THE first known documentation of strange anomalies in the Bermuda Triangle was recorded by the famed explorer Christopher Columbus in October 1492, when he and his crew was said to have passed through the area. On the eleventh of October of that year, Columbus recorded in his logbook that his crew had seen "strange dancing lights on the horizon", "flames in the sky", and later recorded that he had observed bizarre compass bearings in the area.

This was the first known recording of any strange occurrences in the triangle leading to the discovery of the New World in 1492, but it was far from the last. After the discovery by Spain and Portugal that the New World could be a source of valuable minerals and abundant resources, the countries sent galleons to transport the materials from the New World back to Europe.

It was recorded that many of these vessels, loaded with gold stolen from the South and Central American natives, disappeared without a trace throughout the Atlantic and the Caribbean. Some of these galleons have been recovered within the last century by modern researchers and salvage experts who have analysed the ocean bottom but the nature of their disappearances have yet to be explained with certainty.

However, the term "Bermuda Triangle" wasn't popularised until 1964, thanks to an article that appeared in Argosy Magazine by Vincent Gaddis, And it wasn't until 1974 that it became a household term through the publication of The Bermuda Triangle by Charles Berlitz.

Bermuda gave its name to this mysterious stretch of water largely as a result of the still unexplained disappearances of the airliners Star Tiger and Star Ariel in 1948 and 1949.

The Star Tiger and Star Ariel were two Avro Tudor IV passenger aircraft owned and operated by British South American Airways Corporation as part of an air fleet providing passenger services between Europe and South America during the late 1940s. The loss of both aircraft over the Atlantic is still a mystery that remains unsolved to this day, with the resulting speculation helping to develop the Bermuda Triangle legend.

British South American Airways Corporation (BSAAC), was an airline created by World War II veteran pilots in an effort to provide service into the previously untapped South American trade and passenger routes. It commenced transatlantic services in March 1946, with a BSAA plane making the first operational flight from London Heathrow Airport.

The airline operated mostly Avro aircraft: Yorks, Lancastrians and Tudors, and flew to Bermuda, the West Indies and the western coast of South America.

On January 30, 1948, the Star Tiger (registered as G-AHNP) had logged just over 500 flight hours. The plane was flown and commanded by Capt. B.W. McMillan, and copiloted by both Capt. David Colby and C. Ellison, all experienced pilots.

The Star Tiger was enroute from England to Bermuda, but had a fuel layover in the Azores. At 03:15 hours on January 31, Capt. McMillan requested a bearing on Bermuda. The request was routine, and there was no panic or cause for alarm.

After receiving the bearings, Capt. McMillan gave an estimated arrival time at 05:00. That was the last contact with the Star Tiger.

Bermuda went on the alert after 05:00. The British Civil Air Ministry launched a search and full scale investigation, but no signs of the Star Tiger, or her 29 passengers and crew were ever found.

A merchant ship, SS Troubador, had reported seeing a low flying aircraft with lights blinking about halfway between Bermuda and the entrance to Delaware Bay, which meant that if the aircraft was Star Tiger, then it had gone well off-course from Bermuda.

Star Tiger had reported in one of its messages that it was flying at an altitude of 2,000 feet, ostensibly to control a mishap should the cabin lose pressure, but at that altitude there would have been no time to issue a distress call should the aircraft have been forced to ditch at sea.

The UK Civil Air Ministry later issued this press release into the incident: "In closing this report it may truly be said that no more baffling problem has ever been presented for investigation.

"In the complete absence of any reliable evidence as to either the nature or the cause of the accident of Star Tiger the Court has not been able to do more than suggest possibilities, none of which reaches the level even of probability. Into all activities which involve the co-operation of man and machine two elements enter of a very diverse character (sic).

"There is an incalculable element of the human equation dependent upon imperfectly known factors; and there is the mechanical element subject to quite different laws.

"A breakdown may occur in either separately or in both in conjunction. Or some external cause may overwhelm both man and machine. What happened in this case will never be known and the fate of Star Tiger must remain an unsolved mystery."

Almost a year to the day after the loss of Star Tiger, Star Ariel departed Bermuda for Kingston, Jamaica on January 17, 1949, carrying seven crewmembers and 13 passengers. Shortly after take-off, her pilot, Capt. J. C. McPhee, radioed in the following report: "I DEPARTED FROM KINDLEY FIELD AT 8:41 A.M. HOURS. MY ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL AT KINGSTON 2:10 P.M. HOURS. I AM FLYING IN GOOD VISIBILITY AT 18,000 FT. I FLEW OVER 150 MILES SOUTH OF KINDLEY FIELD AT 9:32 HRS. MY ETA AT 30° N IS 9:37 HRS. WILL YOU ACCEPT CONTROL?"

And then later Capt. McPhee reported: "I WAS OVER 30° N AT 9:37 I AM CHANGING FREQUENCY TO MRX."

Those were the last transmissions from the Star Ariel, and she was never heard from again.

More than 70 aircraft and many ships were involved in a search between 100 and 500 miles south of Bermuda, search vessels including the aircraft carriers USS Kearsage and USS Leyte, and the battleship USS Missouri, involving upwards of 13,000 men.

No sign of debris, oil slicks, or wreckage were ever found. Both incidents later prompted the use of the Tudor IV aircraft to be discontinued.

The loss of both aircraft without a trace, plus the unexplained vanishings of a DC-3 south of Miami on December 27, 1948, and the loss of the US Navy's Flight 19 on December 5, 1945 led theorists to speculate that something unusual was happening in the waters of the western Atlantic.

The questions and theories that arose led to the creation of the Bermuda Triangle legend.

The loss of five US Navy Avenger torpedo bombers in 1945, known as Flight 19 is perhaps the best-known Bermuda Triangle incident.

Flight 19 was a training flight of TBM Avenger bombers that went missing on December 5, 1945 while over the Atlantic.

The impression is given that the flight encountered unusual phenomena and anomalous compass readings, and that the flight took place on a calm day under the supervision of an experienced pilot, Lt. Charles Carroll Taylor.

Adding to the intrigue is that the Navy's report of the accident was ascribed to "causes or reasons unknown." It is believed that Taylor's mother wanted to save her son's reputation, so she made them write "reasons unknown" when actually Taylor was 50 km from where he thought he was.

While the basic facts of this version of the story are essentially accurate, some important details are missing. The weather was becoming stormy by the end of the incident; only Taylor had any significant flying time, but he was not familiar with the south Florida area and had a history of getting lost in flight, having done so three times during World War II, and being forced to ditch his planes twice into the water; and naval reports and written recordings of the conversations between Taylor and the other pilots of Flight 19 do not indicate magnetic problems.

Another bizarre disappearance inolves the loss of the USS Cyclops in March 1918. The ship vanished with a cargo of 10,800 tons of manganese and 309 men on board while en route from Barbados to Baltimore.

Theories of this disappearance ranged from mutiny at sea to a large boiler explosion, which prevented any distress call.

One magazine, the Literary Digest, speculated that a giant octopus rose from the sea, entwined the ship with its tentacles, and dragged it to the bottom.

There has been much research in recent years and an article in National Geographic points out some of the unusual features discovered in the Bermuda Triangle.

It's one of only two places on Earth the other being an area nicknamed the Devil's Sea off the east coast of Japan, which has a similar mysterious reputation where true north and magnetic north line up, which could make compass readings dicey.

It is also home to some of the deepest underwater trenches in the world; wreckage could settle in a watery grave miles below the surface of the ocean.

Most of the sea floor in the Bermuda Triangle is about 19,000 feet down; near its southern tip, the Puerto Rico Trench dips at one point to 27,500 feet below sea level. Treacherous shoals and reefs can also be found along the continental shelf and strong currents over the reefs constantly breed new navigational hazards, according to the Coast Guard.

The Gulf Stream travels along the western edge of the Triangle and could be another factor. The Gulf Stream is like a 40 to 50-mile-wide river within the ocean that circulates in the North Atlantic Ocean.

The warm water and two to four-knot currents can create weather patterns that remain channelled within it. If you have the right atmospheric conditions, you could get quite unexpectedly high waves and if wave heights are eight feet outside of the Gulf Stream, they could be two or even three times higher within it. Sailors can sometimes identify the Gulf Stream by the clouds and thunderstorms over it.

Then there's the weather!.

The Coast Guard notes that unpredictable Caribbean-Atlantic storms can yield waterspouts that often spell disaster for pilots and mariners.

Still, given a choice between the horrifying idea of a giant squid's tentacles wrestling an innocent ship to the sea floor, or an alien abduction, versus human error, shoddy engineering, and a temperamental Mother Nature who could resist the legend of the Bermuda Triangle?

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