Bermuda Triangle

Bermuda Triangle:

The "Bermuda Triangle" or "Devil's Triangle" is an imaginary area located off the southeastern Atlantic coast in the U.S., which is known for a supposedly high incidence of unexplained disappearances of ships and aircraft. The tips of the triangle are generally believed to have Bermuda, Miami, Florida and San Juan, Puerto Rico. U.S. Board of Geographical Names does not recognize the Bermuda Triangle as an official name. The U.S. Navy does not believe Bermuda Triangle exists. It is reported that Lloyd's of London, the world's leading market for specialist insurance, not charging higher premiums for vessels transiting this heavily traveled area. 

The most famous U.S. Navy losses which have occurred in the area popularly known as the Bermuda Triangle are USS Cyclops in March 1918 and the aircraft of Flight 19 in December 1945. The ship probably sank in an unexpected storm, and the aircraft ran out of fuel and crashed in the ocean - no physical traces of them have never been found. Another familiar disappearance is the civilian tanker SS Marine Sulfur Queen carrying bulk molten sulfur which sank in February 1963. Although the wreck of the Marine Sulfur Queen has not been located, was a Life Preserver, and other floating artifacts recovered. These disappearances have been used to create confidence that the popular belief in the mystery and alleged supernatural qualities of the "Bermuda Triangle". 

Since the days of early civilization many thousands of ships have sunk and / or disappeared in waters around the world due to navigational and other human failures, storms, piracy, fires, and structural / mechanical failures. Flights are subject to the same problems, and many of them have crashed in the sea around the world. Often there were no living witnesses to the sinking or crash, and hence the exact cause of the loss and the location of the lost ship or aircraft is unknown. A large number of pleasure boats travel the waters between Florida and the Bahamas. All too often, crossings are attempted with a small boat, insufficient knowledge of the area's hazards, and a lack of good seamanship. 

To see how common accidents at sea, you can explore some of the latest casualty reports from the National Transportation Safety Board of ships and aircraft. One of the aircraft accident reports concerns an in-flight engine failure and subsequent ditching of a Cessna aircraft near Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas, 13 July 2003. It is the type of accident that probably would have been attributed to mysterious causes in the Bermuda Triangle, where there were no survivors or other witnesses to the accident. 

An important factor in the lack of vessels in the Bermuda Triangle is a strong ocean current called the Gulf Stream. It is extremely swift and turbulent and can quickly erase evidence of a disaster. Weather also plays its role. Prior to the development of the telegraph, radio and radar, sailors did not know was a storm or hurricane was nearby until it appeared in the distance. For example, lost the Continental Navy hunt Saratoga off the Bahamas in such a storm with its entire crew of 18 marts 1781st Many other U.S. Navy ships lost at sea in storms around the world. Suddenly local thunderstorms and water sprayers can sometimes spell disaster for mariners and air crews. Finally, the seabed topography varies from high schools around the islands for some of the deepest marine trenches in the world. The interplay between the strong power over the many reefs the topography of the seabed in a state of transition and development of new navigational hazards can sometimes be swift. 

It has been inaccurately claimed that the Bermuda Triangle is one of the two places on earth where a magnetic compass pointing in the direction of True North. Normally a compass will point toward the magnetic North Pole. The difference between the two is known as compass variation. The amount of variation changes by as much as the 60 degrees at various locations around the world. If this compass variation or error is not compensated for, navigators can find themselves far off course and into deep problems. Although in the past this compass variation was important for "Bermuda Triangle" region, because of fluctuations in Earth's magnetic field this has apparently not been the case since the nineteenth century. 

We do not know the U.S. government issued cards to outline the boundaries of the Bermuda Triangle. But it is generally short, and maritime and aeronautical charts of the general area are widely available in libraries and from commercial map dealers.