The Bermuda Triangle Demystified

This fabled area is seen as one that poses extreme danger and supernatural happenings, but is this accurate?

The mystique enshrouding the infamous stretch of ocean we call the Bermuda Triangle dates back to the 15th century when mariners experienced the harrowing calms of the Sargasso Sea and encountered the ghostly remains of vessels that had not escaped its clutches. When Christopher Columbus sailed through the area on his first voyage to the New World in 1492, he recorded erratic compass readings, strange lights and a great streak of fire crashing into the sea one night. Since Columbus, hundreds of ships and planes, and with them a thousand people, have vanished in the Triangle without a trace, fuelling its aura of mystery and superstitious dread.

The term ‘Bermuda Triangle’ was first coined in the 1950s in magazine articles and books documenting what was perceived as an eerie pattern of unexplained occurrences in the region. The most notable of these was the disappearance in 1945 of ‘Flight 19’, five US Navy torpedo bombers that took off on a training mission from Fort Lauderdale and never returned. One of the search and rescue aircraft deployed to look for them, with a 13 man crew, also disappeared. 

But close analysis of the post-war ‘documentaries’ reveals they were misleading or inaccurate, and that many incidents reported were exaggerated, dubious or unverifiable. According to journalist Larry Kusche, author of The Bermuda Triangle Mystery: Solved (1975), the legend of the Bermuda Triangle is itself a manufactured mystery, perpetuated by writers who either purposely or unknowingly made use of misconceptions, faulty reasoning and sensationalism.

Despite this scathing critique, the ‘mysteries’ have survived over the decades and many theories have been offered to explain them, ranging from paranormal to natural phenomena.

Some theorists favour the supernatural, asserting that the Triangle seabed encompasses the fabled city of Atlantis, in which ‘energy crystals’ were used as power sources. Remnants of this ancient technology, they say, are generating electromagnetic forces strong enough to open a rift in the time-space fabric of the universe through which ships and aircraft pass to another dimension. Along similar lines, UFO enthusiasts argue that the Triangle is a 'Star Gate' portal used by aliens to abduct humans and their machines for study.

However, both the US Navy and US Coast Guard contend that there are no supernatural explanations for aircraft and vessel losses in the area, and that the casualties are the result of nothing other than physical causes.

Explanations grounded in science, if not in evidence, suggest that meteorological factors are most likely responsible. Many tropical storms and hurricanes pass through the Triangle. The Gulf Stream current can also cause sudden and extreme changes in the weather, like ‘white squalls’ — intense, unexpected storms that arrive without warning on otherwise clear days — and ‘waterspouts’, the equivalent of sea tornadoes. Other phenomena include ‘air bombs’, powerful downdrafts of cold air that hit the ocean and explode outward like a giant squall at speeds of up to 270km/h, creating waves as high as 14 metres. One of these is suspected of sinking the Pride of Baltimore in 1986.

Another popular theory is that the missing vessels were struck by ‘rogue waves’. Generated by the convergence of intense storm cells, these freak waves can reach heights of up to 30 metres, easily capable of capsizing a vessel or breaking its spine, depending on the line of impact. Such was the outcome of experiments at the University of Southampton in the UK on a model of USS Cyclops, a huge bulk ore carrier that disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle in 1918, claiming 300 lives. Two of Cyclops' sister ships, Proteus and Nereus, were subsequently lost in the North Atlantic while transporting heavy loads of metallic ore, leading experts to deduce structural failure due to overloading as the most likely cause of sinking in all three cases.

A recent scientific theory proposes ‘ocean flatulence’ as a possible cause of sinkings. Large pockets of methane gas are known to exist beneath the ocean floor in various parts of the globe. If internal pressure becomes too great or in the event of a tectonic shift or seismic shock wave, a huge bubble of gas can erupt, decreasing the density of the water beneath a ship, causing it to sink. If the highly flammable methane then rises into the air to envelope a passing aircraft, it could stall the plane’s engine or ignite on an electrical spark and explode, with devastating effect. However, according to the US Geological Survey, no large releases of methane are believed to have occurred in the Bermuda Triangle for the past 15,000 years, and no such catastrophic incident has ever been known to happen.

From the realm of geophysics comes the plausible but misguided theory that the Triangle is affected by an unusual geomagnetic anomaly — where magnetic (compass) north and geographic (true) north are aligned — inducing navigational error by a ship or plane. While it is true that such a phenomenon exists in a few locations due to fluctuations in the Earth's magnetic field, it has not been recorded in the Bermuda Triangle since the 19th century, according to the US Navy. Sadly, the simple answer probably lies in human error. Though exonerated by a US Navy Board inquiry, Lieutenant Charles C Taylor who led Flight 19 had a history of getting lost, having done so three times during World War II, and being forced to ditch his planes twice into the water.

Conspiracy theorists point to the large number of disappearances and ask: what are the odds that so many would occur in such a small area of ocean? But when considering the statistics, it is important to bear in mind that the Bermuda Triangle is one of the most heavily travelled shipping lanes in the world, with ships crossing through it daily for ports in the Americas and Europe. A third of all privately-owned vessels in the United States are registered in the Triangle region and pleasure craft regularly transit between Florida and the Caribbean Islands. Aircraft routinely fly over it and commercial airlines do not actively avoid the area, as some people suggest. The marine insurer Lloyd’s of London has determined the Triangle to be no more statistically dangerous than any other area of open ocean, and does not charge unusual premiums for ships passing through it.

The real mystery surrounding the Bermuda Triangle is that its infamous reputation still persists in the face of statistical analysis and rational science. Perhaps the answer lies in the human fascination with ‘the unknown’ and that, like X-Files sleuth Fox Mulder, people just want to believe.