Bermuda Triangle

January 1st, 2009 by MotU Overseer

     There is a region of the ocean that incites fear in the hearts and minds of many. These people often know little more than rumors and, often times, less about the sea. This area is the Devil's Trianlge", or, as many know it, the Bermuda Triangle.
     This section of ocean reaches depths of more than twenty-seven thousand feet (27,000+) and is by no means trivial. There are numerous accounts of aricraft and sea vessel instruments being adversly affected, sometimes causing the demise of those on board. The first record of this phenomaneon was not mere decades ago, but rather in 1492, by none other than Christopher Columbus. The account states that the ship's instruments went hey-wire and the logs make mention of strange green lights in the sky. The odd and disturbing events were reason enough for Columbus nad his crew to turn back and head homeward, however, they found land before they did so.
     These occurrences only grew in commonality over the ages. One of the most pertinant and exemplarly cases is that of the USS Cyclopes, and military naval unit. The ship itself was nineteen thousand (19,000) tons in weight, making its sudden and complete disappearance highly unlikely and unusual. To make matters worse, the cargo the ship was transporting was not that of the common military cargo. The vessel was carrying eleven thousand (11,000) tons of manganese, an extremely toxic, as well as deadly, substance. Further more, there were prisoners on board. The ship, for unknown reasons, stopped at Barbados and collected unusual supplies (list of items unavailable at current). Upon leaving, the ship was never seen nor heard from again. The military was not going to let such a costly expenditure go unwillingly. On March 13 of that year, the ship was was officially late and an exhaustive search turned up absolutely nothing. The nineteen thousand ton ship with eleven thousand tons of toxic cargo had literally disappeared. Various theories were concocted as to the fate of the ship and as to what occurred. Some said that those among the crew of German decent had turned the ship over to Germany, while others looked at a more ecologically serious view. They believed that the manganese cargo ate through its storage containers and, eventually, the ship's haul, causing it to sink.

Scientific Explaination

     The ocean floor of the area is littered with vents which release gaseous substances. While ships can hold up against bubbles of air, although being caused to rock to and fro, the release of large amounts of small bubbles removes much of the water beneath the ship. In this absence of water, the pushing resistance of the water on which the ship's floatation and buoyancy depend is completely lost. Thus, the ship will sink.
     While this explains, to some degree, the possible plausability of sea-faring vessels, it does little in explaining that of aircraft. There is, obviously, little land in the middle of the open waters of the ocean. This leaves no points of reference for pilots. This is acceptable however, since they can use the ever present sun, or moon, and horizon for this purpose. The issue arises with the area to which is being referred. The horizon, unlike in many areas, is not completely visibal to even the most experienced pilots as it blends into the ocean waters. With the only point of referrence being flawed, the pilot is left with doubts.
     Many say that instruments malfunction. However, the instruments are most likely correct and the pilot is in fact wrong, for he or she is basing the instrument inaccuracy on what they view to be correct. If, for example, the instruments placed the plane at five thousand feet, and the pilot, viewing the flawed referrence point, believes he is much higher, such as ten thousand feet. Thinking that he or she is correct, they being to descend to attain the desired level of five thousand feet, crashing the pilot into the ocean before they can correct the problem when they realize it. If they were to trust the instruments, they would have been on course and perfectly fine in their travels.

     The strange lights in the sky that Columbus and his crew viewed can also be explained. It is possible that what he and his crew saw was the Northern lights. While it is a rarity for any portion of the northern lights to reach halfway down the eastern coast of the United States, there is still a possibility, albeit less than a 1-5% interval. Some other lights that have been reported are those in the waters. These green, yellow, and sometimes blue lights in the watery depths are quite possibly bioluminescent sea creatures, since many deep sea fish have such characteristics and feed in the night hours.