Bermuda Triangle book discusses mystery vessle from Mobile, Ala.

I finished reading an interesting, older book the other day called “The Bermuda Triangle Mystery – Solved” by Lawrence David Kusche. Published in 1975 by Warner Books, this 317-page book is one of the better books that I’ve read about the Bermuda Triangle.

Kusche began researching claims about the Bermuda Triangle in the early 1970s when he worked as a librarian at Arizona State University. As part of his library job, he received numerous requests for information about the Bermuda Triangle, and this prompted him to begin collecting information from a wide variety of sources. At first, he believed that the Triangle really was a mystery, but the more he looked into it, the more he became convinced that it wasn’t so mysterious after all.

According to Wikipedia, Kusche came to believe that “virtually all the incidents had been caused by storms or accidents, or they happened far from the Triangle, or no proof could be found that they ever occurred at all. His conclusion was that the Triangle was a ‘manufactured mystery,’ the result of poor research and reporting, and occasionally, deliberate falsification of facts.”

In his book, Kusche presents information about dozens and dozens of missing boats and aircraft. He generally lays out the accepted story about each vessel or plane and then presents the concrete evidence he was able to find during his research efforts. I was especially interested by Chapter 19, which discussed the Gloria Colita, a schooner that was found abandoned 200 miles south of Mobile, Ala. in February 1940. It was said that there was no apparent reason for the abandonment of the craft because the seas were calm and nothing seemed to be out of order.

According to newspaper accounts from that time, the 125-foot schooner sailed from Mobile on Jan. 21, 1940 and was loaded with a cargo of lumber bound for Guantanamo, Cuba. On Sun., Feb. 4, 1940, the Coast Guard cutter Cartigan found the Gloria Colita “adrift, crippled and unmanned” about 150 miles south of Mobile in the Gulf of Mexico. The derelict was reported the Coast Guard by a passing steamer.

Coast Guard officials reported that the schooner’s foresail was up, but torn. No other sails were set. There was wreckage all over the deck, and the steering gear and rudder had been disabled. The schooner's lifeboat was also missing. The Coast Guard said that bad weather may have been responsible for the damage, but didn’t explain the missing crew of nine men.

The Coast Guard searched a wide area with planes and ships but didn’t find the crew. The Gloria Colita, which was registered in St. Vincent, British West Indies, was towed back to Mobile. It was later reported that the schooner’s deck cargo of lumber was missing. The cargo below deck was intact, but the hold was full of water. A Coast Guard captain later said that “he had no doubt that the vessel’s crew was swept overboard and were drowned during a storm."

For those of you familiar with the geography of the Bermuda Triangle, you’ll know that the Gulf of Mexico is technically outside the Triangle. Kusche included the story of the Glorida Colita because it’s often included in discussions about mysterious derelict vessles in the area.

In the end, how many of you have read “The Bermuda Triangle Mystery – Solved”? What did you think about it? Did you like it or not? What did you think about the Gloria Colita story? Let us know in the comments section below.