List of Bermuda Triangle incidents

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Map of the popularly-held dimensions of the Bermuda Triangle.
Map of the popularly-held dimensions of the Bermuda Triangle.

This is a listing of some incidents that are claimed to have occurred within the boundaries of the Bermuda Triangle, which was blamed for many unexplained disappearances that occurred in her waters. To date, over 1700 ships and planes have been alleged as having disappeared without trace or lost their crews in that particular area of the Atlantic Ocean. Although most of these disappearances have been explained or solved, others await a satisfactory explanation.[1]

It must be noted that the actual shape and exact location of the Triangle has always differed with each researcher. Even Vincent Gaddis, who coined the term Bermuda Triangle in Argosy's February 1964 issue, said disappearances occur "in and about this area."

Inexperienced pleasure boaters and aviators are common in the area of the triangle and the U.S. Coast Guard receives many distress calls from stranded seamen. They travel too far from the coast and often have an insufficient supply of fuel or knowledge of the swiftly moving Gulf Stream current.

A similar number of calls for assistance, however, are generated from boaters and pilots in other Coast Guard districts but the number of disappearances nevertheless remains much higher in the Triangle. For instance, in the 1990s the 1st Coast Guard District off New England received about 9,000 calls for assistance each year, similar to the Triangle's 10,800 each year for the same decade. The number of aircraft disappearances off New England, however, was about 5 compared to more than 20 in the Bermuda Triangle.[2]

Contents

[edit] Aircraft Incidents

[edit] 1940-1949

[edit] 1950-1959

[edit] 1960-1969

[edit] 1970-1979

[edit] 1980-1989

[edit] 1990-1999

[edit] Ship/Boat Incidents

Selected casualty reports from the United States Coast Guard can be seen here:[1]

[edit] Prior to 1850

  • 1779, Disappearance of Thomas Lynch, Jr. and wife while sailing to West Indies.
  • 1780, General Gates; no British warship claimed her sinking, but she had been declared unseaworthy in 1779 and sold.
  • August 8, 1800, USS Insurgent went missing during cruise to West Indies in search of enemy ships during Quasi-War with France. Insurgent was former French frigate L'Insurgente, captured the year before by USS Constellation.
  • August 20, 1800, USS Pickering went missing on voyage to West Indies. Both Pickering and Insurgent may have been lost in a severe storm that hit West Indies on September 20, 1800.
  • December 30, 1812 Patriot, American privateer. Carried as a passenger Theodosia Burr Alston, daughter of former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr.
  • October 1814, USS Wasp, sloop-of-war that severely harassed British shipping in the War of 1812; went missing on Caribbean cruise, October 1814.
  • January/February 1815, USS Epervier, while carrying original peace proposals for War of 1812; left Algiers for Norfolk, and went missing with crew of 134 in 1815, delaying the ending of hostilities (rare instance of maritime disappearance directly connected to international politics). DANFS however says the ship went missing sometime after July 14, 1815, carrying copies of a treaty with the Dey of Algiers back to the US and may have been lost in a known August 1815 hurricane.
  • January 1820, USS Lynx went missing with crew of 50 in far western Atlantic.
  • October 1824, USS Wildcat went missing with crew of 31 after leaving Cuba (Navy records indicate she was a storm victim).
  • 1840, Rosalie; went missing in Sargasso Sea.
  • March 15, 1843, USS Grampus went missing sailing south of the Carolinas.

[edit] 1850-1899

[edit] 1900-1909

[edit] 1910-1919

  • Mar 6-27, 1917. SS Timandra, 1,579-ton steam freighter, Captain Lee commanding; went missing with crew of 21 while bound for Buenos Aires from Norfolk for cargo of coal.
  • Mar 6-10, 1918. USS Cyclops, collier, LT. CDR. George Worley; went missing with 309 crew and passengers after leaving Barbados for Baltimore, Maryland.

[edit] 1920-1929

  • November or December, SS Hewitt, steam freighter. Disappeared.
  • January 31, 1921, Carroll A. Deering, five-masted schooner, Captain W.B. Wormell, crew of 11. Found aground and abandoned at Diamond Shoals, near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
  • April 1925, Raifuku Maru, a Japanese freighter with a cargo of wheat and a crew of thirty-eight, supposedly went down with all hands in the Triangle after sending out a distress signal which allegedly said "Danger like dagger now. Come quick!" In reality the ship was nowhere near the Triangle, nor was the word "dagger" a part of the ship's distress call.
  • December 1925, SS Cotopaxi, tramp steamer, Captain Meyers; went missing with crew of 32 after leaving Charleston, South Carolina for Havana, Cuba; reported caught in tropical storm.
  • March 14, 1926, SS Suduffco, freighter, Captain Thomas J. Turner; went missing with crew of 29 while sailing from New York City to Los Angeles.

[edit] 1930-1939

[edit] 1940-1949

  • February 18, 1942, FS Surcouf, submarine operated by Free French Navy lost in Caribbean, apparently rammed by freighter Thompson Lykes near Panama Canal; both vessels travelling unlit due to threat of U-boats.
  • March 6, 1948, Evelyn K.
  • 1948, SS Samkey (year also given as 1943) last position 41o48' N 24o W (NE of Azores).

[edit] 1950-1959

  • 1950, SS Sandra, freighter, lost after passing St. Augustine, Florida for Puerto Cabello, Venezuela
  • January 13, 1955, Home Sweet Home, pleasure craft.
  • September 26, 1955, Connemara IV, found abandoned.
  • January 1, 1958, Revonoc, pleasure craft, captained by business tycoon Harvey Conover.

[edit] 1960-1969

  • February 3, 1963, SS Marine Sulphur Queen T-2 tanker, vanishes with crew of 39 off the Florida Keys; carrying molten sulphur. [2]
  • July 2, 1963, Sno' Boy, pleasure craft, converted ACR (similar to WWII PT boats).
  • January 13, 1965, Enchantress, pleasure craft.
  • October 28, 1965, El Gato, pleasure craft.
  • December 10 1967, Speed Artist, 5 persons; Windward Islands
  • December 22, 1967, Witchcraft, cabin cruiser, 2 onboard, disappears one mile off Miami; had called Coast Guard requesting a tow, but on their arrival 19 minutes later no trace found; possibly pushed north by Gulf Stream; search involved 1,200 square miles. [3].

[edit] 1970-1979

  • 1970: French freighter Milton Latrides disappears; sailing from New Orleans to Cape Town; carrying vegetable oils and caustic soda
  • El Caribe; lost on September 10, 1971
  • 1973: German freighter Anita (20,000 tons), lost with crew of 32; sister ship Norse Variant (both carrying coal) lost at same time; year sometimes given as 1973; survivor from latter found on raft described loss of ship in stormy weather - waves broke hatch cover and ship sank quickly.
  • Dawn; lost on April 22, 1975
  • 1976: SS Sylvia L. Ossa lost in heavy seas 140 miles west of Bermuda.
  • 1978: SS Hawarden Bridge had previously been found with marijuana residue by USCG Cape Knox February '78 [4], found abandoned in West Indies a month later[5]; crime might be involved. scuttled November '78.

[edit] 1980-1989

  • 1980: SS Poet; carrying grain to Egypt; no survivors.

[edit] 1990-1999

  • 1995: Inter-island freighter Jamanic K (built 1943) reported lost after leaving Cap Haitien.
  • 1999: Freighter Genesis Lost after sailing from Port of Spain to St Vincent; cargo included 465 tons of water tanks, concrete slabs and bricks; reported problems with bilge pump before loss of contact. Search of 33,000 square miles of sea is fruitless.

[edit] Incidents on land

  • Chase Vault, island of Barbados; involving mysterious movement of coffins within sealed crypt, early 1800s.
  • Great Isaac Lighthouse, part of Bimini (Bahamas) was discovered abandoned; two keepers not seen again, August 4, 1969. [6]
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ SCIFI.COM | The Bermuda Triangle: Startling New Secrets
  2. ^ Into the Bermuda Triangle, 2003, Gian Quasar, McGraw-Hill

[edit] Bibliography

  • Into the Bermuda Triangle: Pursuing the Truth Behind the World's Greatest Mystery by Gian Quasar, International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press: 2003 (ISBN 0-07-142640-X). Contains list of missing craft as researched in official records. Reprinted in paperback in 2005 as ISBN 0-07-145217-6.