The Bermuda Triangle

[chris_gerrib]

There are days that I dispair over the loss of critical thinking in America. Today is one of them. For some reason, a 2003 scientific paper about methane gas eruptions sinking ships is back in the news. (Hat tip to Rand SimbergNow, yes, if your ship happens to be right over an eruption of methane hydrates, the ship could sink. And yes, these

Comments

[daveon]

I seem to recall reading years ago that actually the rate of loss of shipping in the "so called" triangle wasn't actually all that different from other tricky sea areas or busy ones.

So they concluded that it was largely a media created notion, caused in part by the shear amount of shipping that had been going there for so long.

I am not surprised.

I'm also not surprised that since the advent of widespread radio and geo-location systems, there doesn't seem to be all that much activity there at all.

[chris_gerrib]

Don't forget that even modern ships may not have the most up-to-date equipment, or know how to use it. Besides which, electronics dies at the most inopertune times...

[daveon]

I think it's still generally much better than even a few decades ago. The idea that even a modest yacht will have GPS and Sat Phone is pretty wild when you think about it.

[jordan179]

I am reminded by a commentor at Simberg's site of Larry Kusche's book The Bermuda Triangle Mystery Solved, which is well worth the read.

Indeed. It analyzes the legends and points out everything you said, plus

(6) Many of the "mysterious disappearances" are of ships which didn't actually "disappear," save perhaps in the sense of changing names or owners,

(7) Many of said disappearances took place outside of the Triangle and have been incorrectly located by rumor, and finally

(8) Some of the more famous ones took place in or right after wartime, when there were enemy submarines, mines, and inexperienced recruits adding to the likelihood of air and shipping losses. (For instance, the Cyclops was almost certainly torpedoed).