Bermuda Triangle Essay Example For Students

Bermuda Triangle Essay BERMUDA : THE SATAN’S RINGIntroduction:A legendary triangle of Ocean lies between 3 countries upon the Atlanticocean. The Cities are Bermuda, Puerto Rico and Fort Lauderdale. Ships, people and aeroplanes have been reported mysteriously disappearing off the face of the earth whilst travelling inside this triangle. It soon acquired the name Devils Triangle owing to peoples superstitions that the devil was at play on this stretch of ocean and gobbling up weary and lost travellers with great delight, but what actually was at play inside this triangle of rough water, is it really the devil?, or perhaps aliens are using this spot as their home base on earth. Maybe it really does contain a mystical vortex that sucks people down into a third dimension. The myth of the mysterious triangle was first begun in an Associated Press dispatch Reporter E.V. W. Jones wrote of mysterious disappearances of ships and planes between the Florida coast and Bermuda. Two years after this article appear ed Fate magazine ran an article by George X. Sand about a series of strange marine disappearances, each leaving no trace whatever, that have taken place in the past few years in a watery triangle bounded roughly by Florida, Bermuda and Puerto Rico. It was not long before ideas and suggestions started forming about this piece of ocean. M.K. Jessup wrote about the disappearances and gave ideas about alien intelligences being behind them in the book The Case for the UFO. The view was also echoed by Donald E. Kyhoe who is noted for his The Flying Saucer Conspiracy of 1955. Frank Edwards (Stranger Than Science) agreed with the theory of aliens having a local hangout in the triangle as well. Finally a man by the name of Vincent H. Gaddis came up with the phrase BermudaTriangle. Throughout the years it has featured in many many articles, books, television series and movies and always portrayed as a very real and mysterious thing, but anyone out there with any sense surely will ask themselves how in this day and age could boats, planes and other travellers just go mysteriously missing in a certain piece of water? Geography:The area of the Atlantic Ocean popularly referred to as the Bermuda Triangle is a complete enigma and has proven t o be so for much of recorded history. Many seemingly inexplicable occurrences and disappearances have taken place in this particular area. No rational explanation that will satisfy the materialistic parameters of the typical scientist has been offered that would account for all the mysterious happenings that have taken place in the Bermuda Triangle during the course of many thousands of years. Where is the Bermuda Triangle? The Bermuda Triangle lies vaguely east of Florida. Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and Miami are said to be the points of this legendary triangle. However, the U.S. government denies the existence of these borders. Many phenomena enthusiasts claim that the triangle is not truly a triangle but a general area of water found east and southeast of North America. In any event, the geography of the area is awe-inspiring and deeply misunderstood. The humid subtropical climate of the region brings with it heavy rainfall and high temperatures. An annual rainfall in excess of 60 inc hes (152 cm) can be expected. Though much this rainfall is mostly spread evenly through the year, hurricanes and harsh thunderstorms occasionally drop 10 inches of rain within hours. This area is well known by geographers for the sudden nature of its storms. There have been many reports of complete whiteouts being formed in seconds. Waterspouts and extremely strong winds are dangerous elements that often accompany these storms. The topography of the ocean floor bottom is surprising to many that sail the area. It is commonly believed that this whole area is very shallow. This is true near to the Florida coastline, but as the North Atlantic Continental Shelf breaks off only miles away, depths quickly reach as low as 12,000 feet. About 100 miles north of Puerto Rico is the deepest part of the Atlantic, the Puerto Rico Trench, estimated at 30,000 feet deep! The Florida Straits within this area are approximately 5000 feet deep. While people snorkel in the water only a few hundred feet de ep near the coasts of the islands and Florida and ships can be seen sunk in the clear blue waters, this area is incredibly deceptive. To this day, the ocean floor of this area has not been systematically mapped out. It is known that the ocean floor is littered with caves and varies greatly in depth. Phenomena noted in the area of the Bermuda Triangle: ? Glowing white water scanned from satellites ? A glowing green fogIncidents:The first legends of the Bermuda Triangle begin already with Cristopher Columbus. As a captain, he was greatly respected, and his brave sailing efforts helped revolutionize the world. Much of the information we have about Columbus is picked up directly from his journal, so we are able to trace his footsteps to the New World. His first problem occurred as he ran into the Sargasso Sea. The crew was greatly disappointed when seaweed and land birds were sighted, but after a few days no land was to be seen. Soon after, Columbus reported his compass acting strangely . He did not report this to his crew due to their deep superstitions. Days later, Columbus saw a large meteor fall from the sky. He described it as a large ball of light fallen from the sky. It is unsure whether he mentions this occurrences in awe, because of its great size, or in fright. Later in their trip, Columbus and a few crew members sighted a few dancing lights on the horizon. They wandered about in the Caribbean for over a week yet before sighting land. Since Columbus, as many as 100 ships and planes have been reported missing, taking over 1000 lives. A select few of them are reported here. The disappearance of the 504-foot T-2 tanker Marine Sulphur Queen near the Florida Keys in February 1963 is one of the most famous mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle. It was only a year after her disappearance in 1964 that Vincent Gaddis coined the term Bermuda Triangle. As the largest ship to vanish in recent times (pre-1964), she became a central figure in the soon to be popular Bermuda Triangle. MSQ plied her trade of sulphur for 2 years without incident. In January 1963 her biennial check was required. Two weeks before her final voyage, she was recertified. This inspection had entailed her general alarm system, steering gear, engine telegraph, fire hose, navigation lights, portable fire extinguishers, life preservers, all machinery, all accessible spaces, and the boilers. All were passed. Eleven new life rings were added and life boats were all repaired. Moreover, the FCC now inspected and certified in good working order her radios, including those in her lifeboats. Even more, the Bureau of Shipping now made its annual inspection of the hull, machinery, the boilers again, and certified all in good condition. The disappearance of the MSQ is just another example of a ship fully inspected and certified, sailing out and then vanishing for no reason. On February 7 the Coast Guard was informed MSQ did not arrive. A hot line message was sent to try and raise the ship. When this failed a vast search entailing 348,400 square miles and 499.6 man hours failed to find a clue. By an anticlimactic coincidence, on February 20, a Navy Torpedo Retriever sighted something in the water during routine exercises. It was only 12 miles southwest of Key West. It was a fog horn. Close by a life preserver was found, then a sign board and life ring reading Marine Sulphur Queen. The search was reactivated, but no real clue could ever be found, only a few more pieces of debris were picked up, all grouped in the same area. There are many mysteries surrounding the loss of MSQ, but none so perplexing as her debris. Another one of the most famous stories to ever surround the Bermuda Triangle is the mysterious disappearance of the Naval Air Flight 19. On December 5th, 1945, five Avenger torpedo bombers left the Naval Air Station at Fort Lauderdale. They never returned home. The Avenger bombers contained 14 men, 13 of those were trainees in the last stages of their training. The five pilots had been recently transferred from the Miami Naval Air Station. They had no knowledge of flying over the Bahamas which was the direction Flight 19 was headed in. At one point the ComGulf Sea Frontier Evaluation Center thought it had pinpointed the flights approximate position; east of New Smyrna Beach, Florida, and far to the north of the Bahamas.The first rescue craft was sent out was a Dumbo flying boat and it soon lost contact with the shore, leading all to believe that they had also lost the Dumbo. The problem turned out to be and iced over antenna. Within the hour more aircraft joined in the search. The weather was overcast and the seas were reported as rough and turbulent. A crew of a nearby ship reported of seeing an enormous sheet of fir e caused by the explosion of an aeroplane. The ship reported of passing through a large pool of oil soon after and not finding any survivors or bodies of the crashed aircraft. They did not try to retrieve any debris from the ocean as weather conditions were at this point deteriorating rapidly making it impossible for any kind of retrieval. No trace of the Mariner or Avengers have ever been found. Heroism And Myths EssayScience