Page 90 - English Reader - 6

Puerto Rico. Also known as the “Devil’s Triangle”, this unexplained
phenomenon has provided an ample battlefield for a fierce controversy
that has raged since the early 1960s.

The Bermuda Triangle was first mentioned in a report in 1950 by
E.V.W. Jones as a side note to the many ships lost in the area. The name

appeared two years later in a Fate magazine article, by George X. Sand.
Books on UFOs (unidentified flying objects) in the late fifties also spoke
of the triangle, suggesting that it was alien in nature. The term “Bermuda

Triangle” was not coined until 1964, when Vincent H. Gaddis brought
it to light as “The Deadly Bermuda Triangle”’ in an article in Argosy
magazine. Bermuda Triangle fever peaked in 1974, with a number of

books on it getting international attention.

One of the most famous disappearances involves an entire team of five

US Navy TBM Avenger Torpedo Bombers, known as “Flight 19”. On
December 5, 1945, Flight 19 departed from the US Naval Air Station,

Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on a routine training mission. All five planes
were well fueled and in top running conditions. Later that same date,
all five planes were mysteriously lost at sea. Even the rescue plane with

thirteen crew members sent after them disappeared. No trace of the
planes or of the crew members has ever been found.

The matter of an unusual number of disappearances in the area of the

Bermuda Triangle is not really in doubt; the cause of the disappearances,
however, is. Skeptics chalk the “Mystery” up to the strong currents of

the region, the gulf stream forcing a large portion of the Triangle’s tides
to flow directly north, throwing many would-be sailors off course and
out to sea. Also pointed out is the great discrepancy between magnetic

North, and the North Pole in the region (a fact noted by Columbus on his
voyage), but this explanation is not good enough for some. Surely there
are many places in the world with dangerous currents and directional

90 Dolphin English Reader Book 6