, this ship is a tale of its own. Despite being found adrift in some other location in the Atlantic Ocean, the connection to the Bermuda triangle had been somehow invoked to find an answer to the mystery of its fate.
Discovered on 4th December 1872 with everything right in the place except for the entire crew, the ship was found stranded on the sea days after it started its journey from New York to Genoa, Italy. There were seven crew members along with Captain Benjamin Briggs, his wife and their two-year-old daughter abroad the vessel which was loaded with raw alcohol. But, days after, when a passing British ship called Dei Gratia found Mary Celeste under partial sail in Atlantic, off the Azores Islands, the ship was unmanned with no crew abroad and the lifeboat was also missing. It was also found that nine of the barrels in the cargo were empty and there was a sword on the deck. No trace of the people abroad the vessel or the missing lifeboat has ever been found.
Studies of the ship clearly ruled out the possibility of a pirate attack since everything on this ship including the barrels of alcohol it was transporting and the valuable belongings of the crew were intact. Theories surrounding the mystery of the Mary Celeste also included the chances of a criminal conspiracy, alien abduction, and even an attack by a giant squid. The possibility of a natural disaster was also on the list. Many suggested the role of an undersea earthquake behind the accident, while few proposed an accidental foraying of the vessel into the Bermuda Triangle.
However, as much as these speculations seem reasonable, they clearly don’t fit. After all, why would a perfectly skilled crew on a good weather day, with their ship entirely uncompromised abandon it and then never surface again?
2. Ellen Austin
It is an unnerving triangle mystery associated with the American white oak schooner, Ellen Austin. In 1881, the 210 feet long Ellen Austin was on her way to New York from London when she stumbled upon a derelict near the Bermuda Triangle. Everything seemed fine with the unidentified schooner drifting just north of the Sargasso Sea, but the missing crew.
Captain Baker of the Ellen Austin asked to observe the derelict for two days in order to make sure it’s not a trap. After two days with no response from the ship, the captain entered the abandoned vessel with his crew to find the well-packed shipment and no sign of the crew. In order to tow it back with Ellen Austin, the captain placed a prize crew on the ship, set to sail together. However, after two days of sail on calm waters a squall separated path of the two ships following which the derelict vanished.
Days after the storm, according to the stories, Captain Baker’s lookout could spot the vessel through his spyglass only to realise the vessel drifting far away aimlessly once again. After hours of effort, Ellen Austin could catch up the vessel. But, strangely, no one was on board. However, another version of the story suggests a second attempt by Baker to bring her back to land but ended with the same fate before Ellen Austin before abandoning the cursed vessel. Other reports suggest that the derelict was once more spotted but this time had a separate crew than the prize crew placed on it by Ellen Austin. The disappearance of the ship, her reappearance and the absence of the prize crew is an intriguing story. It is more like a secret of Bermuda triangle, one that has seemingly no chances of being unravelled anytime soon.
3. USS Cyclops
The disappearance of USS Cyclops, one of the Navy’s biggest fuel ships, marks the largest loss of life in the history of the US Navy in a single incident. In March 1918, this massive ship set out to sail from Brazil to Baltimore through the Bermuda region carrying 10,800 tons of manganese ore with about 309 crew members on board. Setting off on a fairly good day, the first and the only message sent by this ship indicated no sort of troubles.
However, the ship was never heard from again. An entire search of the area was put into action but nothing was ever found. No remains of the ship or any crew members aboard have ever been found. The captain of USS Cyclops never sent a distress signal and no one aboard responded to radio calls from other vessels in the vicinity. The naval investigators also failed to find a definite cause for its disappearance though there were a number of theories suggesting various reasons. Due to its mysterious disappearance, Cyclops has become part of the list of more than 100 ships and planes to have vanished under strange circumstances in the Bermuda triangle.
4. Carroll A. Deering
Carroll A. Deering, a five-masted commercial schooner, is one of the most written-about maritime mysteries of the 20th century due the complete mystery around its abandonment. On January 31, 1921, Carroll A. Deering was found hard aground on the treacherous rocks of Hatteras Diamond Shoals, North Carolina. There were speculations that the vessel was involved in rum running. However, when the investigation team from Barbados reached the vessel after days of effort in the rough sea, what they found was a deserted ship with all crew members missing along with the crew’s personal belongings, ships navigational equipment, log books, and life rafts, among others.
Often knows as “Ghost Ship of the Outer Banks”, the disappearance of Carroll A. Deering along with few other vessels during the same time period in the Bermuda triangle area has been valuable information on the mysterious waters, but nothing could bring anyone any closer to solving this mystery. Reports suggest that as many as nine vessels disappeared during this period, from the same region- none of which was ever heard from again.
5. Witchcraft
On December 22, 1967, a cabin cruiser named witchcraft left from Miami with her captain Dan Burack and his friend, Father Patrick Horgan. The two gentlemen’s journey on the 23-foot luxury yacht was to enjoy the wonderful view of Miami’s Christmas lights. However, after reaching just one mile from offshore, the coast guard received a call from the captain stating that his ship had hit something but there was no substantial damage. Indicating help to be towed to the shore, the coast guard set off immediately reaching witchcraft in as many as 19 minutes alone but to nothing.
The area indicating the location of the ship was completely deserted with no signs of any ship having been stranded or even present there previously. What’s most intriguing about this story is that this particular cruiser was virtually unsinkable, not to mention that numerous life-saving devices present aboard including life jackets, lifeboats, flares, distress signal devices etc. None of them was used and the ship was gone. The coast guard officials searched hundreds of square miles of ocean over the next few days but were unsuccessful. Nothing of this ship has been found until this day. The ship is gone and what remains is only the speculation that can be done now.
