8.

T H E BERM U D A T R IA N G L E :
is it a triangle of death
What have you heard
about the Bermuda Triangle?
Perhaps you know that ships and planes have been disappearing
in this part of the Atlantic Ocean for many years.
But do you know why?
Is there a logical explanation?
 The mystery

* What happened to
the Cyclops and the Deering?

F o r h u n d re d s of years w eird things have been h a p p e n in g in th a t p a r t o f the

A tlan tic O c e a n know n tod ay as the B e rm u d a T rian gle. U n til 1964 w hen an
A m erican w riter used the term ‘B e rm u d a T r ia n g le ’ in a m ag azin e article it was
called, a m o n g o th er things, the D evil’s T rian g le, the G ra v e y a rd of the A tlantic,
an d the T rian g le of D eath.
You will see on the m a p (page 41) th a t the region in qu estion is an alm ost
perfect triangle, w ith one point B erm u d a, a n o th e r the east coast o f Florida, and
the th ird one P uerto Rico. Since the beginning o f the tw en tieth centu ry m an y ships
an d planes have d isa p p e a re d there w itho ut a trace o f th em or w ith ou t their crews
ever being found.
In M a rc h 1918, a U S N avy su pply ship, the Cyclops, v an ish ed while sailing from
B arbado s to Norfolk, V irginia; there were 309 m en on b o ard . No rem ains of the
ship or its crew were ever found.
T h e sailing ship Deering w as discovered a b a n d o n e d n e a r C a p e H a tte ra s, N o rth
C arolin a, on 30 J a n u a r y , 1921. C a p e H a tte ra s is n ot in the B e rm u d a T ria n g le b u t
the Deering h a d passed th ro u g h th a t section o f the A tlantic an d it is supposed th a t
the crew d isap p e ared there.

R How many planes

disappeared on 5 December, 1945?

Since 1945 the B e rm u d a T ria n g le has a ttra c te d the a tten tio n o f the entire world.
O n 5 D ecem b er of th a t y ear so m eth in g h a p p e n e d th a t caused people everywhere
to take interest in the region. It was on th a t d ay th a t Flight 19, a g ro up o f five U S
N avy planes, took off from F o rt L a u d erd ale, Florida, on a rou tine tra in in g flight.
T h e w e a th e r was perfect. F or two hours everything w ent accord ing to plan. T h e n
the N aval A ir S tation at F o rt L a u d e rd a le beg an to receive u n u su al radio messages
from Flight 19. T h e five planes were lost an d their in stru m en ts were not
functioning properly. C o nv ersation s a m o n g the pilots o f the five planes seem ed
confused. A t 4 pm , after the leader of the flight tu rn e d over the co m m a n d to
a n o th e r pilot for no a p p a re n t reason, all c o m m u n icatio n w ith Flight 19 ended.
S om ething was definitely w rong w ith this g ro u p of five planes; search
operations were started im m ediately. For several days planes flew over the area
w here Flight 19 h ad last been h eard from. T h e n one o f the search planes, a M a rtin
M arin er, also d isap p e ared . N o trace o fit or o f the five planes th a t m ad e u p Flight
19 was ever found.
T h e ru m o u rs started . O n e was th a t d u rin g the final co m m u n icatio n w ith Flight
19 the hysterical description o f a gigantic flying sau cer was heard. A n o th er
ru m o u r claim ed th a t one of the airm e n on the flight was later found floating in a
ru b b e r life raft; he was talking wildly a b o u t a ‘weird a irs h ip ’ th a t h ad c a p tu re d the
o th er m en on Flight 19. N o ne o f the rum o u rs was confirm ed. In fact, there was no
official ex plan atio n a t all concerning the tragedy. Some people insisted th a t the
authorities knew som ethin g they were not m ak in g public b u t th a t they were
h u sh in g up the incident.
 What caused the public
to start doubting reports about the Bermuda Triangle?

After 5 D ecem ber, 1945, the world b ecam e aw are o f the strang e things h a p p e n in g
in the ‘T ria n g le of D e a th ’. R ep orts began to a p p e a r in the n ew sp ap ers a n d on the
radio a b o u t o th er u n u su al happ en in gs. Betw een 1947 a n d 1973 over 140 ships an d
planes, w ith m ore th a n 1000 people a b o a rd in total, vanished, leaving no evidence
to show w h a t h a d h a p p e n e d to them . M a n y exp lan ation s were given; few people
were convinced by them . T h e m ost accep tab le theory was th a t U F O s were
collecting h u m a n specim ens to exam ine. F o r som e reason the B e rm u d a T rian g le
was w here they entered the e a r t h ’s a tm o sp h e re to do this.
Since 1960 m an y articles, even full-length books, h ave been w ritten a b o u t the
B e rm u d a T riang le. F or a n u m b e r of years the public was fascinated a n d read
everything available on the subject. T h e n , in the late 1970s, people began to grow
sceptical a b o u t the various things rep orted; they found th em too fantastic to be
true.

Q What was Kusche’s final comment

in his book about the Bermuda Triangle?

I n 1975 a lib rarian , L aw rence 1) K u sche, w ho was also an experienced pilot, wrote
a book entitled The Bermuda Triangle Mystery Solved. In p re p a rin g his book K usche
w ent to the original records to learn wLtat h ad actually h a p p en ed . U nlike o ther
writers on the subject he was n o t con ten t to d e p e n d on the legends th a t h a d been
repo rted for m an y years. H e discovered to his ow n satisfaction th a t there were
quite logical ex planations for alm ost every one of the B e rm u d a T ria n g le
m ysteries.
A ccording to K u sche, p oo r ju d g e m e n t on the p a r t o f the lead er o f F light 19 an d
the F o rt L a u d e rd a le N aval A ir Station h a d caused the tragedy. W h e n the five
planes took off from F o rt L a u d e rd a le the w e a th e r h a d been beautiful; w ithin a
short tim e it changed. T h u s, the flight did n ot d is a p p e a r on a su n n y day, as m ost
people tho ug ht, b u t on a storm y day. In the storm the planes ra n out of fuel an d
d ro p p e d into the sea. As far as the search p lan e w as concerned, the M a rtin
M a rin e rs h a d exploded in the air. I t was n o t u n u su al, said K usch e, for these
‘flying gas ta n k s ’, as the M a rtin M a rin e rs w ere som etim es called, to explode.
In a n o th e r m ysterious case the Marine Sulphur Queen, a large ship carrying
su lp h u r from B ea u m o n t, T exas, to Norfolk, V irgin ia, d isa p p e a re d in F eb ru ary ,
1963. It was, according to K usche, b ad ly designed a n d its cargo h ad been
im p ro perly loaded. V ery possibly it broke u p in a storm y sea a n d w ent dow n so
quickly th a t there was no tim e even to send a rad io message.
K u s c h e ’s list o f cases was long b u t he stu died each one carefully an d found w h at
he considered to be logical explanatio ns for all of them . H e concluded his book
w ith the sta te m e n t th a t there is a g reat a m o u n t o f sea an d air traffic in this p a r t of
the A tlantic O cean ; for th a t reason the n u m b e r of d isa p p e a ra n c e s over the years
has not, in K u s c h e ’s estim ation, been excessive.
N ot everyone accepts K u s c h e ’s theories, however, especially those w ho are
convinced th a t ex traterrestrial beings are responsible for the d isa p p e a ra n c e of the
m issing ships a n d planes. In any case, the B e rm u d a T ria n g le continues to be a
m ystery an d will p ro b ab ly rem ain so for m a n y years to come.
 Comprehension check

Look back at the reading and find information to complete these sentences.
1 The three points of the Bermuda Triangle a re ___________
2 The Cyclops disappeared while sailing fro m ___________
3 On 5 December, 1945, Flight 19 took off on a ___________
4 No traces of Flight 19 w e re ___________
5 Between 1947 and 1973 ________ __
6 The most popular belief about the Bermuda Triangle w a s ___________
7 Lawrence D Kusche was a librarian as well a s ___________
8 Kusche studied the disappearances carefully and concluded th a t_____

Language practice

1 Vocabulary
Here is some vocabulary from the text. You can deduce the meanings of these
words from their context in the reading. In the left-hand column are the words
from the reading; on the right are their definitions. Match the words with the
definitions. The first one has been done for you.

1 weird {1.1) b a energy-producing material such as

2 graveyard (/. 4) gas and oil
3 trace (/. 9) b very strange and unusual
4 remains (/. 12) c from another planet
5 routine (1. 21) d ordinary, everyday
6 became aware (/. 41) e too much
7 fuel (/. 65) f something left behind after, for example,
8 sulphur (/. 70) an accident
9 excessive (/. 78) g yellow strong-smelling substance
10 extraterrestrial (/. 80) used in industry and medicine
h cemetery, where the dead are buried
i gained knowledge of something
j evidence showing the presence of
something

2 Phrasal verbs
These phrasal verbs also come from the text. Match them with their definitions.

1 take off (/. 21) a give control to another person

2 turn over (/. 26) b possess no more of something
3 hush up (/. 40) c sink to the bottom of the sea
4 run out of (/. 65) d keep information from the public
5 go down (/. 72) e rise into the air
3 Grammar: fo r/s in c e
Ships and planes have been disappearing in this part o f the Atlantic Ocean for
many years.
Since 1945 the Bermuda Triangle has attracted the attention of the entire world.
The word for introduces a phrase of duration in which the length of time is
stated: for an hour, for six weeks.
The word since indicates the beginning of a period of time; the end of the
period is the moment of speaking: since 3 July, since I arrived, since John’s
birthday.
Both words are often used with the present perfect tense, simple or continuous,
which refers to an action begun in the past and continuing to the present.
Exercise
Fill in the gaps in these sentences with for or since.
1 The area has been called the Bermuda Triangle__________ 1964.
2 Strange things have occurred in that part of the A tla n tic__________ the early
1900s.
3 Many ships and planes have vanished__________ that time.
4 Flight 19 had been g o n e __________ two hours.
5 Search planes flew over the a re a __________ several days.
6 __________ 1960 many books and articles have been written about the
‘Triangle of Death’.
7 People have been more sceptical__________ the late 1970s.
8 The Bermuda Triangle will probably continue to be a m yste ry__________
many years.

Discussion

Your teacher will give you instructions on how to do this part of the lesson.

Writing

According to one rumour about Flight 19 a member of the crew was found floating
in the water in a rubber life raft. He talked about a ‘weird airship’ that captured his
companions and took them away. You, as a newspaper reporter, have an
opportunity to talk to this man. Write your interview with him as a dialogue.

45