Hi Plato,

I am sure that the methane theory you have proposed is the most plausible (aside from Pirates themselves that are the main reason for the loss of many ships in the region... same thing happens in my "neck of the woods" in Asian waters to the north of Australia). The Methane Clathrate Ice Theory (sometimes called Methane Hydrate) was always my favorite answer to some of the odd happenings in the so called Bermuda Triangle. As you say, the other answers are mostly nonsense.

Methane Clathrate Ices that accumulate on the bottom of the sea are a known hazard in the region. These ices are in a vary delicate thermal balance and "flash" when they melt and turn suddenly into methane gas. There are triggers for this to occur, Global Warming plus possible seismic activity would also tend to trigger an event. You have no doubt seen this reference in Wikipedia...

(Sorry, had to remove link due to forum policy ~Plato)

The other events in the region also may be related to Methane Clathrates stored in the cool bottom sediments covered by large quantities of carbonate sands... Like the partial submergence of Port Royal which is related to earthquake and mobilization of the sands underneath. Combined with the bubbling up of methane gas as part of the event that would have had a dramatic influence on the result causing building structures to rapidly disappear into the sand due to the fluidization of the sand and the bubbling of gas up through it. This seems logical to me since the ocean now covers 2/3 of the site to this day indicating a massive decrease in the displacement volume of material "beneath" Port Royal subsequent to the event (sea level being a constant). Once the pressure of the overlying sediments above was relieved during the earthquake event, this caused the supercritical Clathrate Ices trapped beneath the layers of sands to suddenly vaporize.  If sand mobilization due to the earthquake was the only cause of sinking the event would have left Port Royal still mostly above sea level (at least the level of the sand). The fact that most of it is now below several meters of water when formerly it would have been a few meters above water, indicates an apparent loss of material. Subterranean Clathrates trapped beneath the sand could have been the cause... An event similar to that one you suggested for the Oil Rig Event.

You will already have noted the effects of methane on combustion engines... they will stall in as little as 1% methane atmosphere. The other problem with shipping is rising bubbles in water cause a sudden loss of buoyancy and might cause a ship to sink instantly. No whirlpools as such but large areas of the seabed suddenly effused with bubbles would sink a heavily laden ship almost instantly. I have no idea just what the increase in methane in the atmosphere may do to the functioning of planes that you have proposed. It does not explain the loss of the Avenger planes in Flight 19 due to disorientation of their pilots.

(Sorry, had to take like out due to forum policy ~Plato)

The Clathrate theory does not apply to them. That incident remains a mystery. I suspect some disorientation due to incorrectly reading their maps and their compass and then compounded by the fact that there was an attempt by Leiutenant Taylor to lead the way home and still not lose face. It has been suggested by others the pressure of command plus panic may have caused a mental condition. The disorientation was not just on their instruments but also in the way the communications proceeded.  The loss of command may have seemed a bigger problem at the time than the possible handing over of authority to one of the other pilots who had possible better navigational skills or properly operating gyro-compasses. I am not sure if the Avengers had gyro-compasses or magnetic compasses or both. The comment was "both the compasses were out". This seems unlikely and may be a comment made to hide some other facts known to Taylor. The inquiry into the event did not mention this "fact" so it may just be "legend".  The subsequent loss of a search plane is also a mystery but its loss was very sudden so could have been for a different reason altogether. But if the flight was forced to ditch then the squall at sea in the area they were supposed to be in may have tragically been the end of it for them. Of course that storm may have been the reason for the disorientation, the clouds obscuring any familiar landmarks they would ordinarily have seen from the air.

I do not think I have ever given any credence to the other theories about the Bermuda Triangle on the Forum. That does not mean that I do not think there is a lot of unexplained "stuff" out there... it is just that some things unfortunately do happen.

Cheers

Polar opposite, Dragon's Triangle
25 north 142 ea, center
500,000, pacific (devil's sea)
worlds deepest water
35deg same lat of BT
20-25 deg, 'true north'



huge ships in DT, more of them
ghost ships, teleportation of ships, sunk ships in seconds

Ghost ships, abandoned ships, nothing on them
just floating ships

june 11, 4 am flying dutchman, deepest area of DT
HMS Bechante Prince George (5) made entry about it

ship glowed, many saw, when came upon, ship disapeareed and night became calm and clear

January 1989, fishing ship, Captin Mooro Asakagi, came across fishing boat bobbing irradically in the mist devoid of life and cargo, corpse of captain gripping helm
(abductees? ufo thought)

Time space continum has effect on DT, ships
transport miles elsewhere, clocks lose or gain time,
change time
think magnetic anomoly, black hole in ocean, UFOs

1950s late, Arthure Godfrey
twin engine craft, saw UFO, instruments went out, missed time, lost instrumentation for an hour
lost half hour, clocks rolled back
survived

1950s, 60s

Frank Hopkins, 1968, TSC shift happened to him, was in plane,
during 3rd hour of flight, were traveling strait
marking pos with stars, suddenly marked 340 nautical miles off their course,
in 1 hour, no reason, no report filed officially

vast UFO sightings
USO (unidentified submerged objects)
said many sunk by USOs (ancient thought dragons and serpents)
found many scientific reasons
report of UFO flying back in forth, lights in ocean
over 200 sightings for ONE collection in japan

thought one corner of DT in japan,
june 14 1997, photo of fast moving glowing disk, 500 MPH, just above water
tokoyo bay

3 UFOs, formation, triangle shape, 10 witnesses, only some reported

1990, man saw airplane and white light next to it, moved in W
1 km per second

21st century, reports multiplied, fishermen reports and official reports

soviet navy, made best UFO sightings
made secret information gathering to observe UFOs

Vladimir Volbirov (russian research)
UFO encounter in DT, cylindrical UFO glowing rose from the sea
flew away, was hovering

almost exact same place, April 17 1981 saw USO come out of water.
Taki Kyoto Maru over 30 crew, shockwaves, violently USO came out, made huge waves, massive USO
circled 15 minutes, storms, then went back to water,
time on raido and watches, ship lost 15 minutes

launched 1967 Kaiyou-Maru (research japan) 2,644 Tonns
1984 Dec 18 1986 Dec 21 was 'tracked bye ufo'
witness by at least 9 scientists
one time saw 2 dozen ufos, went 3 directions
2 time 100 ft long cigar shaped UFO/USO aproached ship high speed, dived into water
UFO was seen on radar, official report

Aircraft saw UFO, control tower announced it was approaching, March 18, 1965 7:06 pm
he made 60 deg turn to avoid plane , object followed, 50ft, radiated green
many witnesses, another poliot saw, seen towards DT, workers in mountains saw it also

one belief is dragon in water that eats craft

Old story about strange woman that arrives from ocean depths in spherica craft
centuries old, almost same drawing designs as seen today
landed on a beach, people approached and saw woman in smooth clothes inside
strange runes/letters on outside of it
Utsuro-Bune

no sphirical shapes back then

many people write same thing, draw close to same thing, different parts of the country

sept 24, 1235, japanese army sees glowing lights hovering above and moving above
troops, terrifys them
thought to be dragons from the sea, on the way to attack

much information on UFOs lost due to no outsiders allowed into japan

july 8, 1853, 4 am
tokoyo bay, unusual object from sky, strange meteor
everything reflected it perfectly untill it fell into the sea
large blue sphere, red tail (commador perry)
many witnessed it

in ring of fire, before major siesmic activities occur, major increase of sightings
undersea plates and volcanoes explode for no reason

triangle waves, enigma over 100 ft tall, or 65 foot waves in different directions to same place
freak wind, freak waves (triangle waves)
as 2 waves cross each other, triangle forms, ship can move anyway, even roll
phonomenae

the pacific's bermuda triangle
doors that open to different dimensions (theory)
underwater USO base, magnetic anomolies to throw off scanners

I have a few things to say about the Bermuda Triangle, you may choose what you would like to believe. Personally my own belief is of the Gas Hydrates, which I will explain in full;

The first:
Edgar Cayce was a very famous man, sometimes known as the 'Sleeping Prophet' Many thought him to be insane. In the 1920s (I'm not sure of the exact date) he published a book about a so-called 'Atlantis', describing their highly advanced
technology and amazing architechture. In that book he proclaimed that Atlantis would sink to the depths of the sea, and the last part to sink would be found in either the 1968 or 1969. He died in 1945, on January 3rd. In 1968 the Bimini Wall was discovered.

1: He was crazy, and was able to see in the future
2: He had visited Atlantis, they had told him what was happening
3: This was a conspiricy made by his family and they revealed the location of the Bimini Wall in 1968, just to make him famous, or they had built it by then
4: Wild coincidence

The second:
Aliens, this is actually their secret lair on earth and plan to destroy us all after waiting some more


The third:
There is a massive black hole, one that has its own concienceness, that chooses when it must destroy more humans. It gets 'hungry' and 'feeds'
-(ed: black holes are constantly active, and if there were one near Bermuda, then not only ships and planes would disapear, but air and light itself would 'roll' into the hole, also it would be almost phisically impossible to have one that small. Where would it be anyways? )

The fourth:
Bermuda is one of 2 places in the world where a compass reads true north instead of the magnetic north, causing the disaster of Flight 91

-(ed: False, those are both in other places, and if you would like the true story of Flight 91, here it is;
Lt Taylor was supposed to follow the edge of the triangle untill he would turn over a small island. But there were stronger winds then had been anticipated that day, so taylor was blown off-course north a few miles, causing him to miss the isle and instead turn at Great Abaco island. This whole time Taylor was suffering from Spacial Disorientation, where his brain would only believe he was in the Gulf of Mexico and by the Florida Keys, making him refuse to believe his team. He could still remember the flight plan, but that only increased his panic (GA isle is a long coast that stretches northward. LT Taylor knew he was to turn when land was North of him, so he believed his compass was malfunctioning, and was planning to go east, or his 'North')
when all he could see was sea. At one point when he turned West, he was 25 miles from Daytona Beach, but his SD made him force his crew to go back East, landing the ships some 200-275 miles from safety.)

The Fifth:
This is all a conspiricy of the government, they really have a screte base down there doing illegal things and making ships disapear to make noone go there and find them

The Sixth:
The Bermuda Triangle releases 70 times the gas hydrates used in the USA in a YEAR. These gasses are capable of creating freak waves (up to 150 ft tall) and sinking the largest ships. Methane gas also can cause aircraft to crash (methane is lighter then air, so when released from the water, piolets believe thery are rising rapidly and fly downward, crashing) by causing engine malfunction. The aircraft engine relys on air, and when methane is introduced, the old engines stall. These gasses are released in massive bundels, some the size of football fields at a time, which are capable of surrounding a ship and destroying bouyancy due to an unbalanced environment, making the water much less dense. This caused a oil platform to be pulled into the ocean in the triangle in 1985. These gasses can also create huge whirlpools and maelstroms in the ocean pulling anything down, which attributes to the old sailors tale.

One more thing, the burmuda triangle is responsible for over 120 reported boat dissapearances a year (that means charter boats, this does not include personal boats) and hundreds of personal boat disapearances are unreported.

If you would like a full detail show about Flight 91s disapearance, there is a show on YouTube about it, search Bermuda Triangle Part 1/2 then Part 2/2