Write your abstract
here.This was my first trip into the Bermuda
Triangle. At the time of the incident the
weather was
absolutely perfect; the sea conditions flat calm;
visibility and ceiling just about unlimited—it was just
a
joy to be out that particular morning.
At about 1:30 in the morning, we observed on the
radarscope a solid line
approximately 28 miles away. We
were a little concerned about it at first; it had a
strong
resemblance to a land mass. However, a quick check of
our
navigation equipment indicated that we were right on
course
approximately 165 miles off shore.
We tracked it and found it was dead in the water. So
we
carefully approached it and approximately one and a
half
hours later we got down to about a half of a mile from
the
radar target, and we carefully moved closer to it.
We came down to about 100 yards from it. At that
point
we energized the search light and found that we were
getting reflections off the mass and that the carbon
arc
just didn’t seem to penetrate it at all. We moved even
closer to it again, with the search light beamed on it,
and
started a gentle left turn so that we would not
encounter
this
unknown object head on. We moved closer and we
sort of
nudged it with the starboard wing. We did this two or
three
times without incident, so we got back to normal
cruising
speed and started our entry into the unknown mass.
After penetrating it, we found that visibility was
just
about zero. Shortly after entry, the engine room called
up
and indicated that they were losing steam pressure; and
what was a situation of little concern became one of
considerable concern at this point.
We were down to about 4 knots when we decided to
come
about and get out of there. When we started our turn,
that’s when we broke out of the mass.
Now, as to what we might have encountered that
night, I
really have no way of speculating.
Over the years after this happened I talked to many
oceanographers, and none of these people could shed any
light whatsoever on what it might have been.