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This page is designed to clear up several comments circulated in print or on the web promoted as “facts” about the Triangle but which are pure fancy. Most of the claims are straight quotes from those promoting them. This page was first placed up 21 years ago (as of May 2020), and some of the claims may be gone now, but the answers still explain much for the reader about the Triangle.
Myth 1
“A check of Lloyd’s of London’s accident records by the editor of Fate in 1975 showed that the triangle was a no more dangerous part of the ocean than any other. U.S. Coast Guard records confirmed this and since that time no good arguments have ever been made to refute those statistics. So the Bermuda Triangle mystery disappeared, in the same way many of its supposed victims had vanished.”
Fact 1
This is completely false. Lloyd’s does not insure the smaller stuff, so all yachts go unreported in statistics. Lloyd’s also seldom insures the smaller charter and private aircraft, so likewise for them. Lloyd’s obviously does not insure military craft either. Thus their stats would have no mention of them. Lloyd’s is not the ultimate source. It is not a marine investigation bureau. It reports on commercial sailing news relevant to insurance.
The Lloyd’s information, aside from being incredibly obsolete, is also a false comparative. The enigma of the Bermuda Triangle is that more ships and planes vanish in fair weather than other seas. Lloyd’s reported for Fate’s editor that 428 vessels were reported missing between 1955 and 1975 around the world, and this did not show a greater concentration in the Triangle than anywhere else. Yet there is no breakdown how many vanished in fair and in foul weather. No one remotely familiar with the Triangle’s actual enigma would even see relevance in the number since the comparative must be between the number of vessels lost in fair weather.
Nor do the unqualified stats tell us anything of individual circumstances. It is actually these more than mere stats on paper that have built up the Triangle’s enigma. To dismiss the Triangle on shallow stats and broad numbers would be as irresponsible as investigators dismissing intriguing murder cases such as Jack the Ripper or The Zodiac’s spree because London and San Francisco did not have a higher percentage of murders than other cities.
Those who still use this 45 year old unqualified stat reveal that they cannot even handle properly the first 2 Process Skills of Scientific Inquiry— Observe & Classify.
US Coast Guard SAR (Search and Rescue) statistics for all districts are published yearly in a thick voluminous report. This details the statistics for calls of assistance, causes of accidents, weather, deaths, conditions, whatever. These are far more accurate in determining the danger of each specific area of ocean. The 1st Coast Guard District (off New England) is particularly tumultuous. The Coast Guard answers about as many calls for assistance there as in the 7th District (the Triangle). But the number of disappearances are vastly disparate. To be honest to scientific classification we must differentiate between an accident, which implies wreckage, and a disappearance, which implies none.
“Missing vessels” are not even included in Coast Guard stats for a very good reason. They are sure if the boat really vanished, was stolen, or is merely full of boatniks who cannot fathom the importance of keeping in touch with land bases. In some cases they may be in a far-flung port partying it up oblivious to the fact they have been reported to the Coast Guard as missing.
In reality, the designation Overdue Vessels is more important. But because it is hard to determine the number of people on board and exactly where the vessel last was, stats cannot be maintained with any reliability. Even “overdue” cannot be easily calculated. They may be categorized under “caused by other factor,” if at all. The last time I received a full printout of “overdue vessels” from the 7th District was 9 years ago (as of July 28, 2011). It covered the 2 fiscal years of 2001-2002. About 300 vessel names or types were on the list. It was up to me to start a search to see which reported back to port, what the weather conditions were like, etc. This is a daunting task, and it is certain neither Lloyd’s nor the Coast Guard has done it. It is not negligence on their part. It is something merely beyond practicality to do. I myself received this list after 12 years of asking for and being denied missing vessel statistics, always receiving the reply “Nobody tracks such statistics.” When I wanted more, the Coast Guard was ready to charge me out the wazoo to cover man hours. I declined. There are better and cheaper ways to track missing vessels, especially with other boaters reporting friends and acquaintances overdue at sea. Thus I never bothered to get such overwhelming and tenuous lists again.
NTSB database searches reveal that in the 1990s alone only a handful of aircraft disappeared off New England while over 20 have happened in the Triangle. These are American statistics only, and do not reflect other nationalities. Altogether, probably about 150 aircraft have vanished since World War II.
Then there are those who claim the disparity is due to the Triangle’s greater amount of traffic. In reality, the 1st Coast Guard District answers about just as many calls for assistance as the 7th, but the number of disappearances is still remarkably different. Similar traffic and trouble, but a disappearance is still a different matter.
Myth 2
“Investigations to date have not produced scientific evidence of any unusual phenomena involved in the disappearances. Thus, any explanation, including so-called scientific ones in terms of methane gas being released from the ocean floor, magnetic disturbances, etc., are not needed. The real mystery is how the Bermuda Triangle became a mystery at all.”
Fact 2
Not only utterly false, but actually stupid. One would have to witness a disappearance in order to determine what was directly involved. This has obviously not be done, and such a comment, as a result, is a lame one. There have been NO scientific expeditions to investigate the overall Triangle. Independently, people who possess degrees in one of the sciences have made their own, sometimes truncated study. Most have produced some very interesting discoveries. Dr. A.J. Yelkin’s study revealed unexplained magnetic deviations during phases of the Moon. Dr. Zink’s observations at Bimini revealed unexplained magnetic variations in the compass at the precise time each year in early August (consistent in some ways with Yelkin’s theories). Wilbert Smith’s studies revealed areas of “reduced binding” in the magnetic field that came and went. Dr. David Pares of the U of Nebraska is currently gathering data. But as for any scientific expeditions into the Triangle to take readings or tests or to see if something would happen, none has ever been done.
Questions and Hypotheses are mandatory steps in the Process Skills of Scientific Inquiry which together comprise Scientific Method. Therefore no hypothesis can be considered unnecessary if it is based on genuine observations and comparative analysis. Q&H are required before the final two points can be engaged in: Experimenting and Model Building. Anybody who employs the term “science” as in Myth 2 is really only using their perception of status quo to bolster their own uninformed point of view.
Myth 3
“In short, the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle became a mystery by a kind of communal reinforcement among uncritical authors and a willing mass media to uncritically pass on the speculation that something mysterious is going on in the Atlantic.”
Fact 3
Wrong. And the acrimony is hypocritical since that is how the first 2 myths above became established, usually by debunkers spreading “communal reinforcement” that they have evidence by having no evidence or that the status quo as experienced by suburban America is the ultimate interpreter of experiences.
Myth 4
In 1492, shortly before making land in the West Indies, Christopher Columbus recorded in his ship’s log that he and his crew had observed a large ball of fire fall into the sea and that the ship’s compass was behaving erratically.
Fact 4
False. That happened shortly after leaving the Canary Islands. The erratic compasses readings were recorded thrice while in the Sargasso Sea and Triangle.
Myth 5
“The Bermuda Triangle mystery is answered with latest science- - static electricity is the culprit, not 4th dimensional hogwash— that a severe electrostatic charge on the human body and in turn in the central nervous system and the brain is the cause for the human pilot to lose consciousness. This unconscious state happens both in astronautics and aeronautics and has also been observed and recorded in the Bermuda Triangle aviation disasters. The Bermuda Triangle is a static electricity exchange place. The Bermuda Triangle is on [sic] of Earth’s places where natural electricity is neutralized.’
Fact 5
False. The effects of the Earth as a weak driver is interesting and the subject of some studies. But there is absolutely no evidence for static electricity in the Triangle cases. The claim that there was is utterly untrue. No pilots have been reported to pass out. How could you tell in a disappearance anyway? This originates with a man named Peter Staheli. He accepts the old and defunct lines attributed to Charles Taylor, the leader of Flight 19, “everything is strange, wrong” etc., and so forth. This gives you an idea of his research methods. Electromagnetic and electrical effects in the area are being studied by others right now, with far better research methods than those that sponsored Staheli’s strange dogma.
Since Staheli never really gave reasons for his conclusionary comments, his views cannot even rate the level of natural logic, which is defined as conclusions that are supported by the reasons one gives.
Myth 6
Lt. Charles Taylor, the leader of Flight 19, was actually a lazy slob, a drunk, and a careless navigator.
Fact 6
This rubbish stems from Larry Kusche who was all over the place in his 1980 book The Disappearance of Flight 19 which he wrote between two of his other stellars on how to scientifically pop popcorn. I cannot answer for what was in Kusche’s mind, but I would consider the result akin to clear victimization. I suggest the reader delve into my tome They Flew into Oblivion (shameless plug). As far as I am concerned there is nothing worthwhile in his book. I have criticized his methods in The Bermuda Triangle Mystery— Solved, but still recommend it. However, with Disappearance I see no reason. There is no mystery why in the last 40 years it was never republished.
Myth 7
“The majority of disappearances can be attributed to the area’s unique environmental features. First, the “Devil's Triangle” is one of the two places on Earth that a magnetic compass does point towards true north. Normally it points toward magnetic north. The difference between the two is known as compass variation. The amount of variation changes by as much as 20 degrees as one circumnavigates the earth. If this compass variation or error is not compensated for, a navigator could find himself far off course and in deep trouble.”
Fact 7
False. The Agonic Line— the area of no difference in calculation— moves over time as the axis of the magnetic field slowly changes in response to the Earth’s rotation. It is now approaching the middle of the Gulf of Mexico— as far as debunkers are concerned far outside of the Triangle. Disappearances, however, continue to occur in the same areas within the Triangle as they have for decades— i.e. the Bahamas and off the east coast of the US. Compass variation was, obviously, never a factor. Myth 7 above, taken from the old Coast Guard opinion circa 50 years ago is obsolete. They have now updated it and removed the above statement.
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