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This is a list of incidents attributed in popular culture to the Bermuda Triangle or Devil's Triangle.


Aircraft incidents

* 1945: July 10, Thomas Arthur Garner, AMM3, USN, along with eleven other crew members, was lost at sea in a US Navy PBM3S patrol seaplane, Bu. No.6545, Sqd VPB2-OTU#3, in the Bermuda Triangle. They left the Naval Air Station, Banana River, Florida, at 7:07 p.m. on July 9, 1945, for a radar training flight to Great Exuma, Bahamas. Their last radio position report was sent at 1:16 a.m., July 10, 1945, with a latitude/longitude of 25.22N 77.34W, near Providence Island, after which they were never heard from again. An extensive ten-day surface and air search, including a carrier sweep, found nothing. * 1945: December 5,
Flight 19 Flight 19 was the designation of a group of five General Motors TBM Avenger torpedo bombers that disappeared over the Bermuda Triangle on December 5, 1945, after losing contact during a United States Navy overwater navigation training flight fr ...
(five TBF Avengers) lost with 14 airmen, and later the same day
PBM Mariner The Martin PBM Mariner was an American patrol bomber flying boat of World War II and the early Cold War era. It was designed to complement the Consolidated PBY Catalina and PB2Y Coronado in service. A total of 1,366 PBMs were built, with the fi ...
BuNo 59225 lost with 13 airmen while searching for Flight 19. * 1947: July 3, a
Douglas C-54 The Douglas C-54 Skymaster is a four-engined transport aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces in World War II and the Korean War. Like the Douglas C-47 Skytrain derived from the DC-3, the C-54 Skymaster was derived from a civilia ...
crashed off the Florida coast after the pilot lost control in turbulence. * 1948: January 30, Avro Tudor G-AHNP ''Star Tiger'' lost with six crew and 27 passengers, ''en route'' from Santa Maria Airport in the
Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
to Kindley Field,
Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...
. * 1948: December 28, Douglas DC-3 NC16002 lost with three crew and 36 passengers, ''en route'' from
San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the juri ...
, to
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
, Florida. * 1949: January 17, Avro Tudor G-AGRE ''Star Ariel'' lost with seven crew and 13 passengers, ''en route'' from Kindley Field,
Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...
, to Kingston Airport,
Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
. * 1949: November 16, a B-29 2-65289(2nd Bomb Sq) ditched in the Atlantic. Two crewmen were missing but three days later 18 survivors were rescued 385 miles northeast of Bermuda. * 1956: November 9, a
Martin Marlin The Martin P5M Marlin (P-5 Marlin after 1962), built by the Glenn L. Martin Company of Middle River, Maryland, was a twin piston-engined flying boat that entered service in 1951, and served into the late 1960s with the United States Navy perf ...
(VP-49) lost with ten crewmen taking off from Bermuda. * 1962: January 8, a USAF
KB-50 The Boeing B-50 Superfortress is an American strategic bomber. A post–World War II revision of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, it was fitted with more powerful Pratt & Whitney R-4360 radial engines, stronger structure, a taller tail fin, and ot ...
51-0465 (427th AR Sq) was lost over the Atlantic between the US East Coast and the Azores. * 1965: June 9, A USAF
C-119 Flying Boxcar The Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar (Navy and Marine Corps designation R4Q) was an American military transport aircraft developed from the World War II-era Fairchild C-82 Packet, designed to carry cargo, personnel, litter patients, and mechani ...
of the 440th Troop Carrier Wing missing between Florida and
Grand Turk Island Grand Turk Island is an island in the Turks and Caicos Islands. It is the largest island in the Turks Islands (the smaller of the two archipelagos that make up the island territory) with . Grand Turk contains the territory's capital, Cockburn T ...
The last call from the plane came from a point just north of
Crooked Island, Bahamas Crooked Island is an island and district, part of a group of Bahamian islands defining a large, shallow lagoon called the Bight of Acklins, of which the largest are Crooked Island in the north and Acklins in the south-east, and the smaller a ...
, and 177 miles from Grand Turk Island. On July 18, 1965 debris from the plane was found on the beach of Gold Rock Cay just off the northeastern shore of
Acklins Island Acklins is an island and district of the Bahamas. It is one of a group of islands arranged along a large, shallow lagoon called the Bight of Acklins, of which the largest are Crooked Island () in the north and Acklins () in the southeast, and ...
. * 1965: December 6, Private
ERCO Ercoupe The ERCO Ercoupe is an American low-wing monoplane aircraft that was first flown in 1937. It was originally manufactured by the Engineering and Research Corporation (ERCO) shortly before World War II; several other manufacturers continued it ...
F01 lost with pilot and one passenger, ''en route'' from Ft. Lauderdale to Grand Bahamas Island. * 1971: July 23, 4-seater
Cessna 337 Super Skymaster The Cessna Skymaster is an American twin-engine civil utility aircraft built in a push-pull configuration. Its engines are mounted in the nose and rear of its pod-style fuselage. Twin booms extend aft of the wings to the vertical stabilizers, ...
went down between Curaçao and Barbados with 4 passengers aboard: Jerome and Leatrice Levin and Paul and Delores Warren. After a two-week intensive search nothing was recovered of the aircraft or passengers, and nothing has ever been recovered since. * 1978: November 3, Eastern Caribbean Airways Flight 912, a
Piper Chieftain The Piper PA-31 Navajo is a family of cabin-class, twin-engined aircraft designed and built by Piper Aircraft for the general aviation market, most using Lycoming engines. It was also license-built in a number of Latin American countries. Ta ...
flown by Irving Rivers, arriving at St. Thomas from St. Croix, vanished after being sighted by the control tower, and no trace was ever found. * 2005: June 20, A
Piper PA-23 The Piper PA-23, named Apache and later Aztec, is an American four- to six-seat twin-engined light aircraft aimed at the general-aviation market. The United States Navy and military forces in other countries also used it in small numbers. Origi ...
disappeared between
Treasure Cay Treasure Cay, is a parcel of land connected to Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas. It has a population of 1,187 as of the 2010 Bahaman census. There are two resortBahama Beach Clubdeveloped by Businessman Craig H. Roberts and Treasure Cay Beach Ho ...
Island, Bahamas and
Fort Pierce Fort Pierce is a city in and the county seat of St. Lucie County, Florida, United States. The city is part of the Treasure Coast region of Atlantic Coast Florida. It is also known as the Sunrise City, sister to San Francisco, California, the Suns ...
, Florida. There were three people on board. * 2007: April 10, A Piper PA-46-310P disappeared near Bird Cay after flying into a level 6 thunderstorm and losing altitude. Two fatalities were listed. * 2017: February 23, The Turkish Airlines flight TK183 (an Airbus A330-200) was forced to change its direction from Havana, Cuba to Washington Dulles airport after some mechanical and electrical problems occurred over the triangle. * 2017: May 15, A private MU-2B aircraft was at 24,000 feet when it vanished from radar and radio contact with air traffic controllers in Miami. Plane wreckage was found later. * 2022: December 2,
Air France Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global a ...
airliner 895 experienced several electronical issues with media systems and the anti-icing module that eventually forced the aircraft to fly back to its departuring Airport of Fort-de-France,
Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in ...
.


Incidents at sea

* 1492: October 11,
Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
and the crew of the '' Santa Maria'' reported seeing unknown lights one day before the landing at Guanahani. * 1800: , on course from Guadeloupe to Delaware, lost with 91 people on board.Berlitz, Charles, and J. Manson Valentine. Without a Trace. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1977. Print. (Possibly lost in a gale) * 1814: , last known position was the Caribbean, lost with 140 people on board. (Possibly lost in a storm) * 1824: , on course from Cuba to Tompkins Island, lost with 14 people on board. (Lost in a gale with 31 on board) * 1840: ''Rosalie'', found abandoned. (Possibly the "Rossini" found derelict) * 1881: According to legend, a sailing ship, the '' Ellen Austin'', found a derelict vessel and placed a crew to sail the vessel to port. Two versions of what happened to the vessel are: the vessel was either lost in a storm or was found again without a crew. Lawrence David Kusche author of "The Bermuda Triangle Mystery-Solved" found no mention in 1880 or 1881 newspapers of this alleged incident-he did trace the legend to a book by Rupert Gould "The Stargazer Talks" published in 1943. The "Ellen Austin" did exist; a check from Lloyd's of London records proved the existence of Meta, built in 1854, and that in 1880, Meta was renamed Ellen Austin. There are no casualty listings for this vessel, or any vessel at that time, that would suggest a large number of missing men were placed on board a derelict that later disappeared although one website includes the alleged derelict vessel incident it does find that Rupert Gould talked about the legend on radio in the 1930s; likewise the website traces the derelict story to a June 1906 newspaper story-which claims the derelict ship incident took place in 1891; however the 1906 story does not give a reference of where this story came from. * 1918: , collier, left
Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...
on March 4, lost with all 306 crew and passengers en route to
Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
. * 1921: January 31, '' Carroll A. Deering'', five-masted schooner, Captain W. B. Wormell, found aground and abandoned at Diamond Shoals, near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. * 1925: December 1, , having departed Charleston, South Carolina two days earlier bound for
Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.
,
Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
, radioed a
distress call A distress signal, also known as a distress call, is an internationally recognized means for obtaining help. Distress signals are communicated by transmitting radio signals, displaying a visually observable item or illumination, or making a soun ...
reporting that the ship was sinking. She was officially listed as overdue on 31 December. In 1985 an unknown shipwreck was found off St Augustine, Florida; in 2020 it was identified as the remains of the SS Cotopaxi. * 1941: , lost with all 58 persons on board in heavy seas, having departed St. Thomas in the
Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geologically and biogeographically the easternmost part of the Greater Antilles, the northern islands belonging to the Puerto Rico Trench and St. Cro ...
with a cargo of bauxite on 23 November. The following month, her sister ship was lost with all 61 persons on board, having also departed St. Thomas with a cargo of bauxite, on 10 December. According to research by Rear Admiral George van Deurs, USN, who was familiar with this type of ship from their service in the USN, the acidic coal cargo would seriously erode the longitudinal support beams, making these aging and poorly constructed colliers extremely vulnerable to breaking up in heavy seas. They were both sister ships of the USS Cyclops. * 1958: ''Revonoc''. A 43-foot racing
yawl A yawl is a type of boat. The term has several meanings. It can apply to the rig (or sailplan), to the hull type or to the use which the vessel is put. As a rig, a yawl is a two masted, fore and aft rigged sailing vessel with the mizzen mast p ...
was lost with owner Harvey Conover and four others aboard, between Key West and Miami in a hurricane. The only trace found was the ''Revonocs 14-foot skiff, near
Jupiter, Florida Jupiter is the northernmost town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. According to the 2020 Census, the town had a population of 61,047 as of April 1, 2020. It is 84 miles north of Miami, and the northernmost community in the Miami met ...
. * 1963: , lost with 39 crewmen, having departed Beaumont, Texas, on 2 February with a cargo of 15,260 tons of sulfur. She was last heard from on 4 February, when she was in rough, nearly following seas of 16 feet, with northerly winds of 25–46 knots, and listed as missing two days later. The
US Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and maritime law enforcement, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...
subsequently determined that the ship was unsafe and not seaworthy, and never should have sailed. The final report suggested four causes of the disaster, all due to poor design and maintenance of the ship. * 1967: December 22, Miami hotel owner and yachtsman Dan Burack set out on his
cabin cruiser A cabin cruiser is a type of power boat that provides accommodation for its crew and passengers inside the structure of the craft. A cabin cruiser usually ranges in size from in length, with larger pleasure craft usually considered yachts. Man ...
''Witchcraft'' with a priest named Patrick Horgan. The ship was taken one mile off the Miami coastline so that Burack and Horgan could view the
Christmas lights Christmas lights (also known as fairy lights, festive lights or string lights) are lights often used for decoration in celebration of Christmas, often on display throughout the Christmas season including Advent and Christmastide. The custom g ...
visible from the shore. That night, Burack radioed a distress call to the Coast Guard, informing them that the boat's propeller had struck something underwater, and that the vessel would need to be towed in. The Coast Guard requested that he send up a flare in roughly 20 minutes so that the boat could be more easily located. The official who received the call reportedly later noted that Burack did not seem too concerned about the ''Witchcraft'', a boat that Burack had fitted with a special floatation device in its hull. When the Coast Guard arrived at the location from which Burack called, he, Horgan, and the ''Witchcraft'' were nowhere to be found. Over the following days, a search was conducted over hundreds of square miles of ocean, but the boat and its passengers were never found. * 1980: January 12, HMCS St. Laurent (DDH 205) sank off
Cape Hatteras Cape Hatteras is a cape located at a pronounced bend in Hatteras Island, one of the barrier islands of North Carolina. Long stretches of beach, sand dunes, marshes, and maritime forests create a unique environment where wind and waves shap ...
, the closest point on the North American mainland to Bermuda. The ship took on water after encountering the tail end of a storm. * 2015: Late July, two 14-year-old boys, Austin Stephanos, and Perry Cohen went on a fishing trip in their 19-foot boat. Despite the 15,000 square nautical mile wide search by the Coast Guard, the pair's boat was found a year later off the coast of
Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...
, but the boys were never seen again. * 2015: October 1, , with a crew of 33 aboard, sank off of the coast of the Bahamas within the triangle after sailing into
Hurricane Joaquin Hurricane Joaquin (, ) was a powerful tropical cyclone that devastated several districts of The Bahamas and caused damage in the Turks and Caicos Islands, parts of the Greater Antilles, and Bermuda. It was also the strongest Atlantic hurricane o ...
. Search crews identified the vessel 15,000 feet below the surface.


Incidents on land

* 1969: August,
Great Isaac Lighthouse Great Isaac Lighthouse is a lighthouse on the small Bahamian island of Great Isaac Cay. Erected in 1859, it is located about NNE of the Bimini Islands, and accessible only by boat. The lighthouse stands about 151 feet (46 m) tall. On August 4, 1 ...
(
Bimini Bimini is the westernmost district of the Bahamas and comprises a chain of islands located about due east of Miami. Bimini is the closest point in the Bahamas to the mainland United States and approximately west-northwest of Nassau. The popula ...
,
Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...
), during a hurricane, two keepers disappeared and were never found.Quasar, Gian. ''Into the Bermuda Triangle: Pursuing the Truth Behind the World's Greatest Mystery'' (The McGraw-Hill Companies, 2004), Chapter 3: The Riddle of the Vanished Ships, p.71.


References


Bibliography

*


External links


The Bermuda Triangle: A Selective Bibliography


{{DEFAULTSORT:Bermuda Triangle * Bermuda Triangle incidents International maritime incidents International waters Maritime incidents Maritime folklore Missing ships Missing aircraft