Featured Image Credit: Youtube/Ocean Research Project
Topics: Conspiracy Theory, Science, Travel, Weird, Bermuda Triangle
Joshua Nair
Topics: Conspiracy Theory, Science, Travel, Weird, Bermuda Triangle
The moment that two sailors spotted an abandoned vessel and boarded it in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle is quite haunting when you realise what has happened in the area over the past couple of centuries.
Also known as the 'Devil's Triangle', the conspiracy theories surrounding the Bermuda Triangle started on 5 December, 1945, when Flight 19 took off from Florida before disappearing.
The triangle's points are Bermuda (northern-most), Puerto Rico (southern-most) and the Florida coast, near Miami (western-most).
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But what makes it so dangerous?
Well, Flight 19 went missing for starters, with no bodies or wreckage found and from 1945 to 2017, about 10 reported incidents have been reported of lost aircraft.
Add the maritime figures to that, with 14 ships vanishing from 1800 to 2015 in the same area, and it starts to look quite bizarre indeed, with several people blaming the disappearances on alien kidnapping, among other things.
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However, Australian scientist Karl Kruszelnicki has gone against this notion, telling news.com.au that the number of planes going missing in the Triangle is the same as anywhere in the world 'on a percentage basis', according to Lloyds of London and the US coast guard.
Speaking of the harmful weather that can take the area over as a possible factor, Channel 5 documentary, Secrets of the Bermuda Triangle, also shared these opinions.
Nick Hutchings, a mineral prospector, revealed: “Bermuda’s basically a sea mountain - it’s an underwater volcano. 30 million years ago, it was sticking up above sea level. It has now eroded away and we’re left with the top of a volcano.
“We have a few core samples, which have magnetite in them. It’s the most magnetic naturally occurring material on Earth.”
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So basically, people get lost - but that doesn't make the area any less scary, as a pair of sailors found out.
The members of the Ocean Research Project were exploring the Atlantic Ocean, making a chilling discovery in the Bermuda Triangle in 2013, as they came across an unmanned ship without a running motor or upright sail.
There was no sign of anyone on board, so they climbed aboard to see if there may be anyone on the vessel that might need medical attention.
One of the members, Matt Rutherford, filmed as he stepped on board the 'ghost ship', confirming: "This is one awfully abandoned sailboat. Wolfhound from the Irish Yacht Club.
"I have no idea what's inside, I'm going to go and search around and I hope I don't find any dead bodies or anything crazy like that."
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He admitted that he was scared to open any doors in case he found something haunting, but he was relieved to have found no dead bodies.
"This is absolutely crazy by the way. 800 miles from Bermuda, 1,500 miles from the US, standing on a very nice Swan 48, in the middle of the ocean," he said.
Rutherford then managed to get in touch with the boat's owner, who offered him a reward if he could tow it back to Bermuda - and they tried to.
By their second day, they hauled the boat about 50 miles, as he added: "It's kinda funny, (towing a) 48ft boat with a 42ft boat. We're doing our best trying to get her to Bermuda."
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But after 47 days at sea, they were running low of fuel, and despite managing to get some fuel from a passing freight ship, the abandoned vessel had to be cut from the tow line after getting wrapped around their rudder, which was at risk of breaking off.
Online investigators reckoned that the vessel belonged to a skipper from the Royal Irish Yacht Club named Alan McGettigan, who was travelling with three crewmates and needed to be rescued by a Greek cargo ship 64 miles north of Bermuda.
The Wolfhound vessel was left damaged by 20ft waves and 50-knot (57mph), and Alan made the decision to abandon his shit for their safety, before it was found by these two nine weeks on.