Essay, Research Paper: Bermuda Triangle

The Bermuda Triangle is shrouded, in a thick cloud of mystery, in a thick cloud of controversy, and a thick cloud of argument. Not even the location of the Triangle is agreed on. The most common description of its location is the triangle formed by linking Bermuda, Miami, and Puerto Rico. But there is also two other descriptions: The Devil's Triangle is more like a blob that covers most of the western Caribbean. The Limbo of the lost is an area that stems from Miami to Barbados to the coast of Ireland. All these areas are easily confused, mainly because people are over zealous to blame ship/ plane disappearances on the Triangle. There is also a theory by Ivan T. Sanderson that describes 12 "vile vortexes," that are places around the world with similar dimensions, where ship and other vessels tend to disappear.
The most reported upon disappearance has to be the unexplained disappearance of flight 19. Flight 19 was a routine training flight in 1945 that mysteriously disappeared until 1992, when wreckage was finally uncovered. Five Grumman TBM Avenger bombers took off from the Naval Air Station at Ft. Lauderdale Florida. From that point on, nothing is agreed on. Some will say that all the pilots were experienced. But others say only one had any significant flying time. And he was drunk. Some say the weather was "ideal" for flying, but others say that later in the day the weather turned afoul. Of course, then the infamous conversations from planes to the base. Accounts of the recordings differ as well. Certain discrepancies are apparent in each account given by different expert offers on the subject. Some give accounts of instruments failing (which will be explained later), and yet others say that the instruments were just misread by the hung-over, famished flight leader Lt. Charles C. Taylor. There are also reports of a final message: "Don't come after me! They look like...(End of Transmission)." But this final transmission from Lt. Taylor has also been debated as false. This is a good example of the reoccurring appearances of discrepancies in the Bermuda Triangle stories.
Another mysterious disappearance is the Raifuku Maru a Japanese freighter that disappeared in 1925. The most bizarre characteristic of the disappearance is a radio message send just before the ship disappeared. The message is as follows: "Danger like Dagger. Come quick!" Experts have been working on an explanation for what kind of object has the characteristic danger of a dagger, but none have come. Although, the Homeric the vessel that picked up the distress call, might have also picked up some electrical interference, distorting the message. Another translation of the message, that is done with the assumption that electrical interference was prevalent is as follows: "Now very danger. Come quick!" And with this there is a report that the Homeric also saw the Raifuku Maru sink, but as always this too has not been proven or disproved, so the debate rages on...
The accounts of disappearances have been around since 1800, when the USS Pickerney disappeared on a route from Guadeloupe to Delaware. But there is evidence that even Columbus' crew avoided the region as they described it a "of the devil." From 1800 to 1976 there were 143 disappearances, and since there is a strong likely hood of smaller vessels being lost but not recorded, the amount of vanishing ships might be well over 500. But only the most well documented cases are given any credit, and in some or most cases credit isn't even due.
Actually the first reported disappearance of a ship with a radio was the 19,000-ton Cyclops in March of 1918. But in this case (as well as many others) the US navy vessel was lost on a course that took her through rough seas and high winds. And records show that most of her cargo was stored in the front of her hold, and that it was improperly secured, increasing the risk of such a ship to capsize.
Often attempts are made to over dramatize the power of the Triangle by adding and omitting important information. Such is the case in the disappearance of a DC-3 off the coast of Florida. In this case the plane had a faulty radio, changing weather pattern to compensate for, and words that have been added to the transcript of the flight recordings. The adding of assumed information, such as the appearance of Miami lights from the pilot's view, because he was in the assumed position of a distance where lights would be visible but never were actually seen. But in most authors and researchers descriptions of the event, faulty radios, changing weather, etc., are never mentioned, so the story will sound more unexplainable.
To explain to phenomenon that has been described in the previous stories, and in numerous other stories I will point out individual explanations.
· The compass always points due north, and not magnetic north in the Bermuda Triangle. Yes the compass does point due north but this is easily explainable. On some places on Earth magnetic north and due north line up in a straight line (the Agonic line), when perceived from a certain point. The Bermuda Triangle region happens to be one of a few places in the world where this happens.
· Compass' gyrate or act crazy around the Triangle. In many places all around the world, local magnetic currents are sometimes unorthodox in behavior. But this is perfectly explainable.
· Satellites are likely to malfunction above the triangle. This happened in one case where a weather satellite would rewind coincidentally above the triangle. And since the rewinding of tape that stored infrared and visual data, was preset to reset at that time, the satellite did not malfunction at all.
· Weapons of Atlantis are still active and are shooting down ships and planes. It is often assumed that Atlantis was an island that contained a race of super beings with advanced technology. This is often hinted at. But Plato, who was the most well known person to have given accounts of Atlantis, said that the Ancient Greeks defeated Atlantis in a war. Now if Atlantis was so advanced to shoot down modern ships and planes, don't you think they could have defeated the Ancient Greeks in battle?

Some more presentable theories are the possibilities of flammable gas deposits that leak during volcanic activity. It large (and I mean large) pockets of gas were released, the falling of ships in to the void of the space left by the emerging bubbles then being crushed by the returning water, would cause the almost instant disappearance of ships. Also the gases if made in contact with a plane or jet engine would ignite causing an explosion. There is also a theory that the Bermuda Triangle is a point where there are holes in space and time that if a vessel goes through such a hole it is transported to another dimension. Well science can't totally disprove this theory since we don't quite know the full nature of time, and/or dimensional shifts. So it is safe to say it is better not to assume the latter, yet.