The year was 1918.

Gas was 8 cents a gallon.

A postage stamp was 3 cents.

The Boston Red Sox won the baseball World Series.

It was the same year that the U.S. Navy Cyclops mysteriously disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle.

Often referred to as the Devil’s Triangle, it encompasses an area of water with Bermuda to the Northeast, Miami to the West, and Puerto Rico to the Southeast.

The Cyclops on March 4, 1918, joined more than 50 ships and 20 aircraft that sailed into oblivion in the last 100 years in these unforgiving waters.

The earliest such recorded disappearance dates back to 1866, when the Scandanavian vessel the Lotta disappeared.

Over the next two decades, the American freighter Cotopaxi, the cargo steamer Sudolfco and the U.S. freighter Sandna met the same fate.

Two sister ships, the Star Tiger and the Star Ariel vanished in these waters in 1948 and 1949, respectfully.

Amazingly, between 1950 and 1954, nine ships vanished with no survivors.

No bodies.

No lifeboats.

All carrying radio equipment, yet no wreckage ever located.

Perhaps one of the most famous aircraft disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle involved the U.S. Navy Avenger Flight 19.

The planes flew from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., into the Triangle -- never to return.

Later a reconnaissance flight was sent to search for the fleet.

It too never returned.

Plausable theories



There have been numerous suspected accounts and suggestions as to why these planes vanished.

Did they simply run out of fuel?

Did some mysterious force field interfere with their navigation instruments?

What about weather as a factor?

All of the ships and planes are reported to have gone down over tranquil waters and in clear skies.

Yet no distress calls and no debris. No flares and no oil slicks.

Or did these vessels vanish because the Triangle may be a portal to other planets -- as some believe?

Weather phenomenon



According to reports, there are a number of natural forces at work, which could, if the conditions are right, bring down a plane or sink a ship. Few have flown without experiencing something known as clear air turbulence.

An aircraft can be flying smoothly on a beautiful clear day and suddenly hit an air pocket in the sky and drop 200-300 feet.

Also, small violent thunderstorms known as Meso - Meteorological storms may occur outside of normal weather patterns and can’t be predicted.

With little or no warning, a plane or ship could be at the mercy of nature’s wrath.

According to Lt. Comm. Peter Quinton, a meteorologist with the fleet weather service, “Thunderstorms can generate severe electrical storms sufficient to foul up communication systems.”

Flight 19



Did Flight 19 encounter one of the above thunderstorms?

Lt. Charles C. Taylor who led the mission (which was a training flight) included several planned course changes. Departure was Dec. 5, 1945, at 1:15 p.m.

At 3 p.m., Lt. Robert F. Cox was flying over Ft. Lauderdale when he heard a signal that he thought was a boat or plane in distress.

He told Taylor to fly with the sun at his left and continued up the coast until he reached Miami.

Through a series of events and for unknown reasons, Taylor ignored the standard flying procedure of flying west if over water and east if over land.

Thus the disappearance of Flight 19.

USS Cyclops



Much has been written about how the U.S. Navy’s ship Cyclops vanished without a trace in the Bermuda Triangle during a voyage from Bahia, Brazil, to Maryland.

The ship was a 19-ton vessel built in Philadelphia in 1910.

It was specifically designed to keep the Navy’s fleet in European waters, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Caribbean supplied.

Could her disappearance be blamed on the elements? Could she have encountered raging winds and high seas causing the ships cargo of 10,000 tons of manganese to shift, to roll over in the ship and sink it before the crew could send an SOS? Even though the sea was reported to have been “flat” and the weather “fair” on March 4, 1918, when the ship left port?

Or because this was during wartime? Could the Germans have placed an explosive aboard the Cyclops and then covered their tracks following the explosion?

The 542-foot ship carried 57 passengers, 15 officers and a crew of 221 men.

On board was Henry Solomans Felder of Bamberg and John Wesley Weathers and James Edward Easterling, both of Bowman.

Fireman Easterling



James E. “Jim” Easterling was a fireman aboard the ill-fated ship.

On occasion, he would write letters to family members back home. One such letter read:

Dec. 31, 1917

“Dear Jessie -- I have not heard anything from home since leaving New York. I know the mail must have got tangled somewhere when we left your river Virginia for Halifax, Nova Scotia -- We soon sail for South America. Tell Pa and all of them that of course there is always danger of being sent to the bottom that I do not think there is any eminent danger of being killed while going to South America. Tell them that I am try to hope for the best and be ready for the worst.

Dear Fred: I will now try to answer a few of your questions ...

For the past two months I have been washing dishes at a salary of ($41.00) forty-one dollars. For a short while after I came on board I worked in the “Engine Room.”

As for the fireroom, I think I worked in the fire room one day since coming on board. We are kept busy from (14) fourteen to (15) fifteen hours per day.

“I joined the Navy to make a man out of myself, and I am about to make a woman ...”

“I wish I could be home a few days so I could begin to tell you something about Navy life...”

“I will follow where he leadeth.”

The Cyclops still remains the largest Navy ship ever lost without leaving the slightest clue to her fate.

Even on the 90th anniversary of her disappearance.

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