USS Cyclops
The Navy collier Cyclops left Barbados for Baltimore on 4 March 1918 with 306 people and a heavy load of manganese ore and was never seen again.
1918 CE · 13.15, -59.52 · status: unexplained
The account
It is one of the largest non-combat losses in US Navy history. The ship had a cracked cylinder in one engine and may have been overloaded. Because it was wartime, German action was suspected, but German records showed nothing. The Naval History and Heritage Command says it probably sank in an unexpected storm.
The sceptical view
Overloading, engine trouble and storm are enough to sink a ship without trace; the Bermuda Triangle label was added decades later.
The researched reading
The US Navy’s largest non-combat loss of life. An overloaded, ageing ship with a failing engine in a storm explains it; no wreck has been found.
| Explanation | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A known natural phenomenon | 40% | She sailed overloaded with dense manganese ore into a gale off the US east coast; the Cyclops class is thought to have had a structural weakness, and her sister ships Proteus and Nereus were later lost the same way. |
| Something known, misidentified | 18% | An ordinary accident made more likely by known faults: a cracked cylinder had put one engine out of action, and she was loaded beyond her rated capacity. |
| Secret human technology | 12% | Wartime sabotage or a U-boat attack was suspected, and her German-born captain was the subject of rumour; German records show no submarine claim. |
| Perception, memory or mind | 10% | Her place at the head of Bermuda Triangle lists was given decades after the event. |
| Undetermined | 8% | The share a generic explanation had beyond what has been shown for this case: it fits many cases like this one, but has not been demonstrated for this one. |
| A poorly understood natural phenomenon | 4% | Rogue waves can break ships; they are a recognised natural cause. |
| A hoax or fabrication | 4% | Later accounts embellish the story (for example, false claims about her last messages). |
| Genuinely anomalous | 4% | Overload, engine trouble and storm explain the loss. |
Official position: The US Navy concluded that the cause of her loss remained unknown.
Connections in the atlas
- SS Marine Sulphur Queen
- ? Is the Bermuda Triangle really dangerous?
- USS Proteus vanishes
- USS Nereus vanishes
- Flight 19
- The Bermuda Triangle