Starting with the oldest maintained records yields the following litany:
The earliest registers list United States warships:
In 1780, the General Gates went missing. No British warship laid claim to sinking her.
Long after the American War of Independence, terse entries in marine journals continued to list disappearances. Curiously, many of them are warships. A more mysterious occurrence than a merchant vessel, one might imagine, since they are sturdily built, heavily gunned, and manned by large numbers of well trained crews. In September 1799 U.S.S. Insurgent vanished, a 36 gun French built warship with 340 crew. U.S.S. Pickering on a voyage to the West Indies in 1800, around August 20. The U.S.S Wasp, which mercilessly pummeled British shipping in the War of 1812, mysteriously disappeared on a Caribbean cruise in October of 1814. This fate was rather anticlimactic to her last sighting, an engagement with the British brig Atalanta, which she won by capturing the vessel. She then sailed off on her next cruise around September 1 and was never seen again.
The voyage of the Epervier in 1815 was an auspicious occasion. She carried the peace proposals for the War of 1812. She left Algiers for Norfolk and vanished, delaying the ending of hostilities. Here is one instance where the possible phenomenon of the Bermuda Triangle could have played a crucial role in world politics.
The U.S.S. Wildcat, with 31 crew; the schooner Lynx, with 40 men; and the schooner Hornet (which had won a notable victory over HMS Peacock in 1812) all vanished in 1824. Incidentally, the Wildcat vanished after leaving Cuba in October. All of these disappeared in or about the area delineated for the Bermuda Triangle.
The first recorded merchant ship disappearance was in 1840, when the Rosalie vanished in the Sargasso Sea. Rosalie has often been listed as a derelict ship instead, confused with the very non mysterious drifter Rossini, and claimed to have never existed at all. However, the British Maritime Museum does hold a record of her. She was built in 1838, of 222 tons. There is still some debate whether she vanished or was found derelict. The London Times of 1840 listed her as derelict.
Subsequent mysterious disappearances include another U.S. schooner/warship: Grampas in March of 1843 after sailing south of the Carolinas. The passenger ship City of Glasgow vanished with 400 passengers after she left New York in 1854 en route to Liverpool (taking the southern course). The disappearances of the British training brig HMS Atalanta in 1880 was considered a national catastrophe in Britain. She had departed Bermuda for home, with 290 young cadets and was never seen again. In 1909 the famous world circumnavigator, Joshua Slocum, sailed out of Miami on his treasured yawl Spray, and vanished. He was considered the finest sailor of his time.
All of these vessels, of course, disappeared in a time when the Atlantic was very big and when many times a ship would be weeks between ports. There is nothing to connect them together except general location.
By the early 20th century, Marconi’s wireless had proven itself. Warren Tute, in his Atlantic Conquest, noted that “Wireless telegraphy was to deprive the sea of its ancient terror of silence.”
Yet by a strange irony it only gave it a new mystery—the mystery of missing Maydays and SOS signals. All the following vessels vanished while having wireless or radio communications. None left any sound to indicate what happened. The modern terror of the sea turns out to be something more aggravating than silence: a question mark. And all were on voyages that would lead them through the Triangle.
1917, between March 6th & 27: the 1,579 gross ton freighter Timandra,In 1780, the General Gates went missing. No British warship laid claim to sinking her.
Long after the American War of Independence, terse entries in marine journals continued to list disappearances. Curiously, many of them are warships. A more mysterious occurrence than a merchant vessel, one might imagine, since they are sturdily built, heavily gunned, and manned by large numbers of well trained crews. In September 1799 U.S.S. Insurgent vanished, a 36 gun French built warship with 340 crew. U.S.S. Pickering on a voyage to the West Indies in 1800, around August 20. The U.S.S Wasp, which mercilessly pummeled British shipping in the War of 1812, mysteriously disappeared on a Caribbean cruise in October of 1814. This fate was rather anticlimactic to her last sighting, an engagement with the British brig Atalanta, which she won by capturing the vessel. She then sailed off on her next cruise around September 1 and was never seen again.
The voyage of the Epervier in 1815 was an auspicious occasion. She carried the peace proposals for the War of 1812. She left Algiers for Norfolk and vanished, delaying the ending of hostilities. Here is one instance where the possible phenomenon of the Bermuda Triangle could have played a crucial role in world politics.
The U.S.S. Wildcat, with 31 crew; the schooner Lynx, with 40 men; and the schooner Hornet (which had won a notable victory over HMS Peacock in 1812) all vanished in 1824. Incidentally, the Wildcat vanished after leaving Cuba in October. All of these disappeared in or about the area delineated for the Bermuda Triangle.
The first recorded merchant ship disappearance was in 1840, when the Rosalie vanished in the Sargasso Sea. Rosalie has often been listed as a derelict ship instead, confused with the very non mysterious drifter Rossini, and claimed to have never existed at all. However, the British Maritime Museum does hold a record of her. She was built in 1838, of 222 tons. There is still some debate whether she vanished or was found derelict. The London Times of 1840 listed her as derelict.
Subsequent mysterious disappearances include another U.S. schooner/warship: Grampas in March of 1843 after sailing south of the Carolinas. The passenger ship City of Glasgow vanished with 400 passengers after she left New York in 1854 en route to Liverpool (taking the southern course). The disappearances of the British training brig HMS Atalanta in 1880 was considered a national catastrophe in Britain. She had departed Bermuda for home, with 290 young cadets and was never seen again. In 1909 the famous world circumnavigator, Joshua Slocum, sailed out of Miami on his treasured yawl Spray, and vanished. He was considered the finest sailor of his time.
All of these vessels, of course, disappeared in a time when the Atlantic was very big and when many times a ship would be weeks between ports. There is nothing to connect them together except general location.
By the early 20th century, Marconi’s wireless had proven itself. Warren Tute, in his Atlantic Conquest, noted that “Wireless telegraphy was to deprive the sea of its ancient terror of silence.”
Yet by a strange irony it only gave it a new mystery—the mystery of missing Maydays and SOS signals. All the following vessels vanished while having wireless or radio communications. None left any sound to indicate what happened. The modern terror of the sea turns out to be something more aggravating than silence: a question mark. And all were on voyages that would lead them through the Triangle.
bound for Buenos Aires from Norfolk in cargo of coal. 21 crew under
Captain Lee.
1918, after March 6th– U.S.S. collier Cyclops, after leaving Barbados
for Baltimore; 309 crew and passengers under Lt. Comm. George
Worley.
1925, December 1: tramp steamer Cotopaxi; 32 crew under Captain Meyers; left Charleston, SC, for Havana, Cuba.
1926, March: freighter Suduffco sailed from New York to Los Angeles
with 4,000 tons of assorted cargo. Never arrived Panama. 29 crew. (Owner unfortunately waited about a month before reporting her overdue)
1938, March: 426-foot, 5,500 ton British freighter Anglo Australian bound from Cardiff, Wales, for British Columbia; 38 crew under Captain Parslow. Last reported herself off the Azores: “Passing Fayal this afternoon. All well.”
1940, February 4: Schooner Gloria Colita, Gulf of Mexico, found derelict and awash.
Losses in the war years cannot be counted, since so many occurred from enemy submarines and mines. Beginning after World War II:
1946, December 5: schooner City Belle, 10 persons, Bahamas, found derelict.
1948, February: 416-foot, 7,219 ton British freighter Samkey reported herself at 41o 48’ N longitude, 24o W latitude on January 31. “All well.” Crew of 43.
1948, March 6: yacht Evelyn K. is found deserted in the Florida Keys; 3 persons missing
1950, April 5: the 185-foot coaster Sandra, with a cargo of DDT, disappears in passage to Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, from Savannah, Georgia.
1955, January 13: yacht Home Sweet Home, Bermuda to St. Thomas
1955, September 26: yacht Connemara IV found derelict 150 miles southeast of Bermuda.
1956, July: schooner Bounty disappears between Bimini and Miami.
1958, January 1: 44-foot yawl Revonoc vanished between Key West and Miami; 4 crew.
1960, April 16, yacht Ethel C., missing off Virginia
1961, April 5: yacht Callista III, missing Norfolk to Bahamas.
1962, schooner Evangeline
1962, November: Windfall, a 56-foot schooner left Mystic, Conn. for Bermuda; 5 crew.
1963, February 4: the 504-foot T-2 Tanker Marine Sulphur Queen, near Florida Straits; 39 crew.
1963, July 2: fishing vessel Sno Boy, between Kingston to Northeast Cay.
1964: 36-foot ketch Dancing Feathers, en route Bahamas from North Carolina.
1964, January 14: 58-foot Enchantress, 150 miles southeast of Charleston, South Carolina.
1965, October 28: houseboat El Gato, near Great Inagua, Bahamas.
1967, December 10: Speed Artist 5 persons; Windward Islands
1967, December 22: cabin cruiser Witchcraft, Miami Harbor; 2 persons
1969, July 4: in the Sargasso Sea freighter Cotopaxi sees derelict power yacht on automatic pilot.
1969, July 12: yacht Vagabond found derelict on edge of Sargasso Sea.
1969, August: The 2 light house keepers from Great Isaac’s Rock lighthouse, near Bimini, abandon their posts without reason.
1969, November 2: cabin cruiser Southern Cross found deserted off Cape May.
1971, October 10: 339-foot cargo vessel El Caribe, missing in Caribbean Sea.
1971, October 27: fishing yacht Lucky Edur found derelict of New Jersey; 3
1971, Christmas-time: something annihilates 53-foot yacht Ixtapa, near Florida Keys.
1973, March 21: 541-foot collier s.s. Anita vanished in building hurricane off Norfolk en route to Germany.
1973, March 23: 88-foot yacht Defiance, derelict, near Cap du Mole, St. Nicholas, Haiti; 4
1974, March: 54-foot luxury yacht Saba Bank disappears while cruising Bahamas; 4 crew.
1974, July 24: yacht Dutch Treat, Miami to Cat Cay, Bahamas.
1975, April 22: 73-foot shrimper Dawn, near Smith Shoals, Key West.
1975, June 24: yacht Meridian, bound to Bermuda from Norfolk.
1975, December 2: ocean going tug Boundless is missing in the Bahamas.
1976, April: motor sailor High Flight disappears between Bimini & Miami
1976, October: the 590-foot ore carrier Sylvia L. Ossa, about 140 miles west of Bermuda; crew of 37.
1976, December 16: 40-foot sloop with 17 people between St. Kitts and Dominica.
1977, November 20: schooner L’Avenir, Maryland to Bermuda.
1979, January 2: 66-foot tug King Co-bra, near Cape Henlopen.
1980, January 12: Sea Quest sends mysterious call, navigational equipment not working. Missing with 11 persons.
1980, April: 43-foot luxury yacht Polymer III, while cruising Bahamas; 2.
1980, July 26: 38-foot sailboat Kalia III found derelict in the Exumas, Bahamas.
1980, October 26: the 520-foot s.s. Poet, in cargo of corn, Cape Henlopen, Dl., to Port Said, Egypt.
1982, July 26: American yacht Penetration found deserted north of Sargasso Sea.
1982, August 17: British yacht found deserted in Atlantic.
1983, February 26: 44-foot Sea Lure, in group of other fishing vessels while headed toward Dry Tortugas. Later found derelict.
1984, November 5\6: the 32-foot sport fishing boat Real Fine, Freeport to Fort Lauderdale. 3 persons.
1985, February 22: 25-foot pleasure boat with 2 Canadians aboard; Freeport, to West Palm Beach.
1985, May 3: 6 persons disappear in a outboard off Surf City, North Carolina.
1992, October 27: fishing vessel Mae Doris, with 4 crew, south of Cape May.
1995, March 20: Jamanic K., Motor Vessel of 357 gt; Cape Haitien to Miami.
1996, October 14: 65-foot yacht Intrepid, 30 miles off Fort Pierce, FL; 16 missing after quick Mayday.
1997, December: 23-foot Robalo, off Virginia Beach.
1998, January 2: commercial fishing vessel Grumpy found derelict.
1998, May 1: 35-foot converted sport fisher Miss Charlotte hit by force that sucked everything off deck, then sunk; crew survived. Thought to be water spout. Off North Carolina.
1998, August 10: the Erica Lynn.
1998, November: the Carolina, off Cape May
1998, November: 74-foot Interlude disappeared during cruise to Cayman Islands.
1999, April 15: Miss Fernandina, 85-foot shrimp trawler off Flagler Beach, FL. last signaled: net caught in propellor, electrical drain, listing.
1999, April 23: Motor Vessel Genesis, 196 gt, sailed Port of Spain in cargo of 465 tons brick, water tanks and concrete slabs; at 5:30 bespoke m/v Survivor. Search for vessel was 33,100 sqm.
1999. August 5: 18-foot day cruiser found derelict except for the dog. Skipper was on a 2 hour cruise; off North Carolina.
1999, November 15: 2 person in a 22-foot day cruiser between Frying Pan Shoals and Frying Pan Light.
1999, December 27, Alyson Selene found derelict 7 miles northeast of Andros, Bahamas.
2000, April, freighter Gran Rio R disappears off West Indies.
2000, August 14, fishing vessel Hemmingway is found deserted; missing crew and captain.
2001, June 22, 2001, Tropic Bird is found derelict off Antigua.
2002, September 23, freighter Fiona R missing off West Indies en route to St. Vincent.
2003, June 18, Frank and Romina Leone of West Palm Beach, Fl. vanish with their 16 foot boat off Florida.
2003, August 3, alerts go out for sailing yacht Windhome, which left Beaufort, North Carolina for Azores June 24. Overdue and reported missing.
2003, August 25, three men vanish with a 32-foot sleek-go-fast white fiberglass vessel in the Bahamas between Exumas and Mayaguana. Owner identified as Glenroy Carey.
2003, October-November, the fishing boat What’s Left turns up capsized off Cape Canaveral with body of owner aboard. the two other passengers, the Edelmanns are missing. Boat drifted 400 miles without being detected by Coast Guard. Left port in the Gulf for fishing in Florida Keys.
2003, November 25, Peanuts Too is found deserted south of Bermuda.
2004, March 23, the missing 19-foot fishing boat owned by Glenn Jamison is found by fishing vessel Chummer about 32 miles west of Egmont Key, Florida. No trace is found of Jamison. He had left the previous Sunday for daytime fishing and did not return that night. Coast Guard reports 20 knots winds and 6 foot seas.
2004, December 21, unnamed fishing yola is found abandoned off Puerto Rico, nets deployed and anchored. Fisherman Anibal Matias missing. No trace.
2006, January 2, James Trindade disappears from his pleasure craft while en route to the US from Bahamas. Foul play suspected.
2006, June, Cuban fishing vessel La Curra is found recently abandoned.
2006, July 4, 18 foot vessel belonging to Richard Perez found off Viginia Key, Florida Keys, with wallet and keys and other personal effects.
2006, September 18, a partially submerged 18 pleasure boat found 9 miles east of Clearwater Beach, with fishing poles, cooler, and life jackets aboard.
2007, March 2, Michael Carlo, 57, body found. Disappeared from his Boston Whaler. One of the flap of bodies found off Anclote Key.
2007, March 15: 25-foot pleasure craft, derelict, 27 miles northeast of St. Augustine. Steve Senecal went day fishing.
2007, October 19, Tranquility (37 foot) sighted adrift and abandoned 65 miles west of Johns Pass, Florida. The owner, 69 year old Ulyses Didier, could not be found. Crew of Sundancer boards vessel and notes broken rail. Last log entry Oct. 15 states Didier is going to anchor.
2008, March 16, a 28 foot read Wellcraft is reported missing with 3 fishermen aboard between Everglades City and Tampa.
2008, April 17, the 27-foot Don Chepo is reported missing en route from St. Johns, Virgin Islands for Vieques, Puerto Rico. Owner had 2 cell phones aboard, a VHF radio, 3 life jackets, and 3 flares. Boat was powered by 2 200 horsepower Evinrude outboard engines.
2008, May 24, Holo Ki Ki, a 36-foot sailboat is found derelict 20 miles north of West End, Grand Bahama. The sailing master, Peter Steenberg, was missing. He had been hired to sail the boat to the Netherlands from Fort Lauderdale.
2008, June 17: Marcos Aeguelles disappears from his 22-foot pleasure craft near Solider key, Florida.
2008, September 5: a 25 foot sailboat is found abandoned in the Caloosahatchee River at Fort Meyers. The sail was at half mast. The owner, 60 year old Stephen Nelson, was not found.
2009, March, 40-foot gaff Ketch Lili-oh-La-La headed to Bahamas from South Carolina is reported on the overdue list.
2009, June 22, Coast suspends search for 3 missing fishermen off Pinones, Puerto Rico. They had departed in a 22 foot beige Grady White fishing boat.
2009, August 17, the 22 foot boat of Mark Portus is found beached on the north end of Anclote Key. He left that morning for a day of fishing. A body found on the 21st was believed to be his. This is only one of several derelicts found near Anclote Key where a body later turned up near Hudson Beach.
2009, September 20, a small 16 foot vessel is found abandoned near Anclote Key. The pet dog remains aboard. The vessel keys were aboard as well as a town. The operator, Paula Migliorini, had vanished. Body later found off Hudson Beach.
2009, December 13, two men vanish in a 17 foot Largo pleasure craft en route to Bimini.
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