Bermuda Triangle - Encyclopedia of American History

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Bermuda Triangle, the best-known of a variety of folk names given to a triangular region of the Atlantic Ocean whose apexes are Miami, Florida; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and the island of Bermuda. Numerous ships and aircraft have disappeared in the area, the most famous being a flight of five U.S. Navy Avenger torpedo bombers that failed to return from a routine training mission in December 1945. Other losses range from small pleasure boats to the 542-foot U.S. Navy collier Cyclops, lost with all hands in 1918. Since the 1960s, some commentators have attributed these disappearances to powerful, mysterious forces that include UFOs, time warps, and the "lost continent" of Atlantis. Scientific and maritime authorities have consistently rejected these explanations in favor of naturalistic ones such as turbulent seas, rapidly changing weather conditions, and the errors of inexperienced sailors and pilots.

The name "Bermuda Triangle" first appeared in a 1964 Argosy Magazine article by Vincent Gaddis. A widely reprinted 1967 National Geographic Society press release gave it national prominence. Charles Berlitz's sensationalistic book The Bermuda Triangle (1974) and Steven Spielberg's references to the Avengers' Flight 19 in his film Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) bracketed the peak of the legend's popularity.



AUTHOR :

Kusche, Larry. The Bermuda Triangle Mystery—Solved. New York: Harper and Row, 1975. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1995. Debunks the legend in detail.

Bermuda Triangle - Occultopedia

+ bermuda triangle +


A mysterious area in the Atlantic Ocean where paranormal events and unexplained disappearances are alleged to occur.

The Bermuda Triangle is bounded by Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. It is also called the Devil's Triangle, Limbo of the Lost, Hoodoo Sea and the Twilight Zone. Numerous planes and ships have vanished there without a trace, often in good weather or near a landing site or port. Just before disappearing, crews have made radio contact indicating that nothing was amiss. In rare instances missing ships have been found, but without their crew or passengers. It was named in 1945, after the disappearance of six Navy planes and their crews on December 5, a sunny, calm day with ideal flying conditions. Prior to that scores of ships of all sizes reportedly had vanished in the area.

Strange phenomena have been reported since Christopher Columbus's voyage to America. Other phenomena witnessed in the area include bright lights or balls of fire; sudden explosive red flares in the sky; and UFO activity. Airplane crew members report sudden power failures, instrument failures, and their inability to maintain altitude. In the lore of fishermen, the Bermuda Triangle is inhabited by monsters that kidnap ships. One theory is that unusual weather conditions are responsible, other theories propose that phenomena are caused by alignments of the planets, time warps that trap ships and planes, forces emanating from the unknown ruins of Atlantis, or cosmic tractor beams sent from UFOs to kidnap ships and people.

Skeptics claim misleading information and sensationalist reporting have created a false mystery, adding that most disappearances can be attributed to bad weather, abandonment, or explainable accidents. They say that incidents that occur in the Triangle are automatically considered mysteries because of the legends. Analysis also suggests that the number of disappearances is about the expected average for the 250, 000 square miles (647, 000 sq. km) of empty ocean that form the Triangle.



from : OCCULTOPEDIA

Bermuda Triangle - Behind the Intrigue

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On a sunny day 58 years ago, five Navy planes took off from their base in Florida on a routine training mission, known as Flight 19. Neither the planes nor the crew were ever seen again.

Thus was a legend born. The Bermuda Triangle is an area roughly bounded by Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. No one keeps statistics, but in the last century, numerous ships and planes have simply vanished without a trace within the imaginary triangle.

Unusual features of the area had been noted in the past. Christopher Columbus wrote in his log about bizarre compass bearings in the area. But the region didn't get its name until August 1964, when Vincent Gaddis coined the term Bermuda Triangle in a cover story for Argosy magazine about the disappearance of Flight 19. The article stimulated a virtual cottage industry in myth-making.

Many exotic theories have been propounded to explain what happened to the missing travelers.

The disappearances have been attributed to the machinations of enormous sea monsters, giant squid, or extra-terrestrials. Alien abductions, the existence of a mysterious third dimension created by unknown beings, and ocean flatulence—the ocean suddenly spewing great quantities of trapped methane—have all been suggested as culprits.

The reality, say many, is far more prosaic. They argue that a sometimes treacherous Mother Nature, human error, shoddy craftsmanship or design, and just plain bad luck can explain the many disappearances.

"The region is highly traveled and has been a busy crossroads since the early days of European exploration," said John Reilly, a historian with the U.S. Naval Historical Foundation. "To say quite a few ships and airplanes have gone down there is like saying there are an awful lot of car accidents on the New Jersey Turnpike—surprise, surprise."

Lieutenant A. L. Russell, in the U.S. Coast Guard's official response to Bermuda Triangle inquiries, writes: "It has been our experience that the combined forces of nature and the unpredictability of mankind outdo science-fiction stories many times each year."

Disappearance of Flight 19

The legend of the Bermuda Triangle will be forever tied to the fateful flight that took place on December 5, 1945.

Flight 19 originated at the U. S. Naval Air Station in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Five TBM Avenger Torpedo Bombers carrying 14 men took off at roughly 2:10 in the afternoon that day on a routine navigational training mission.

Led by instructor Lieutenant Charles Taylor, the assignment was to fly a three-legged triangular route with a few bombing practice runs over Hen and Chickens Shoals.

Taylor, in an age before the Global Positioning System (GPS) became commonplace for navigation, got hopelessly lost shortly after the bombing run. Pilots flying over water in 1945 had to rely on compasses and knowing how long they'd been flying in a particular direction, and at what speed.

Both of the compasses on Taylor's plane were apparently malfunctioning. Transcripts of in-flight communications suggest he wasn't wearing a watch. There are no landmarks in the middle of the ocean.

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The planes flew in one direction then another as balmy daylight turned to stormy seas in the darkness.

Taylor is heard formulating a plan; as soon as the first plane's fuel level dipped below 10 gallons, all five planes were to ditch at sea.

The Avenger was known as an extremely rugged plane. Pilots sometimes called them "Iron Birds" or Grumman ironworks, said Mark Evans, a historian at the Naval Aviation History branch of the Naval Historical Center.

"They were built like tanks," he said. "Time and again they'd come back from battle all shot up and still functioning. Pilots loved them."

They were also very heavy, weighing more than 10,000 pounds (4,535 kilograms) empty. When ditched, the Avenger would go down hard and fast. The possibility of anyone surviving a landing in high seas was slim, the chance of surviving the night in the cold waters was nil, the likelihood of the wreckage making a quick descent to the bottom was high.

A massive land and sea search was mounted, but neither bodies nor wreckage were ever found.

Adding to the tragedy, one of the rescue planes also disappeared along with its 13-man crew. Their plane, a PBM Mariner, was nicknamed the "flying gas tank"; the slightest spark or a lit match could cause an explosion. A ship in the area reported seeing a huge fireball and crossing through an oil slick at the exact time and place where the plane would have been. The Navy halted production of that plane in 1949.

In the Navy's final report, the disappearance of Flight 19 was blamed on pilot error. Taylor's family protested and, after several reviews, the verdict was changed to "causes or reasons unknown."

Graveyard of the Atlantic

The Bermuda Triangle region has some unusual features. It's one of only two places on Earth—the other being an area nicknamed the Devil's Sea off the east coast of Japan, which has a similar mysterious reputation—where true north and magnetic north line up, which could make compass readings dicey [sidebar].

It is also home to some of the deepest underwater trenches in the world; wreckage could settle in a watery grave miles below the surface of the ocean. Most of the sea floor in the Bermuda Triangle is about 19,000 feet (5,791 meters) down; near its southern tip, the Puerto Rico Trench dips at one point to 27,500 (8,229 meters) feet below sea level.

Treacherous shoals and reefs can be found along the continental shelf. Strong currents over the reefs constantly breed new navigational hazards, according to the Coast Guard.

Then there's the weather.

"The biggest issues in that area normally are hurricanes, but it's not particularly a spawning area for storms," said Dave Feit, chief of the marine forecast branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Marine Prediction Center.

However, Feit pointed out, the Gulf Stream travels along the western edge of the triangle and could be a factor. The Gulf Stream is like a 40- to 50-mile-wide (64- to 80-kilometer-wide) river within the ocean that circulates in the North Atlantic Ocean. The warm water and two- to four-knot currents can create weather patterns that remain channeled within it.

"If you have the right atmospheric conditions, you could get quite unexpectedly high waves," said Feit. "If wave heights are eight feet outside of the Gulf Stream, they could be two or even three times higher within it. Sailors can sometimes identify the Gulf Stream by the clouds and thunderstorms over it."

The Coast Guard also notes that unpredictable Caribbean-Atlantic storms can yield waterspouts that often spell disaster for pilots and mariners.

Still, given a choice between the horrifying idea of a giant squid's tentacles wrestling an innocent ship to the sea floor, or an alien abduction, versus human error, shoddy engineering, and a temperamental Mother Nature—who could resist the legend of the Bermuda Triangle?



AUTHOR :

Hillary Mayell
for National Geographic News
Updated December 15, 2003

Bermuda Triangle - Encyclopedia

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:: BERMUDA TRIANGLE

The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a geographical area in the Atlantic Ocean which has been made infamous for the many people, aircraft, and surface vessels noted to have disappeared within its bounds. Many of these disappearances involve a level of mystery which are often popularly explained by a variety of theories beyond human error or acts of nature, often involving the paranormal, a suspension of the laws of physics, or activity by extraterrestrial beings. An abundance of documentation for most incidents suggests that the Bermuda Triangle is a mere legend built upon half-truths and tall tales from individuals who sailed the area, then later embellished on by professional writers.

:: THE TRIANGLE AREA

The area of the Triangle varies with the authors.
USS Monitor, the best-known victim of a Cape Hatteras gale.The boundaries of the Triangle vary with the author; some stating its shape is akin to a trapezium covering the Florida Straits, the Bahamas, and the entire Caribbean island area east to the Azores; others add to it the Gulf of Mexico. The more familiar, triangular boundary in most written works has as its points Miami, Florida, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the mid-Atlantic island of Bermuda, with most of the incidents concentrated along the southern boundary around the Bahamas and the Florida Straits.

The area is one of the most heavily-sailed shipping lanes in the world, with ships crossing through it daily for ports in the Americas and Europe, as well as the Caribbean islands. Cruise ships are also plentiful, and pleasure craft (boats and aircraft) regularly go back and forth between Florida and the islands.

The Gulf Stream ocean current flows through the Triangle after leaving the Gulf of Mexico; its current of five to six knots may have played a part in a number of disappearances. Sudden storms can and do appear, and in the summer to late fall the occasional hurricane strikes the area. The combination of heavy maritime traffic and tempestuous weather makes it inevitable that vessels could founder in storms and be lost without a trace — especially before improved telecommunications, radar and satellite technology arrived late in the 20th century.[1]

The "Graveyard of the Atlantic"

Although another title of the Triangle, it is in fact two places in the Atlantic: the area of continental shelf near Sable Island, Canada, and just off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Of the two, Sable Island is nowhere near the Triangle, but it did claim one alleged Triangle victim: the steamship Raifuku Maru (a more famous case would be the recent loss of the Andrea Gail). Both places are known for the intensity that a severe storm brings to the area, especially in the winter months, with the relatively-shallow water making the waves worse than they would be in the deep ocean. The most famous victim of a Cape Hatteras gale was not a Triangle vanishing: the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor went down in a severe gale while under tow to Charleston, South Carolina on December 31, 1862. A number of alleged Triangle incidents are thought to have went down in this area. [1]


:: HISTORY

February 1964 issue of Argosy Magazine, featuring the first printing of a story bearing the name Bermuda TriangleChristopher Columbus was the first person to document something strange in the Triangle, reporting that he and his crew observed "strange dancing lights on the horizon." On another occasion they observed what was most likely a falling meteor. At another point he wrote in his log about bizarre compass bearings in the area. Modern scholars checking the original log books have surmised that the lights he saw were the cooking fires of Taino natives in their canoes; the compass problems were the result of a false reading based on the movement of a star. [2]

The first article of any kind in which the legend of the Triangle began appeared in the April 1962 issue of American Legion Magazine. The article was titled "The Lost Patrol," by Allen W. Eckert, about the loss of Flight 19, a group of five U.S. Navy TBM Avenger bombers on a training mission. In the story, picked up by various authors since, it was claimed that the flight leader had been heard saying "We are entering white water, nothing seems right. We don't know where we are, the water is green, no white." It was also claimed that officials at the Navy board of inquiry stated that the planes "flew off to Mars." "The Lost Patrol" was the first to connect the supernatural to Flight 19, but it would take another author, Vincent Gaddis, writing in the February 1964 Argosy Magazine to put Flight 19 together with other mysterious disappearances, coin a new catchy name, and call the whole "The Deadly Bermuda Triangle"[3]; he would build on that article with a more detailed book, Invisible Horizons the next year. Others would follow with their own works: John Wallace Spencer (Limbo of the Lost, 1969); Charles Berlitz (The Bermuda Triangle, 1974); Richard Winer (The Devil's Triangle, 1974), and many others, all keeping to some of the same supernatural elements outlined by Eckert. [4]

Kusche's explanation

Lawrence David Kusche, a research librarian from Arizona State University and author of The Bermuda Triangle Mystery: Solved (1975) has challenged this trend. Kusche's research revealed a number of inaccuracies and inconsistencies between Berlitz's accounts and statements from eyewitnesses, participants and others involved in the initial incidents. He noted cases where pertinent information went unreported, such as the disappearance of round-the-world yachtsman Donald Crowhurst, which Berlitz had presented as a mystery, despite clear evidence that Crowhurst had fabricated the accounts of his voyage and had probably committed suicide. Another example was the ore-carrier Berlitz recounted as lost without trace three days out of an Atlantic port when it had been lost three days out of a port with the same name in the Pacific Ocean. Kusche also argued that a large percentage of the incidents which have sparked the Triangle's mysterious influence actually occurred well outside it. Often his research was surprisingly simple: he would go over period newspapers and see items like weather reports that were never mentioned in the stories.

Kusche came to several conclusions:

The number of ships and aircraft reported missing in the area was not significantly greater, proportionally speaking, than in any other part of the ocean.
In an area frequented by tropical storms, the number of disappearances that did occur were, for the most part, neither disproportionate, unlikely, nor mysterious.
The numbers themselves had been exaggerated by sloppy research. A boat listed as missing would be reported, but its eventual (if belated) return to port, may not be reported.
The circumstances of confirmed disappearances were frequently misreported in Berlitz's accounts. The numbers of ships disappearing in supposedly calm weather, for instance, did not tally with weather reports published at the time.
Some disappearances had in fact, never happened. One plane crash took place in 1937 off Daytona Beach, Florida, in front of hundreds of witnesses; a simple check of the local papers revealed nothing.
"The Legend of the Bermuda Triangle is a manufactured mystery... perpetuated by writers who either purposely or unknowingly made use of misconceptions, faulty reasoning, and sensationalism." (Epilogue, p. 277)
In recent years, however, several authors, most notably Gian J. Quasar, have raised several questions as to the veracity of Kusche's findings, including, but not limited to, why Kusche so often brought up as evidence for his claims cases that were already well-known before the writing of his work as not being Triangle incidents; his misidentification and mislocation of several ship and aircraft incidents that are well-documented, but then using that inability to properly identify the craft as "proof" that they never existed; and in other examples openly claiming possibilities for foul weather for certain disappearances where it can be verified that none existed.[2]

Other responses

The marine insurer Lloyd's of London has determined the Triangle to be no more dangerous than any other area of ocean, and does not charge unusual rates for passage through the region. United States Coast Guard records confirm their conclusion. In fact, the number of supposed disappearances is relatively insignificant considering the number of ships and aircraft which pass through on a regular basis.

The Coast Guard is also officially skeptical of the Triangle, noting that they collect and publish, through their inquiries, much documentation[5] contradicting many of the incidents written about by the Triangle authors. In one such incident involving the 1972 explosion and sinking of the tanker V.A. Fogg in the Gulf of Mexico, the Coast Guard photographed the wreck and recovered several bodies[6], despite one Triangle author stating that all the bodies had vanished, with the exception of the captain, who was found sitting in his cabin at his desk, clutching a coffee cup (Limbo of the Lost by John Wallace Spencer, 1973 edition).

Skeptical researchers such as Ernest Taves and Barry Singer have noted how mysteries and the paranormal are very popular and profitable. This has led to the production of vast amounts of material on topics such as the Bermuda Triangle. They were able to show that some of the pro-paranormal material is often misleading or not accurate, but its producers continue to market it. They have therefore claimed that the market is biased in favour of books, TV specials, etc. which support the Triangle mystery and against well-researched material if it espouses a skeptical viewpoint [3].


:: NATURAL EXPLANATIONS

Methane hydrates

Main article: Methane clathrate

Worldwide distribution of confirmed or inferred offshore gas hydrate-bearing sediments, 1996.
Source: USGSAn explanation for some of the disappearances has focused on the presence of vast fields of methane hydrates on the continental shelves. A white paper was published in 1981 by the United States Geological Survey about the appearance of hydrates in the Blake Ridge area, off the southeastern United States coast.[4] Periodic methane eruptions may produce regions of frothy water that are no longer capable of providing adequate buoyancy for ships. If this were the case, such an area forming around a ship could cause it to sink very rapidly and without warning.

Laboratory experiments carried out in the Monash University in Australia have proven that bubbles can, indeed, sink a scale model ship by decreasing the density of the water [7]; any wreckage consequently rising to the surface would be rapidly dispersed by the gulf stream.

Methane also has the ability to cause a piston engine to stall when released into the atmosphere even at an atmospheric concentration as low as 1%[citation needed].

Compass variations

Compass problems are one of the cited phrases in many Triangle incidents; it is possible that people operating boats and aircraft looked at a compass that they felt wasn't pointing north, veered course to adjust, and got lost quickly. The North Magnetic Pole is not the North Pole; rather it is the north end of the earth's magnetic field, and as such it is the natural end where the needle of a compass points. The North Magnetic Pole also wanders. In 1996 a Canadian expedition certified its location by magnetometer and theodolite at 78°35.7′N 104°11.9′W; in 2005 its position was 82.7° N 114.4° W, to the west of Ellesmere Island.

The direction in which a compass needle points is known as magnetic north. In general, this is not exactly the direction of the North Magnetic Pole (or of any other consistent location). Instead, the compass aligns itself to the local geomagnetic field, which varies in a complex manner over the Earth's surface, as well as over time. The angular difference between magnetic north and true north (defined in reference to the Geographic North Pole), at any particular location on the Earth's surface, is called the magnetic declination. Most map coordinate systems are based on true north, and magnetic declination is often shown on map legends so that the direction of true north can be determined from north as indicated by a compass.

Magnetic declination has been measured in many countries, including the U.S. The line of zero declination in the U.S. runs from the North Magnetic Pole through Lake Superior and across the western panhandle of Florida. Along this line, true north is the same as magnetic north. West of the line of zero declination, a compass will give a reading that is east of true north. Conversely, east of the line of zero declination, a compass reading will be west of true north. Since the North Magnetic Pole has been wandering toward the northwest, some twenty or more years ago the line of zero declination went through the Triangle, giving sailors and airmen a compass reading of true north instead of magnetic north. Not knowing the difference could easily result in a false compass reading, and ultimately a vanishing due to getting lost.

Hurricanes

Hurricanes are extremely powerful storms which are spawned in the Atlantic near the equator, and have historically been responsible thousands of lives lost and billions of dollars in damage. The sinking of Francisco de Bobadilla's Spanish fleet in 1502 was the first recorded instance of a destructive hurricane. In 1988, Hurricane Gilbert, one of the most powerful hurricanes in history, set back Jamaica's economy by three years. These storms have in the past caused a number of incidents related to the Triangle.

Gulf Stream

The Gulf Stream is an ocean current which flows out of the Gulf of Mexico, then north through the Florida Straits on into the North Atlantic. In essence, it is a river within an ocean, and like a river, it can and does carry floating objects with it. A small plane making a water landing, or a boat having engine trouble will be carried away from its reported position by the current, as has happened to the cabin cruiser Witchcraft on December 22, 1967, when it reported engine trouble near the Miami buoy marker one mile from shore, but wasn't there when a Coast Guard cutter arrived.


:: POPULAR THEORIES

The following theories have been used in the past by the Triangle writers to explain a myriad of incidents:

Atlantis

An explanation for some of the disappearances pinned the blame on left-over technology from Atlantis, for example, the activation of a still-operable death ray. It is claimed that evidence for Atlantis was discovered just off Bimini in 1968. This Bimini Road is either a road, wall, or pier meant to service ships bound for Atlantis from Central and South America. Archaeologically speaking, the Bimini Road was not only determined to be a natural formation, but no evidence of structures necessary for a pier to function have been discovered either on Bimini or in the nearby waters.

UFOs

Theorists claim extraterrestrials captured ships and planes, taking them beyond our solar system. This was given a boost when topics like ESP, telekinesis, clairvoyance, and the like flowered in the middle-to-late 1960s, and was used as storylines for popular films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The UFO Incident.

USS Memphis (CA-10) in 1916, hard aground in the Dominican Republic, after an encounter with a freak wave. (U.S. Navy)

Time Warp

The proponents of this theory state that the many ships and planes entered a time warp to a different time, or dimension on the other side. Usually, the ship or aircraft in the story enters this dimension by way of a cloud. This has been a popular subject in television episodes of Star Trek and The Twilight Zone.

Anomalous Phenomena

Charles Berlitz, grandson of a distinguished linguist and author of various additional books on anomalous phenomena, has kept in line with this extraordinary explanation, and attributed the losses in the Triangle to anomalous or unexplained forces.

Freak Waves

This explanation is not without foundation, as they are caused by deep-water earthquakes or far-away storms; one such wave wrecked the cruiser USS Memphis (CA-10) off the Dominican Republic on August 29, 1916, killing 40 men. [8]


:: FAMOUS INCIDENTS

Flight 19

US Navy TBF Grumman Avenger flight, similar to Flight 19. This photo had been used by various Triangle authors to illustrate Flight 19 itself. (US Navy)Flight 19 disappeared on December 5, 1945 while on a training mission over the Atlantic. According to the popular Triangle stories, the flight leader reported a number of odd visual effects while lost; i.e. mentions of "white water", the ocean "not looking as it should", and his compass spinning out of control, before simply disappearing. Furthermore, Berlitz in his book claimed that because the TBM Avenger bombers were built to float for long periods, they should have been found the next day considering what were reported as calm seas and a clear sky. However, not only were the planes never found, a Navy search and rescue seaplane that went after them was also lost and never found. Adding to the intrigue is that the Navy's report of the accident was ascribed to "causes or reasons unknown".[5]

While the basic facts of the Triangle version of the story are essentially accurate, some important details are missing. The popular image of a squadron of seasoned combat aviators disappearing on a sunny afternoon did not happen. By the time the last radio transmission was received from Flight 19, stormy weather had moved in. Only the Flight Leader, Lt. Charles Carroll Taylor, had combat experience and any significant flying time, but at the same time he had less than six months of flight experience in the south Florida area, less than the trainees serving under him, and a history of getting lost in flight, having done so three times previously in the Pacific theater during World War II and being forced to ditch his planes twice into the water. Lt. Taylor also has since been depicted as a cool, calm and confident leader. Instead, radio transmissions from Flight 19 revealed Taylor to be disoriented, lacking confidence in his decisions, and completely lost.

Exaggerated claims also often stated that all the planes were having compass problems, however later naval reports and written recordings of the conversations between Lt. Taylor and the other pilots of Flight 19 do not indicate this. As for the Navy's report, it is stated that blame for the loss of the aircraft and men rest upon the flight leader's confusion. However the wording was changed from blaming Taylor to "cause unknown" in a second official report in deference to the wishes of his family. It was this incident as stated in the second, altered report, plus the later losses of the airliners Star Tiger and Star Ariel, which began the legend of the Bermuda Triangle. [5]

Mary Celeste


The mysterious abandonment in 1872 of the Mary Celeste, is often but inaccurately connected to the Triangle, having been abandoned off the coast of Portugal. Many theories have been put forth over the years to explain the abandonment, such as alcohol fumes from the cargo to 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, and mentioned in the book Bermuda Shipwrecks by Dan Berg.


Ellen Austin

The schooner 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. [9]

Teignmouth Electron

Teignmouth Electron, as found on July 10, 1969. (Sunday Times)Donald Crowhurst was one of the entrants to the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race of 1968-69, where sailors competed for a £5,000 prize and the Golden Globe Trophy by circumnavigating the world alone. 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. and most writers of the Triangle would stop there, 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.

USS Cyclops

The incident resulting in the single largest loss of life in the history of the U.S. Navy not related to combat occured when USS Cyclops (AC-4), 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. Some feel that the ship went missing due to the Bermuda Triangle's popular but unproven supernatural features, bringing out the fact that there was no transmission from the ship that there was trouble, and that it seems to have simply disappeared. It must be noted that at the time radio communication was still in its infancy; sending urgent calls for help was not always a simple or quickly accomplished task. Many serious investigators of the incident believe the Cyclops was farther north of the Triangle when it went missing, closer to Norfolk, Virginia. Researcher Larry Kusche argues that the ship, a collier carrying 10,000 tons of manganese, capsized when the cargo suddenly shifted in a heavy gale. Such a gale was recorded in the coastal waters off the Virginia Capes on March 9-10, 1918.[6] [7]

Theodosia Burr Alston

Theodosia Burr Alston, by John Vanderlyn (1802)Theodosia Burr Alston was the daughter of former United States Vice-President Aaron Burr, the wife of South Carolina governor Joseph Alston, and had been mentioned at least once as a Triangle victim, 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. It had been conjectured that the Patriot was a victim of pirates, but it should be remembered that the War of 1812 was in full swing, the British conducted a naval blockade of American ports, and the Patriot was registered as a U.S. privateer. Several other theories have been presented to explain Alston's disappearance, including one placing her all the way in Texas, the extreme western terminus of the Gulf of Mexico, well outside the Triangle.


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.

Carroll A. Deering

Schooner Carroll A. Deering, as seen from the Cape Lookout lightship on January 29, 1921, two days before she was found deserted in North Carolina. (US Coast Guard)A five-masted schooner built in 1919, the Carroll A. Deering was found hard aground and abandoned at Diamond Shoals, near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina on January 31, 1921. Rumors and more at the time indicated the Deering was a victim of piracy, possibly connected with the illegal rum-running trade during Prohibition, and possibly involving another ship, S.S. Hewitt, which disappeared at roughly same time. This final photograph of her underway was taken from the Cape Lookout lightship two days before she was found deserted; it left the men of the lightship wondering why a man who was not an officer was hailing them, and why the Deering's crew were milling about on the foredeck. Just scant hours later, an unknown steamer sailed near the lightship along the track of the Deering, and ignored all calls to relay a message (the lightship's wireless was down); it even ignored the lightship's activation of the distress siren. It is speculation that the Hewitt may have been this mystery ship, and possibly, or directly, involved in the Deering crew's disappearance. [10]

Star Tiger and Star Ariel

A pair of Avro Tudor IV passenger aircraft owned by British South American Airways Corporation, 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. Searches revealed no debris, no oil slicks. While a genuine mystery in itself, a possible clue to their disappearance was found in the mountains of the Andes in 1998: the Star Dust, an Avro Lancastrian airliner also operated by BSAAC, disappeared on a flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Santiago, Chile on August 2, 1947. The plane's mangled remains were discovered at the melt end of a glacier, suggesting that either the crew didn't pay attention to their instruments or had an instrument failure on the decent to Santiago when it slammed head-on into the vertical wall of a mountain peak, with the resulting avalanche burying the remains and incorporating it in 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, based on transcripts of its radio communications, 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. [11]

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 of this story specifies that they did collide and crash, but there were two distinct crash sites, separated by over 170 miles of water.

SS Marine Sulphur Queen

Shattered trailboard from Marine Sulphur Queen, recovered near the Florida Keys, February 1963. (U.S. Coast Guard)SS Marine Sulphur Queen, a T2 tanker converted from oil to sulphur carrier, disappeared in February, 1963 with a crew of 39 near the Florida Keys. The Triangle writers generaly agree with the Coast Guard assessment in that the loss of the ship was attributed to numerous factors such as a possible explosion or hull fatigue, but they leave out the maintenance and repair history of the ship: there were numerous fires related to the sulphur cargo holds since the conversion; there was severe metal fatigue involving the keel; ship's upkeep overall was shoddy at best (one crewman declared it a "floating garbage can"); a badly-needed inspection one month before the sinking was cancelled in favor of catching up with cargo deliveries; and the Coast Guard did ultimately declare in its report that it was an unseaworthy vessel that should never have gone to sea. [12] [13]

USS Scorpion

The nuclear-powered submarine USS Scorpion (SSN-589) was lost south of the Azores while on a transit home to Norfolk, Virginia after a six-month deployment on May 26, 1968. The Scorpion has been picked up by numerous writers as a Triangle victim over the years, despite the fact that it did not sink in the Bermuda Triangle; the U.S. Navy believes that a malfunctioning torpedo contributed to her loss, an event actually recorded on the SOSUS microphone network.

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 went down with all hands after sending a distress signal which allegedly said "Danger like dagger now. Come quick!" This has led writers to speculate on what the "dagger" was, with a waterspout being the likely candidate. In reality the ship was nowhere near the Triangle, nor was the word "dagger" a part of the ship's distress call; having left Boston for Hamburg, Germany, 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.

Connemara IV

A pleasure yacht found adrift in the Atlantic south of Bermuda on September 26, 1955; it is usually stated in the stories 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.



from : WIKIPEDIA, the free encyclopedia

440th members pay respects to plane that honors lost crew; Memorial

+ bermuda triangle +


When a group of 440th Air Force Reserve Airlift Wing maintenance workers moved a C-119 Flying Boxcar to a spot on the Milwaukee base that used to be a baseball diamond, they had to take the wings off the bulky plane.

On the wing splice, an unseen spot when the wings were attached, they signed their names in pencil. That was almost nine years ago.

"We thought we'd be dead and gone by the time they moved this again," Senior Master Sgt. Todd Ramsey said Thursday morning.

Ramsey smiled. He's not dead, and he's certainly not gone.

Neither is the rest of the maintenance crew who scribbled their names for posterity, but the C-119 painted in the same scheme and tail number as a 440th plane that disappeared along with 10 men in the Bermuda Triangle more than 40 years ago will soon be gone.

Though it has been more than a year since the proud Air Force Reserve unit that has called Milwaukee home since the 1950s was included on the list of base closings, not much has changed outwardly. Many 440th members have retired or moved to other jobs but for those who drive by the military facility at the south end of Mitchell International Airport, it doesn't appear like a base that will shutter its doors next year.

That changed this week when workers began carting off one of three planes on static display.

On Thursday a crane was used to remove the Flying Boxcar's wings and twin tails before they were loaded on long flatbed trailers destined for the Air Force Reserve base in Niagara Falls, N.Y. where the C-119 will be on display.

Several current and retired 440th members showed up to snap photos, reminisce and watch the dismantling of a plane that they joked was so slow the only way it got anywhere was because the earth rotated underneath it.

For some it's the first tangible eviction sign for the base.

"It's a painful thing," said Osbee "Sam" Sampson, who retired in 1996 after almost four decades in the 440th. "It's just unbelievable. And to see them start dismantling the aircraft, it's a very emotional thing."

Joe Davis, a 440th flight engineer who retired in 1992, flew on C- 119s for many years and, like Sampson, knew the 440th members who disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle. "I almost hate to see it go because (the C-119) was such a big part of our lives."

The Flying Boxcar on display at the 440th was acquired from the Forest Service in 1989, a year after the plane was used to fight the fires that devastated Yellowstone. It was restored and painted in the colors of the C-119 that vanished in June 1965 while traveling from Milwaukee to the Bahamas to drop off an engine and maintenance crew. Nine of the 10 men lost on the flight were from the 440th, including Dick Nugent's brother Thomas, a loadmaster.

The loss was especially devastating for Nugent, now 72, because he should have been on that flight. But because he had already reached his allotment of military flights, his younger brother took his place.

On Thursday, Nugent drove from his Necedah home to take one last look at the plane that looked just like the one he loaded with parachutes and life rafts for the ill-fated crew. He was dismayed the plane was leaving.

"That bothers me because that was a Milwaukee crew, not a Niagara Falls crew. They couldn't find a place in Milwaukee to keep it?"

All three planes on display at the 440th are on loan from the U.S. Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. The other two planes are an F- 4 Phantom painted in the same colors and numbers as the jet flown by Bay View native and Medal of Honor recipient Lance Sijan when he was shot down in Vietnam, and a T-33, the most widely used jet trainer in the world.

The Air Force Reserve base in Niagara Falls had requested a C- 119 Flying Boxcar many years ago and when the Milwaukee plane came up "on the bidding block" the New York reserve unit got it, said Col. Merle Hart, 440th commander.

Hart, who will be wing commander when the unit moves to North Carolina in 2007, said he plans to formally request that the C-119 continue to have the same paint scheme and number since it honors a 440th crew.

"I'm sad to see this whole base leave. (The C-119) is part of that," Hart said. "When things start getting dismantled it starts the emotional trail."

The $100,000 cost to dismantle, transport and reassemble the Flying Boxcar is being paid by the Niagara Falls unit.

The T-33 is scheduled to go to a VFW post in Racine County while the F-4 at the entrance to the 440th is expected to stay put. Milwaukee County Supervisor Richard Nyklewicz, a member of the board's transportation committee, said the F-4 dedicated to Sijan's memory will remain part of Mitchell Field.

"The intent is to keep it in Milwaukee and at the airport at its current location perhaps as long as 10 years," said Nyklewicz, adding that the area where the 440th is located is a likely spot for another east-west runway at the airport.

Senior Master Sgt. Scott Schroeder, who is in his 23rd year with the 440th, was among those snapping photos of the Flying Boxcar in pieces on Thursday. Schroeder said it's difficult to see any of the planes leave the base, but "I know it's going to a good place. I'd rather see it go to another Air Force reserve base where they'll take good care of it."

C-119 FLYING BOXCAR

-- The 440th Airlift Wing flew C-119s from 1957 to 1971, when the unit switched to its current plane, the C-130.

-- The plane earned its nickname because it resembled French rail boxcars and because of its cargo hauling ability.

-- C-119s were used extensively during the Korean War to move troops and equipment. They were also used in the Vietnam War.

-- A C-119 was featured in the 2004 movie "Flight of the Phoenix."

Copyright 2006, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved. (Note: This notice does not apply to those news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other media.)

Copyright 2006 Journal Sentinel Inc. Note: This notice does not apply to those news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other media
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.



AUTHOR :

by MEG JONES

Ghost ships and vanished crews

+ bermuda triangle +


Bermuda's famed ''Devil's Triangle" has no monopoly on strange accounts of spooky apparitions and mysterious disappearances at sea

Should you be one of those who believe that the infamous Bermuda Triangle has a monopoly on the number of ships which vanished within its parameters a quick look at the rest of world's unsolved mysterious disappearances at sea would be most revealing. cursory review of enigmatic episodes within Ring Neptune's realm reveals scores, if not hundreds, of vessels which have simply vanished without a trace from every corner of the globe and many inland seas as well. Though many of these events can be laid to some form of explainable phenomenon the overwhelming majority simply defy logical explanation.

By their failure to suggest a plausible reason for the occurrence the mystery of what might have happened inflames our imaginations into conjuring a host of fertile "maybes" and "what if solutions. And this is precisely why any form of disappearance as the result of unknown or unexplainable causes continues to titillate readers of every age and calling. To further dispel the myth of the Bermuda Triangle's monopoly on mysterious vanishings let's first venture into the chilled waters of the North Atlantic to explore some of the baffling riddles which abound in this region.

WHAT HAPPENED ABOARD THE SEABIRD?

Rhode Island's rocky shores are as good a region as any to start since they became the site of one of the earliest recorded ship disappearances on the Atlantic Coast. In May 1850, the discovery of the mysteriously abandoned fishing schooner Sea Bird became the cause of much speculation on the waterfront.

The seas had been unusually calm for days when the well-founded fisherman abruptly sailed onto the rocks near Newport. Spectators who witnessed the grounding were disturbed that the mishap occurred on a bright spring day without seeming explanation. How could any crew be so ham-handed? The answer was simple. There was no crew. The large vessel was totally devoid of all humanity - a "ghost ship" by any definition. The would-be rescuer's concern turned to distress when they boarded the grounded vessel only to discover the only life aboard Sea Bird to be a dog, a cat and a parakeet!

Though the ship was totally deserted, a boiling kettle was found on top of a blazing stove and the table was neatly set for a meal for eight. Sixty dollars in easily visible coins and cash was found in the captain's cabin thereby ruling out any possibility of piracy, mutiny, or foul play. On deck, a small skiff was still secured in place on its chocks. Below, the odor of tobacco smoke still hung heavy in the crew's quarters, but otherwise there was no trace of a single person, nor so much as a vague clue to their fate. To a man, eight souls had simply vanished into thin air! What had happened? Why? How? Questions were many, answers few.

A review of the Sea Bird's records indicated her captain was John ; Durham, lately of Middletown, Connecticut. Reportedly a family man with strong ties to the Methodist church, Capt. Durham was never heard from again. The last entry in the captain's log indicated a peaceful voyage; the sighting of Brenton's Reef. several miles offshore shortly after dawn. The fish hold was filled with a fresh catch of cod, sea bass and mackerel. Later, the crew of a lobster fisherman signified they had exchanged "all well" signals with the Sea Bird only a few hours before she was found derelict and abandoned on the rocks.

The mystery of the Sea Bird unexpectedly soon deepened when a Spring squall lashed the Newport area while the ghost ship's ownership was being determined prior to a salvage attempt. When the skies finally cleared and the seas calmed Sea Bird was gone like her crew, never to be seen again! Drifting off of the rocky pinnacle that briefly imprisoned her, the vessel sailed off on her own into apparent oblivion. Like a ghostly apparition she had appeared out of nowhere, swung on the rocks impaling her for a few days, and then just as mysteriously vanished from sight altogether. Sea Bird was the first of many unsolved mysteries which occurred off the North American coast.

THE ELLEN AUSTIN'S DEADLY GHOST SHIP

Farther north a few decades later in the turbulent waters off of Newfoundland an even more unexplainable puzzlement befell a ship by the name of the Ellen Austin. She was a fair-sized ship, 210-ft in length and weighing in at 1812-tons. She was a three-massed schooner built of white oak at Damariscotta, Maine, in 1854. It is possible that she was constructed for the Tucker family of Wiscasset, Maine, a community that had become very wealthy from the shipping industry.

Wiscasset was the home to Maine's richest sea captains and some the world's most magnificent sailing vessels graced her harbor over the years.

The Ellen Austin changed hands a number of times and, in 1857, was ferrying passengers between New York and Liverpool. By 1880 the schooner was a packet ship of the Grinnell, Minturn & Co.'s Blue Swallowtail line, running between London to New York. In 1883, the ship was wrecked along the American coast under Capt. AJ. Griffin.

In 1944, a retired British Naval officer named Rupert T. Gould wrote up the story of the Ellen Austin in a book called The Stargazer Talks. Captain Gould wrote several nautical narratives chock full of oddities, astronomical tips, sea serpents and the like. Gould had heard the story of the Ellen Austin from a fellow seaman and was the first to put it to paper.

According to Naval gossip, the Ellen Austin left London in 1881 bound for St. John's, Newfoundland, under the command of Capt. Baker. The Ellen Austin was halfway between England and Newfoundland when the crew sighted an unidentified schooner. The schooner sat still in the water and eventually the ships came within hailing distance.

The ship did not answer to any hails, so the captain and four of his crew boarded with weapons drawn, ready for any brigandage. Upon being boarded, the ship proved to be shipshape and in well-maintained condition. Its sails were furled and its rigging was intact. There was no sign of the crew and there was no evidence of any violence.

Mysteriously, the ship's log was missing and the nameplates had been removed from the bow.

The captain selected a crew to take the ship to St. John's, ordering them to sail the vessel in tandem with the Ellen Austin. Two days later the Ellen Austin and the nameless schooner were set upon by a storm, and contact between them was lost.

Once the storm lifted, the schooner was sighted sailing erratically. When it was boarded, investigation proved she was once again deserted, with the replacement crew having eerily vanished, with no indication of what had happened or where they had gone. The bunks had not been slept in and the new logbook had disappeared.

The captain refused to let the ship go. He insisted and forced another reluctant crew aboard the mysterious and apparently deadly ship. Shortly thereafter yet another squall sprang up. The derelict schooner was traveling behind the Ellen Austin at a distance of ten ship-lengths, but contact between the ships was again lost in the mist.

This time when the storm lifted, the strange ship was nowhere to be seen. The Ellen Austin continued on its voyage, and neither the unknown vessel nor the second crew made it to St. John's. They were never seen again.

An equally peculiar sequence of events took place only three years later, again in the waters off the coast of Newfoundland.

GONE MISSING: CAPTAIN JAMES AND THE RESOLVEN

On the 27th of August 1884, the brig Resolven left Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, for Snug Harbour, Labrador, to load up with fish. The Resolven was a soft-wood vessel, built in Nova Scotia, and weighed in at 143-tons with a crew of six. She was under the command of a Capt. James, who had arrived in Harbour Grace with a cargo of salt for John Munn and Company. She left port on that August day with three passengers.

A mere two days after the ship's departure, word reached her home port that the Resolven had been towed into another community by the HMS Mallard. The ship had been picked up, abandoned, with no sign of the crew and passengers.

When the ship was discovered, the sails were set and a fire was still burning in the galley. There was no wreckage nor sign of violence. The ship's small boat was gone, and the general condition showed the crew had left in a great rush.

The ship's log contained no clues, and no explanation for their sudden departure was ever found. When the ship was located, a large iceberg was seen nearby. Some suggested that the ship had encountered ice, the crew had abandoned ship, and then were swamped and drowned. The small boat was never found, nor were any bodies.

The steamer Lady Glover was sent to tow the vessel back to Harbour Grace. She was eventually sold at auction, and purchased by John Munn and Company. The Resolven was eventually lost, having gone ashore under the command of Capt. Fred Cole at Northport, Nova Scotia, on the 27th of July 1888.

The story could have ended there, with the strange disappearance of Capt. James and crew explained away as a freak accident. But the enigma surrounding the Resolven did not end there.

The Resolven had been lost at Northport after being sent there for a load of lumber.

The C.W. Oulton, under Capt. William Fitzgerald, was dispatched with a second load of lumber to replace that lost on the Resolven The C.W. Oulton was lost as it attempted to bring the lumber home. Following that, the brig Anastasia was given the same task. It too failed, and under Capt. T. Bransfield, was lost at the same location as the C. W. Oulton, along with a third cargo of lumber.

A fourth ship, the, SS Iceland, was dispatched to retrieve whatever lumber could be salvaged from the Oulton. In doing so, the Iceland destroyed and damaged numerous fishing traps in the vicinity of the wrecks, causing so much havoc that the owners were forced to pay heavy damages. Whatever curse had caused Capt. James and his men to vanish seemed to taint all business associated with the Resolven, even long after the ship's demise.

What was behind the curse of the Resolven? What happened to her crew, and crew of the strange vessel encountered by the Ellen Austin? No one can say. The sea guards her secrets jealously, and we may never know the answer to these questions. What does remain certain is that the North Atlantic is a force to be reckoned with, and one that will never be tamed by the will of man.

THE MYSTERY OF THE MARION

The icy waters off Newfoundland and the Grand Banks still taunt many with the saga of the vanished black fishing schooner Marion. Though its sudden disappearance might be laid to two possible fates, close scrutiny of the facts reveals neither outcome to be a realistic resolution. Marion's perplexing tale began on a balmy June day in 1915 when the 600-ton fisherman left her home port pier at Fortune Bay and pointed her jib toward the famed Grand Banks. Aboard were 17 highly experienced seasoned seamen under the command of Capt. Isaac Skinner. Sailing into a rising sun after clearing the channel buoys at St. Pierre, Manon was seen heading due east under a cloud of sail by a number of inbound passing vessels. This was the last anyone ever saw of the proud fisherman. Her crew would never see home again.

Days, weeks, months passed and no word was heard from the black schooner. The families of the crewmen began to voice concern. Where were their men? Why hadn't they returned with their usual rich harvest from the sea? Had some mishap befallen the Marion? The vessel's owner, the Burke family of St. Jacques, began to make inquiries. Had anyone seen or heard from the now long overdue Manon. No replies were forthcoming. The vessel carried no Marconi wireless.

Two of the four Burke brothers - Denis and Jon - went to St. Pierre to see what they could learn from the local waterfront denizens. Their investigation turned up one interesting bit of information. The Burkes soon learned there had been a bitter fight between Marion's skipper Isaac Skinner and the captain of a French steam trawler at the Cafe de France the night before the schooner went to sea. Brawny six-foot Skinner had easily decked the wiry Frenchmen in their brawl with the result that the bloodied trawler captain vowed to get even with the Marion's skipper. The following day, the French trawler slipped her lines and followed the Marion to sea. Five days later the French trawler limped back into St. Pierre in dire need of repairs to its damaged stern following a supposed "collision" with a channel marker.

Curious about the trawler's strange "accident," the Burke brothers wanted to know if the Frenchman had made good his threat to seek vengeance on the Marion by ramming and sinking her with a loss of all 17 hands? A full investigation was launched by the local authorities. But the French captain staunchly maintained his innocence; denying ever having gone after the black schooner on the open sea. Further, he was able to identify the iron marker his trawler had accidentally backed into. Photos revealed its flotation chamber still showed evidence of the dents and paint smears of the trawler's damaged stern.

While the formal investigation was underway another possible excuse for Marion's disappearance was offered. German U-boats had occasionally been stalking and sinking Grand Banks fisherman with their deck guns. Two fishing vessels had been sunk by U-boats in recent months, but in both instances survivors had taken to their dories as lifeboats and were soon picked up by other vessels. Had Marion been torpedoed or sunk in this manner, her crew captured and taken back to Germany to be interned? Though some seamen felt this was a plausible explanation others held the view German submariners were already too cramped and too tight on rations in their "iron coffins" to take hapless fishermen aboard for a 3000-mile trek back across the Atlantic.

As speculation raged about Marion's fate her mysterious disappearance spawned a legend that became a popular sea chanty sung throughout Canada's Maritime Provinces. With each passing year the legend grew especially because Marion's vanished crew left behind so many grieving widows and children. The end of World War One revealed no record of any fishing crew having been captured at sea and taken prisoners by any U-boat. Though the French trawler captain maintained his innocence throughout his lifetime others allegedly claimed he confessed on his death bed to having scuttled the Marion. With so much notoriety surrounding the schooner's disappearance and the Burke family's offer of a handsome reward for information about the incident it would seem one of the French trawler's crew of 14 might have been motivated to confess the truth. No one ever claimed the reward and to this day the Marion's fate remains unknown.

STRANGE HAPPENINGS ON THE PACIFIC COAST

Nor is the Pacific Coast bereft of strange evennesses. In fact America's West Coast enjoys more than its share of unexplained happenings, some of them most bizarre. The disappearance of the schooner J. C. Cousins continues to baffle seafarers around the mouth of the Columbia River even though it happened more than 120 years ago in October 1883.

Dawn broke over the picturesque Pacific northwest with clear skies and a slight wind as a group of Coast Guardsmen of the US Revenue Cutter Service, forerunner of the US Coast Guard, watched the schooner J. C. Cousins steady progress toward Clatstop Spit, near Ilwaco, Washington. Moments later the schooner suddenly swung around as if out of control and headed straight inshore for a sandy bank fringing the seaway. To the Coast Guardsmen's and other witnesses utter amazement, the ship careened to a stop as its keel bit into the silt with a full brace of wind still billowing her sails.

Rushing to the grounded vessel's aid, the sailors were astonished to discover no one aboard. The magnificent ship was lifeless, having instantly transformed into an abandoned, grounded hulk. Though the J. C. Cousins was deserted the usual macabre traces were left behind; an untouched meal on the cabin table, the galley stove still warm, potatoes boiled dry in a pot. All of the crew's personal possessions neatly hung in their crowded quarters below. There was absolutely no evidence of a fight, mayhem nor even a minor brawl. Proceeding down river toward the sea under the command of Capt. Joshua Zeiber, a notation in the ship's log made in mid-river gave only the time and location as well as the assurance that, "All's well." Yet a strange fate had somehow intervened.

Though everything was obviously not "all well" aboard the abandoned schooner no clue as to what possibly may have happened ever surfaced. The vessel, salved and later sold at auction, was the subject of a review board, but all roads led to dead ends in the investigation that followed. Captain Zeiber and his crew of twelve hail and hearty seafarers, though always in sight of the Columbia River shoreline, simply disappeared into thin air never to be seen again. Not one body nor shred of evidence of any kind ever washed ashore. Robbery or mutiny was ruled out as a possible cause owing to the fact that the schooner was heading out to sea in ballast with a freshly recruited crew containing no known troublemakers, Further testament to a non-violent phenomena was the finding of a loaded Colt revolver in the captain's cabin with six .45-cal bullets in the cylinder. In a deck box near the mainmast was a neat untouched stack of cork life preservers. A dozen possible explanations ranging from the presence of an unknown gaseous substance forcing the crew to abandon ship to the inviting lure of ladies of the night were offered as possible explanations, but none answered the question of the crew's fate. Why and how did they to a man manage to disappear on the Columbia River? No solution was ever forthcoming.

INLAND WATERS: LAKE ERIE, THE EERIE LAKE?

In 1977, Jay Gourley wrote a book called The Great Lakes Triangle which, as you can probably guess, attempted to collect various weird vanishings and bizarre incidents from the Great Lakes' region in order to "prove" that there was a place more frightening than the more popular Bermuda Triangle. Needless to say, it didn't become quite the media sensation they hoped it would.

While Gourley finds far more mystery in the Great Lakes other than Erie (especially Ontario and Michigan) he does provide a few interesting tidbits. For example: On 2 December 1942, two ships, the Admiral, a tug boat, and the Clevco, an oil tanker, disappeared within ten miles of Cleveland upon Lake Erie. Both ships had left Toledo tied to each other with a towline. The idea being that occasionally ships would run aground upon the uneven bottom of the lake and the tug would easily be able to "yank" the ship oifthe inconvenient embankment. On this occasion, the Admiral was in the lead with Clevco in tow. At 4 am, a lookout on the Clevco noticed that the towline was no longer leading out over the water, but was actually leading down into the lake itself.

The inescapable conclusion was that the Admiral had somehow sunk to the bottom of the Lake with 14 men aboard it without a sound. The crew of the Clevco was understandably shocked by their discovery. So they stopped the ship in its course and radioed the Coast Guard for assistance. Their position was almost exactly 25 miles away from downtown Cleveland. The Coast Guard dispatched two cutters and a few motorboats from Cleveland to help. When the Coast Guard arrived at the location, they found nothing. Neither ship was at the coordinates the Clevco had broadcasted. But it gets weirder.

When daylight broke, the Civil Air Patrol (remember this is WWII) joined in the search. Pilot Clara Livingston spotted the Clevco 15 miles from its original location within ten miles of Cleveland itself. She reported its location and then claimed that the ship simply disappeared as a "cloud of snow" descended upon the ship. She then claimed that her radio failed her, so she returned immediately to base. For the rest of that day, the Coast Guard was at a loss at where the ship was.

Eventually, the cutter Ossipee spotted the barge and got within 150-ft when once more a "snow storm" cut them off from the ship and they were unable to rescue it. At 3:30, the Clevco once more established radio contact with the authorities. They claimed that their ship was adrift and unable to be steered. The Coast Guard informed them to release oil into the! water in order to help the search find the barge. At 4:40 pm, the Clevco ceased radio contact and was never j heard, nor seen, again. Early the next morning, two members of the crew ' were found dead, washed up along the Cleveland shore with Clevco lifejackets and stained with oil. Neither ship was ever found and no survivors were ever reported.

The book also lists the unusual circumstances behind eleven airplanes and five other ships that have been lost upon the Great Lake Erie. Perhaps one of the most interesting is the case of the vanishir skipper George Donner. Donner was in charge of the O.M. McFarland which was sailing on Lake Erie from Erie, Pennsylvania, to Lake Michigan. The ship made it with the entire crew intact, all except for Donner who j apparently vanished into thin air. While still upon Lake Erie, the skipper excused himself and went into his cabin. The second officer testified that he had heard Donner moving about within his cabin at 11:30 pm. The next morning, however, Donner didn't answer his door when knocked upon. Eventually, the second officer had to break down the door only to discover that George Donner was not within. A quick search of the ship revealed that Donner had simply disappeared without a trace.

A little more on Cleveland...

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL

There you have it - a brief review of mysterious vanishings all around the North American continent. Though one can endlessly speculate and ponder what had happened in each of these mysteries the fact remains that there is little hope we will ever learn the truth; that their secrets will forever remain shrouded in an abyss of fanciful supposition. Yet quite remarkably, there is always the odd chance that some electrifying piece of evidence will emerge to complete the story; answer an unsolvable conundrum. That such things do sometimes happen - even if all too rarely - is best exemplified in the 1997 case of the ketch Ruth which suddenly disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle in September 1996.

Gone with Ruth were the yacht's German owners Ralf Schilling, 33; and his wife Britta, 31. An all out search for the couple, who were last seen in the Canary Islands on a round-the-world voyage sailing odyssey, yielded nothing but empty blue sea. Both occupants were given up for lost - the ship sunk; two more hapless souls added to the lengthy toll of the Bermuda Triangle's countless victims.

Ten months were to pass before an astonishing discovery was made. Purely by chance, the British Royal Navy frigate HMS London found the sailless ketch Ruth adrift 500-km off Bermuda in the mid-Atlantic. "She looked very strange. She had no sails, the mooring lines were listlessly hanging over the sides and she appeared water-logged and totally derelict. We put a boarding party on her to investigate," said London's skipper, Cmdr. Lian Greenlees. His officers found clothes in the bunks, a book left open with a page marker, rotted food in the refrigerator, and an ashtray overflowing with cigarette butts, as if someone had just stepped off five minutes earlier with every intention of returning.

Checking Ruth's registration with authorities in Spain, Cmdr. Greenlees discovered the Schilling's had last been seen sailing west from the Canary Islands. Apparently they had sold their house to buy the boat and planned to sail around the world. Taking the forlorn vessel in tow, Cmdr. Greenlees set about making inquiries regarding the long overdue couple.

A chance phone call by the curious officer to Dusseldorf a week later brought startling results. To Greenlees' chagrin he discovered the "missing" Schillings were happily very much alive and safely back at their jobs in Germany! In fact, they had no idea the world considered them missing or lost at sea. It seems the Schillings believed their yacht had been stolen the previous fall when they discovered Ruth missing at her mooring after having visited some friends in the Canaries for a few days. Despondent over their loss, they returned to Germany after filing a missing vessel report which unfortunately never was properly recorded. As a result, the world press erroneously believed the couple was missing with their yacht while in actuality they were forlornly winging home on an airliner. Believing Ruth to have been stolen by modern pirates they felt the boat was gone for good.

"It was such a shock to have our boat found after all these months," Frau Schilling happily reported to journalists. "Now perhaps we can continue our voyage."

Rarely is the Bermuda Triangle cheated of another victim, yet in this case a kinder fate prevailed and all ended happily. The curse of the Bermuda Triangle had been broken; the "lost" had been found, and a couple reunited with their boat were able to complete their dream voyage. One can't help but wonder if similar absurdly simple explanations can be traced to many of the mysterious disappearances at sea?


Copyright Challenge Publications Inc. Jan 2004
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved



AUTHOR :

by James, Preston Maudry

It's just weather, or pilot error, or ...: 'Triangle' casts doubters

+ bermuda triangle +


'THE TRIANGLE'

8 to 10 p.m. tonight, Tuesday and Wednesday on Sci Fi.

- - -

Science fiction has spent plenty of time worrying about distant worlds and fictional galaxies. Now it's fretting about something closer to home.

"The Triangle" opens at 8 tonight as a three-night, six-hour miniseries on the Sci Fi Channel.

This doesn't need a far-away setting. People agree that there's a Bermuda and that ships and planes have disappeared near it. They just disagree on whether it's something eerie or just bad weather.

"It's estimated that in the past 200 years, some 8,000 people have actually vanished without a trace in that legendary vortex," says Bonnie Hammer, the Sci Fi president.

Naturally, her channel prefers the more exotic explanations. That's what science fiction offers.

"It gives us a platform to allow our minds to be more playful," says "Triangle" producer Dean Devlin.

"It's 'what if' and being able to be a child again for the few hours that you're watching," said Catherine Bell, one of the stars.

The channel has drawn praise for its mini-series, particularly "Taken," "Dune" and "Battlestar Galactica." For this one, it has some science-fiction heavyweights.

Devlin has co-written and co-produced "Independence Day," "Stargate" and "Godzilla." He came up with the "Triangle" idea. Rockne O'Bannon -- creator of "Alien Nation" and "Farscape" -- wrote the script; both men are producers.

O'Bannon's notion was to do the story through the eyes of people who don't believe the triangle legends. He says he wanted "a set of characters who went into it with [a] jaundiced view."

A shipping magnate (Sam Neill) is tired of losing ships in the triangle. He assembles a reporter (Eric Stoltz), an ocean resource engineer (Catherine Bell), a psychic (Bruce Davison) and a scientist/ adventurer (Michael Rodgers) to investigate. Except for the psychic, all are doubters.

In real life, Bell seems happy in either camp.

"I do believe that there is more to the universe than we can see," she says. "But I was studying to be a scientist or a doctor, so I guess I wish there was a way to prove it."

Instead, specifics are sketchy. People agree that on Dec. 5, 1945, "Flight 19" -- five U.S. military planes -- disappeared during what seemed like a simple mission on a sunny afternoon near Florida. Since then, the triangle has been defined as an area (140,000 square miles) between Bermuda, southern Virginia and the Florida Keys.

"Triangle" begins on the 60th anniversary of Flight 19 and runs for three consecutive nights, from 8 to 10 p.m.

The characters studying the triangle are flawed people, which is a key part of the story. "If it's just special effects, it's not going to fly," Davison says.

Even Devlin -- who has made a fortune with effects-filled movies - - agrees with that. "I think we became a little obsessed with what we could do with these new toys," he says.

By now, the actors are accustomed to big effects. In a studio, they stare at an empty green screen and pretend to be reacting to something that will be added later.

"You just have to make it real to you," Bell says. "Looking at a green screen and pretending there's a monster is just like looking at a person and pretending this is the love of your life," says the actress.

All of this is a jump from her original plans. At UCLA, Bell says, she was studying to be a doctor or a biomedical engineer.

Then modeling work and commercials began. Bell, after all, has a distinctive look.

From her dad's side of the family (English), she is 5-foot-10 and athletic-looking. From her mom's side (Iranian), she is a dark- haired beauty. The combination made her a busy model.

The acting roles were slower until "JAG" came with the towering David James Elliott. For eight seasons, she was his character's law colleague, friend and -- finally -- fiancee.

Now Bell has gone from lawyer to engineer. "I'm getting a lot of intelligent roles now," she says.

It's just that this is the kind of intelligence that also involves facing the eerie unknown.

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2005
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.



AUTHOR :

by Mike Hughes

Lost in Bermuda triangle

+ bermuda triangle +


Irwin, Woods stuck in the rough


Saturday, June 16, 2001

Tulsa, Okla. -- Hale Irwin fell from the leader board faster than you can say "Bermuda rough," and Tiger Woods disappeared in it.

So who was left to pick up the pieces in the 101st U.S. Open championship Friday?

Mark Brooks, Retief Goosen and J.L. Lewis, that's who.

After nearly 14 hours of golf -- a snail-paced marathon made necessary by a rain suspension Thursday -- the unlikely trio emerged from the pack to share the lead at Southern Hills Country Club.

Brooks, a gritty little Texan who won the 1996 PGA Championship, changed drivers before the second round and fired a 6-under-par 64 to vault from six shots back into a tie for the lead at 4-under 136.

"That's about as good as I can play," he said. "It feels good to keep a round going. I kept it in play and I lag-putted pretty good. It's nice to know you can play well on this golf course."

Brooks was joined by Goosen, a South African with four victories on the European Tour, and Lewis, a former club pro whose lone PGA Tour victory came in the 1999 John Deere Classic.

Goosen shot a 70 after finishing off a morning 66, and Lewis put together consecutive 68s.

Irwin, 56, who fired a first-round 67, finally started acting his age. He stumbled to a 41 on the front nine before righting himself on the back to finish with a 75. The three-time U.S. Open champion nearly matched his start last year at Pebble Beach, when he went 68- 78.

"My goodness, I had some problems at the beginning," Irwin said. "I just never got into a rhythm, never had any chances for birdies. But I'm at 142, six shots back. If somebody would have given me two 71s before we started, I'd have taken it."

Woods, the defending champion and the winner of the last four major championships, struggled with his swing all day. He hit a year's worth of bad shots but salvaged a 71 after a morning 74. Twelve times, he one-putted to save par, once to save bogey.

He was at 5-over 145, nine strokes behind the leaders.

"There's a long way to go," Goosen cautioned. "Tomorrow is going to be a big day for (Woods). If he shoots 6-under, he's back in the tournament. We know Tiger can get on a roll quickly."

Brooks was the only player on the leader board with a major championship on his resume, but the group right behind the leaders was a who's who of "best players never to have won a major."

Sergio Garcia of Spain, who won the MasterCard Colonial three weeks ago, shot a 68 and was two strokes back at 2-under 138. Stewart Cink also was at 138 after a 69.

"I like my chances," said Cink, a two-time Tour winner. "I like the way I'm playing, and I'd like to win this tournament above all others. I'm going to give it 110%."

Mickelson, Duval lurking

Phil Mickelson and David Duval, who have 30 PGA Tour victories between them but no majors, were tied at 1-under 139, three shots back. Both shot 69s.

Mickelson's up-and-down round included a chip-in for birdie on the first hole and a hole-in-one on the 175-yard sixth. He used an 8- iron to record the 33rd ace in U.S. Open history.

"I didn't hit it quite as well as I did (Thursday)," Mickelson said. "I was just a little bit off."

Thirty-two players, including Steve Stricker of Madison (4 over through 31 holes), were stranded on the course by darkness. They will resume play at 7 a.m. today. After the 36-hole cut is made, the third round will begin at 9:45 a.m.

The projected cut was 6-over 146. Among the casualties was Fox Point native Skip Kendall, who shot 74-74--148.

"I imagine I'll be a little bit nervous when I stand on the first tee tomorrow," said Goosen. "I'm just going to try to focus on the shots I've got to hit. It's going to be a long, tough weekend."

Brooks, 40, who counts the 1991 Greater Milwaukee Open among his seven PGA Tour titles, hit only seven fairways in the first round, switched drivers, then hit 12 fairways in the second.

"I wasn't thrilled with the driver I picked out for the first round," Brooks said. "I sent my wife back to the house, and she brought back a different driver. I change drivers almost daily."

Lewis, 40, has only three top-25 finishes on Tour this year. He wasn't too worked up about sharing the lead halfway through the Open.

"Leads and that sort of thing probably aren't going to matter until late on Sunday," he said. "If you've got a lead with two or three holes to go, then that's another matter. But right now, I don't think anybody is going to benefit themselves by looking at the leader board.

"You've got to play one shot at a time. This golf course is demanding and there's really not any letup in it. So that's what I'm going to do."

Copyright 2001
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.



AUTHOR :

By GARY D'AMATO
of the Journal Sentinel staff

Crew lost 60 years ago in Bermuda Triangle honored

+ bermuda triangle +


WASHINGTON -- The disappearance of Flight 19, a Navy mission that began the myth of the Bermuda Triangle, is still unexplained but not forgotten 60 years later.

The 27 Navy airmen who disappeared somewhere off Florida's coast on Dec. 5, 1945, were honored in a House resolution Thursday. Rep. Clay Shaw (R-Fla.) said he hoped the gesture would help bring closure for surviving families.

What happened is the question that has befuddled, entertained and tormented both skeptics and believers in the Bermuda Triangle, a stretch of ocean between Puerto Rico, Bermuda and Miami that many believe is an area of supernatural phenomena.

"There's just so many weird things here that experienced pilots would have not acted this way," Shaw said. "Something happened out there."

Compasses failed on lead plane

Five U.S. Navy Avenger airplanes left the Fort Lauderdale Naval Air Station on a routine training mission over the Bahamas. The five pilots and nine crewmen, led by instructor Lt. Charles Taylor, were to practice bombing and low-level strafing on small coral shoals 60 miles east of the naval station. They were then to turn north to practice mapping and then southwest to home. The entire flight, which Air Station pilots took three or four times a day, should have lasted three hours.

From radio reports overheard by ground control and other airplanes, the compasses on Taylor's plane apparently malfunctioned 90 minutes into the mission.

With no instruments to guide him over the open ocean, Taylor thought the flight had drifted off-course and was actually south over the Florida Keys. He directed the planes to fly due north to hit land.

"He was not in the Keys, he was out in the end of the Bahama chain," said David White, who at the time was a flight instructor stationed at Fort Lauderdale. "When he went north, he was going out to the wide ocean."

Just about the time the squadron was to have landed back at Fort Lauderdale, a last radio message from Taylor was received: They would keep flying "until we hit the beach or run out of gas." Due to weakening radio signals, no reading could be made on the direct location of the planes.

Radio messages show that some of the students wanted to fly east, said Allan McElhiney, president of the Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Historical Association.

Yet military discipline overruled.

"You stay with the leader, that's the Navy way," McElhiney said.

The mystery deepened when a few hours later a Navy rescue airplane, a Martin Mariner with 13 crewmen, also vanished. No evidence of the Mariner was ever found either.

Copyright The Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

Family of Marine lost in '45 scoffs at Bermuda Triangle

+ bermuda triangle +


Howell Thompson was a bored 24-year-old Marine when he sat down to write home to Chicago. "We aren't doing any thing now days," he began.

But, he wrote from Florida, "Tomorrow, we're supposed to make a three-hour hop . . . navigation, low-level bombing and strafing. This hop will give us enough time to draw flight pay for this month," he wrote.

He hoped to be home for Christmas.

Howell Thompson never made it.

Sixty years later, people are still interested in his "hop" -- Flight 19, the so-called Bermuda Triangle trip on Dec. 5, 1945, that ended with five Navy planes and 14 aviators, including Thompson, being mysteriously swallowed. A rescue mission involving 13 other men also disappeared in the stretch of ocean between Puerto Rico, Bermuda and Miami.

Just this week, a three-night television drama about the Triangle ran on cable, as have a couple of documentaries featuring the story of how the Lost Flight vanished without a trace. Books and the Internet brim with tales of the supernatural, including suggestions of alien abduction.

Rep. Clay Shaw (R-Fla.), who sponsored a House resolution honoring the men of Flight 19 in connection with the 60th anniversary, talks of "so many weird things" about the training mission. "Something happened out there," said Shaw.

'Proud to be a Marine'

But for one northwest suburban family, the Bermuda Triangle isn't sci-fi: It's where they lost Howell Thompson -- their son, their brother, their uncle.

"My family doesn't believe in the mystique of the Bermuda Triangle. It could have been the wind, it could have been a water spout. I just don't think it was anything creepy or weird," said Joan Pietrucha, a niece of Thompson.

Pietrucha, 61, attended a memorial service this week in Florida for the 27 men who disappeared. In a speech there, the Schaumburg resident described her uncle as a Cubs fan with a dry sense of humor who liked bowling and roller skating. He graduated from Lane Tech.

"Most of all, he was proud to be a Marine," said Pietrucha, whose knowledge of Thompson mostly comes from reading about 300 letters her uncle sent to his family's home in the 4100 block of North Hamlin.

Howell Thompson's brother Carl, now 78, also rejects explanations revolving around the supernatural. "I don't believe in any of that," he said. "Once those planes hit the water, they would have gone down quickly."

'Electronic fog' cited

The five Navy Avenger planes left the Fort Lauderdale Naval Air Station on a routine training mission over the Bahamas. The compasses on the lead plane apparently began malfunctioning 90 minutes into the mission.

With no instruments to guide lead pilot Lt. Charles Taylor over the open ocean, he thought he was south of the Florida Keys and decided to head north, radioing that they would keep flying until "we hit the beach or run out of gas." They disappeared, as did the Navy rescue airplane that followed.

In addition to the Flight 19 crewmen and would-be rescuers, more than 50 ships and 20 aircraft have disappeared in the Triangle, according to the U.S. Navy's Naval Historical Center.

A fact sheet prepared by the U.S. Coast Guard cites how the "extremely swift and turbulent" Gulf Stream creates sudden storms and water spouts and "can quickly erase any evidence of a disaster."

The ocean floor in the Bermuda Triangle contains "some of the deepest marine trenches in the world," the Coast Guard says.

Gian Quasar, author of Into the Bermuda Triangle (Dimensions Publishing), says electromagnetic anomalies in the atmosphere led to the demise of Flight 19. Such "electronic fog" can cause needles on compasses and other instruments to spin. The fog comes and goes and can cause pilots to become disoriented, Quasar said.

"It is something that will seize the aircraft and travel with you," he said. "You are not flying into the fog; it is flying with you."

'They just don't know'

As for Flight 19, the Navy Board of Inquiry concluded: "We are not able to even make a good guess as to what happened."

"Tons of theories, but they just don't know," said Pietrucha as her 2-year-old granddaughter, Kendall Bloomfield, played with a photo of Howell Thompson in Pietrucha's living room earlier this week.

Pietrucha will sometimes watch TV specials on Flight 19. But, she said, "If I hear them talking about the supernatural, I just tune them out. Where's the evidence?"

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2005
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.



AUTHOR :

by Andrew Herrmann

Bermuda Triangle mystery still haunts; 40 years after plane's

+ bermuda triangle +


The last words were innocuous: "Roger. Miami overseas, 6567."

It was probably Louie Giuntoli's voice. The 41-year-old pilot of the C-119 Flying Boxcar sounded calm on the radio as he acknowledged switching to a clearer frequency of 6567 kilocycles.

He didn't sound like a man in distress.

He didn't sound like a man about to disappear.

The crew from Milwaukee's 440th Airlift Wing was flying over the Atlantic Ocean south of Florida on the heavily traveled Yankee Route. Though maps don't identify the area as such, it's known as the Bermuda Triangle. Another half-hour and the 10 men on board should have arrived at their destination, Grand Turk Island in the Bahamas.

It was a clear night with good flying weather. When they didn't land, radio traffic controllers started calling Plane No. 680. The crew didn't answer.

Nothing more was heard from Plane No. 680. Nothing was found. Not the men. Not their aircraft. Only a few scraps of debris that could have been tossed out of the cargo plane.

It's as if they were just swallowed up by the turquoise waters.

That was 40 years ago. It's been four decades of silence. And pain. For the families and friends and colleagues of the missing 440th crew, their questions will never be answered. And even though the Air Force Reserve wing in Milwaukee will soon close, Plane No. 680 hasn't been forgotten.

All that is left now is a plaque dedicated to the crew that hangs at the 440th headquarters and a C-119 plane painted exactly like the missing aircraft that's on display near one of the facility's gates.

The loss left a hole in the 440th an entire flight crew plus experienced maintenance specialists. Kids grew up without their dads, wives continued their lives without their mates, co-workers wondered about the fate of their friends and colleagues.

Two brothers, different fates

It was a routine mission: drop off an engine and a maintenance crew on Grand Turk Island, pick up bundles of concertina wire in Puerto Rico and drop them off in the Dominican Republic. Then return home to Milwaukee.

Dick Nugent was a loadmaster for the 440th, and so was his brother Thomas. Dick Nugent had just finished a week of air drops at Fort Benning, Ga., and since he had reached his allotment of military flights, his 30-year-old brother took his place on Plane No. 680.

"He was my kid brother. I got off and he got on," said Dick Nugent, now 72.

Dick Nugent knows he could just as easily have been on that plane on that day, and it would be his brother Thomas who would be asking questions four decades later.

"I wanted to go down there and help in the search, but they wouldn't let me. It was awful hard to take," he said.

Phyllis Adams dropped off her husband, Milt, 36, a flight engineer, at the 440th headquarters at Mitchell Field on June 5, 1965. It was a Saturday. Her daughters, 14 and 8, and 7-year-old son came along.

"Well, myself and my three kids took him to the airport and he said goodbye and he said, I'll see you in a few days.' And that was it," said Phyllis Adams, 73, who met her husband while she was on a date with Milt's cousin.

Milt Adams disappeared not long before he would have celebrated his 10th wedding anniversary. Someone from the 440th called her the day after she dropped her husband off and told her his plane was overdue but that she shouldn't worry.

"Famous last words," she said.

She has thought of him every day since June 5, 1965. She has questions that will never be answered. She has read the official accident report and noted the number of pages that are missing or blacked out.

"Let me put it this way: That was a big aircraft. There were 10 people on board. They had another engine on board. There was luggage," Phyllis Adams said. "You mean to tell me that if that plane crashed that nothing was found?

"I don't buy it, I will never buy it."

Also on the plane that night: the co-pilot, 1st Lt. Lawrence F. Gares, 27, of Milwaukee; the navigator, Capt. Richard J. Bassett, 32, of Milwaukee; and the maintenance crew, Raoul P. Benedict, 35, of Milwaukee; Duane W. Brooks, 32, of Caledonia; Norman J. Mimier, 34 of Muskego; and Frank Ellison, 41, of Muskego.

A 10th person, John W. Lazenry, was also on board. The Air Force airman was picked up in Miami and hitching a ride to the Bahamas on the Flying Boxcar, which got its name from the bulky cargo area between the distinctive twin tails.

Crews used to joke that the C-119 traveled so slowly that the Earth rotated underneath it.

Other planes vanished, too

The Milwaukee C-119 wasn't the first, the biggest, nor the last aircraft to disappear in the Bermuda Triangle.

Though the triangle has been the subject of many books and TV documentaries, Plane No. 680 is simply one more incident in a long list of mysterious disappearances in the area loosely defined as stretching from Bermuda to Miami to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

In 1945, 14 men in five TBM Avengers flying in formation on a routine two-hour exercise on a sunny day disappeared after leaving Fort Lauderdale, Fla. A PBM Mariner and its 13-person crew sent out to search for the missing planes vanished, too. Six planes and 27 men. Gone.

In 1948, a DC-3 with 31 people on board disappeared while flying from Puerto Rico to Miami during the Christmas holiday. The DC-3 signaled Miami air traffic controllers when it was about 50 miles away. Then nothing.

Gian J. Quasar, author of "Into the Bermuda Triangle," said aircraft have vanished as radio tower controllers watched them. Many disappeared in good weather, many were being tracked on radar when the signal was suddenly lost, and quite a few have been lost in relatively shallow water.

"One thing is in common: They don't send out (a distress) signal, there's no indication they had an impact, and they all vanish," Quasar said. "One or two you can dismiss, but we're talking about hundreds" of disappearances.

Planes and ships were sent out to look for Plane No. 680, but nothing was found during the days-long search of 54,000 square miles no oil slick, no life rafts, no debris. A few months later, Milwaukee newspapers reported that the Air Force eventually found a wheel chock with the plane's number, and near Grand Rock Cay in the Bahamas, part of a box lid with "ION KIT" stenciled on it from a "Contact Mission Kit" turned up.

The discovery of debris is not mentioned in the 104-page Air Force investigation report obtained through the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. Seventeen pages have been deleted from the report released to the public, and numerous pages are blacked out because of personal information about the crew and testimony from military officials.

Osbee "Sam" Sampson watched his friends get on the C-119 that day, joked with them as he did on many other missions and saw them take off at 10:51 a.m. A maintenance crew member who later became a loadmaster and flew the same routes as the crew that disappeared, Sampson packed four yellow 20-person life rafts and 20 one-person life rafts on the plane for his friends in case something happened. Along with Sampson's buddies, the life rafts were never seen again.

"Frank Ellison, I remember his last words to me. He told me to behave myself. I told (Nugent), I hope they put enough food on the plane.' Man, he could eat," said Sampson, now 69. "There wasn't a time when I flew through the Bermuda Triangle that I didn't think that could happen to me. There wasn't anything you could do about it."

The flying crew was seasoned, with thousands of flight hours between them, and the maintenance crew were experts at their jobs, whether it was propellers or engines. So if there was a mechanical problem on the flight, there were plenty of people to take care of it.

Plane No. 680 landed at Homestead Air Force Base in Florida at 5:04 p.m., spent two hours and 43 minutes on the ground and took off at 7:47 p.m. ascending to 9,000 feet as it headed south to the Bahamas.

The radio chatter was routine. Then silence. Radio controllers in Miami; New York; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Grand Turk Island tried to find Plane No. 680 and asked each other whether anyone had heard from the crew.

The investigation report notes the time the Flying Boxcar would have run out of fuel.

"It has to be an explosion or something for them not to say anything" on the radio, said Sampson, noting that with all of the gear on board, he was surprised that so little debris was discovered. "Even if you're having trouble, you switch on the radio so they can track you. There had to have been a big bang."

Word began to spread through the 440th the next day, a Sunday, that one of their planes was missing. Instead of going to church, many members went to the air wing's headquarters to talk, ask questions and comfort each other.

Some visited the families of the missing. Most held out hope on that first day and for the next few days that the crew would be found, said Joe Davis, 73, who spent three decades with the unit.

Their lockers at the 440th were left untouched for months.

There's got to be an answer'

This is what went through Davis' mind: Maybe they panicked, but that's not likely since they were an experienced crew. Maybe it blew up, but if it did, there would have been a lot of debris. Maybe there was an engine failure and they tried to make an emergency landing on the water, but there would have been debris. Maybe they were shot down by a Cuban plane, but no oil slick was found.

"I think at the time everybody went through every scenario," said Davis, who coincidentally sold Benedict a $10,000 life insurance policy. "The hardest thing to dispel is there's got to be an answer.

"The crew was highly qualified. That's what makes it all harder that there was some scenario that they couldn't handle."

Copyright 2005, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved. (Note: This notice does not apply to those news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other media.)

Copyright 2005 Journal Sentinel Inc. Note: This notice does not apply to those news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other media
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.



AUTHOR :

by MEG JONES