The Bermuda Triangle

 

The Bermuda Triangle may be a mythical section of the Atlantic roughly bounded by Miami, Bermuda and Puerto Rico where dozens of ships and airplanes have disappeared. Unexplained circumstances surround a number of these accidents, including one during which the pilots of a squadron of U.S. Navy bombers became disoriented while flying over the area; the planes were never found. Other boats and planes have seemingly vanished from the world in weather without even radioing distress messages. But although myriad fanciful theories are proposed regarding the Bermuda Triangle , none of them prove that mysterious disappearances occur more frequently there than in other well-traveled sections of the ocean. In fact, people navigate the world a day without incident.

People are trying to unravel the “mystery” of the Bermuda Triangle for years. Here’s what we all know (and don’t know) about the Bermuda Triangle.

What is known about the Bermuda Triangle: 

• The Bermuda Triangle may be a region of the North Atlantic Ocean (roughly) bounded by the southeastern coast of the U.S., Bermuda, and therefore the islands of the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico).
• Although reports of unexplained occurrences within the region date to the mid-19th century, the phrase “Bermuda Triangle” didn’t inherit use until 1964. The phrase first appeared in print during a pulp article by Vincent Gaddis, who used the phrase to explain a triangular region “that has destroyed many ships and planes without a trace.”
• The Bermuda Triangle doesn't appear on any world maps, and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names doesn't recognize the Bermuda Triangle as a politician region of the Atlantic.
• The exact boundaries of the Bermuda Triangle aren't universally prescribed . Approximations of the entire area range between 500,000 and 1,510,000 square miles (1,300,000 and 3,900,000 square kilometers). By all approximations, the region features a vaguely triangular shape.
• Despite its reputation, the Bermuda Triangle doesn't have a high incidence of disappearances. Disappearances don't occur with greater frequency within the Bermuda Triangle than in the other comparable region of the Atlantic.
• Charles Berlitz popularized the legend of the Bermuda Triangle in his best-selling book The Bermuda Triangle (1974). within the book, Berlitz claimed that the fabled lost island of Atlantis was involved within the disappearances.
• The Bermuda Triangle sustains heavy daily traffic, both by sea and by air.
• At least two incidents within the region involved U.S. military craft. In March 1918 the collier USS Cyclops, on the way to Baltimore, Maryland, from Brazil, disappeared inside the Bermuda Triangle . No explanation was given for its disappearance, and no wreckage was found. Some 27 years later, a squadron of bombers (collectively referred to as Flight 19) under American Lieut. Charles Carroll Taylor disappeared within the airspace above the Bermuda Triangle . As within the Cyclops incident, no explanation was given and no wreckage was found.
• In 2013 the planet Wildlife Fund (WWF) conducted an exhaustive study of maritime shipping lanes and determined that the Bermuda Triangle isn't one among the world’s 10 most dangerous bodies of water for shipping.

 

What is not known about the Bermuda Triangle:

• The exact number of ships and airplanes that have disappeared within the Bermuda Triangle isn't known. the foremost common estimate is about 50 ships and 20 airplanes.
• It is not known whether disappearances within the Bermuda Triangle are the results of human error or weather phenomena.
• The wreckage of the many ships and airplanes reported missing within the region has not been recovered.