1. Flight 19
Flight
19 was a training flight of TBM Avenger bombers that went missing on December 5,
1945 while over the Atlantic. The impression is given that the flight
encountered unusual phenomena and anomalous compass readings, and that the
flight took place on a calm day under the leadership of an experienced pilot,
Lt. Charles Carroll Taylor. Adding to the intrigue is that the Navy's report of
the accident was ascribed to "causes or reasons unknown." It is
believed that Charles Taylor's mother wanted to save Charles's reputation, so
she made them write "reasons unknown" when actually Charles was 50 km
NW from where he thought he was.
While
the basic facts of this version of the story are essentially accurate, some
important details are missing. The weather was becoming stormy by the end of
the incident; only Lt. Taylor had any significant flying time, but he was not
familiar with the south Florida area and had a history of getting lost in
flight, having done so three times during World War II, and being forced to
ditch his planes twice into the water; and naval reports and written recordings
of the conversations between Lt. Taylor and the other pilots of Flight 19 do
not indicate magnetic problems.
2.
Mary Celeste
The
mysterious abandonment in 1872 of the Mary Celeste is often but
inaccurately connected to the Triangle, the ship having been abandoned off the
coast of Portugal. Many theories have been put forth over the years to explain
the abandonment, including alcohol fumes from the cargo and insurance fraud.
The event is possibly confused with the sinking of a ship with a similar name,
the Mari Celeste, off the coast of Bermuda on September 13, 1864, which
is mentioned in the book Bermuda Shipwrecks by Dan Berg.
3.
Ellen Austin
The Ellen
Austin supposedly came across an abandoned derelict, placed on board a
prize crew, and attempted to sail with it to New York in 1881. According to the
stories, the derelict disappeared; others elaborating further that the derelict
reappeared minus the prize crew, then disappeared again with a second prize
crew on board. A check of Lloyd's of London records proved the existence of the
Meta, built in 1854; in 1880 the Meta was renamed Ellen Austin.
There are no casualty listings for this vessel, or any vessel at that time,
that would suggest a large number of missing men placed on board a derelict
which later disappeared.
4.
Teignmouth
Electron
Donald
Crowhurst was a sailor competing in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race of
1968-69. His boat, a trimaran named Teignmouth Electron, left England on
October 31, 1968; it was found abandoned south of the Azores on July 10, 1969.
Most writers on the Triangle would stop there (only Winer elaborated on the
facts), leaving out the evidence recovered from Crowhurst's logbooks which
showed deception as to his position in the race and increasing irrationality.
His last entry was June 29; it was assumed he jumped over the side a short time
later.
5.
USS Cyclops
The
incident resulting in the single largest loss of life in the history of the
U.S. Navy not related to combat occurred when USS Cyclops under the
command of Lieutenant Commander G. W. Worley, went missing without a trace with
a crew of 306 sometime after March 4, 1918, after departing the island of Barbados.
Although there is no strong evidence for any theory, storms, capsizing and enemy
activity have all been suggested as explanations.
6.
Theodosia Burr Alston
Theodosia
Burr Alston was the daughter of former United States Vice-President Aaron Burr.
Her disappearance has been cited at least once in relation to the Triangle, in The
Bermuda Triangle by Adi-Kent Thomas Jeffrey (1975). She was a passenger on
board the Patriot, which sailed from Charleston, South Carolina to New
York City on December 30, 1812, and was never heard from again. Both Piracy and
the War of 1812 have been posited as explanations, as well as a theory placing
her in Texas, well outside the Triangle.
7.
The Spray
Captain
Joshua Slocum's skill as a mariner was beyond argument; he was the first man to
sail around the world solo. In 1909, in his boat Spray he set out in a
course to take him through the Caribbean to Venezuela. He disappeared; there
was no evidence he was even in the Triangle when Spray was lost. It was
assumed he was run down by a steamer or struck by a whale, the Spray
being too sound a craft and Slocum too experienced a mariner for any other
cause to be considered likely, and in 1924 he was declared legally dead. While
a mystery, there is no known evidence for, or against, paranormal activity.
8.
Douglas DC-3
On December
28, 1948, a Douglas DC-3 aircraft, number NC16002, disappeared while on a
flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Miami. No trace of the aircraft or the 32
people onboard was ever found. From the documentation compiled by the Civil
Aeronautics Board investigation, a possible key to the plane's disappearance
was found, but barely touched upon by the Triangle writers: the plane's
batteries were inspected and found to be low on charge, but ordered back into
the plane without a recharge by the pilot while in San Juan. Whether or not
this led to complete electrical failure will never be known. However, since
piston-engined aircraft rely upon magnetos to provide electrical power and
spark to their cylinders rather than batteries, this theory is unlikely.
9.
Star Tiger and Star Ariel
These Avro
Tudor IV passenger aircraft disappeared without trace en route to
Bermuda and Jamaica, respectively. Star Tiger was lost on January 30, 1948
on a flight from the Azores to Bermuda. Star Ariel was lost on January
17, 1949, on a flight from Bermuda to Kingston, Jamaica. Neither aircraft gave
out a distress call; in fact, their last messages were routine. A possible clue
to their disappearance was found in the mountains of the Andes in 1998: the Star
Dust, an Avro Lancastrian airliner run by the same airline, had disappeared
on a flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Santiago, Chile on August 2, 1947.
The plane's remains were discovered at the melt end of a glacier, suggesting
that either the crew did not pay attention to their instruments, suffered an
instrument failure or did not allow for headwind effects from the jetstream on
the way to Santiago when it hit a mountain peak, with the resulting avalanche
burying the remains and incorporating it into the glacier. However, this is
mere speculation with regard to the Star Tiger and Star Ariel,
pending the recovery of the aircraft. It should be noted that the Star Tiger
was flying at a height of just 2,000 feet, which would have meant that if the
plane was forced down, there would have been no time to send out a distress
message. It is also far too low for the jetstream or any other high-altitude
wind to have any effect.
10. KC-135
Stratotankers
On August
28, 1963 a pair of U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft collided and
crashed into the Atlantic. The Triangle version (Winer, Berlitz, Gaddis) of
this story specifies that they did collide and crash, but there were two
distinct crash sites, separated by over 160 miles of water. However, Kusche's
research showed that the unclassified version of the Air Force investigation
report stated that the debris field defining the second "crash site"
was examined by a search and rescue ship, and found to be a mass of seaweed and
driftwood tangled in an old buoy.
11. SS Marine
Sulphur Queen
SS
Marine Sulphur Queen, a T2
tanker converted from oil to sulfur carrier, was last heard from on February 4,
1963 with a crew of 39 near the Florida Keys. Marine Sulphur Queen was
the first vessel mentioned in Vincent Gaddis' 1964 Argosy Magazine article,
but he left it as having "sailed into the unknown", despite the Coast
Guard report which not only documented the ship's badly-maintained history, but
declared that it was an unseaworthy vessel that should never have gone to sea.
12. Raifuku Maru
One of the
more famous incidents in the Triangle took place in 1921 (some say a few years
later), when the Japanese vessel Raifuku Maru (sometimes misidentified
as Raikuke Maru) went down with all hands after sending a distress
signal which allegedly said "Danger like dagger now. Come quick!", or
"It's like a dagger, come quick!" This has led writers to speculate
on what the "dagger" was, with a waterspout being the likely
candidate (Winer). In reality the ship was nowhere near the Triangle, nor was
the word "dagger" a part of the ship's distress call ("Now very
danger. Come quick."); having left Boston for Hamburg, Germany, on April
21, 1925, she got caught in a severe storm and sank in the North Atlantic with
all hands while another ship, RMS Homeric, attempted an unsuccessful
rescue.
13. Connemara IV
A
pleasure yacht found adrift in the Atlantic south of Bermuda on September 26, 1955;
it is usually stated in the stories (Berlitz, Winer) that the crew vanished
while the yacht survived being at sea during three hurricanes. The 1955
Atlantic hurricane season lists only one storm coming near Bermuda towards the
end of August, hurricane "Edith"; of the others, "Flora"
was too far to the east, and "Katie" arrived after the yacht was
recovered. It was confirmed that the Connemara IV was empty and in port
when "Edith" may have caused the yacht to slip her moorings and drift
out to sea.