Up Next: USS Cyclops

Site update: Currently working on the article on the USS Cyclops. That's one of the classic Bermuda Triangle cases with plenty of sources to sift through, so it may take a bit, particularly given the mountain of work on my desk and a to read stack this tall.

Timandra

Timandra, March 6, 1917.

The freighter Timandra was lost (vanished?) east of Norfolk, Virginia, with a company of nineteen. (Berlitz, Without a Trace, p. 23.)

Timandra was built by Robert Duncan Company, Glasgow, Scotland in 1885. The American owned ship was a 1,579-ton iron-hulled sailing bark 245 feet in length. She was owned by the Timandra Shipping Company, Boston, Massachusetts. She was equipped with wireless.

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Timandra, under command of Captain Richard Lee, with a crew of 17 and his wife, sailed from Sewell's Point in the harbor of Hampton Roads, Virginia, on March 6, 1917, for Campana, Argentina. Her cargo consisted of Pocahontas bituminous coal. The ship has not been sighted since her sailing and no wireless communications have been received. On March 27, 1917, the sailing bark Timandra was declared lost at sea.

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On January 5, 1927, the claim of loss due to actions of German raiders was rejected, as there was no supportive evidence. Neither the logbook of SeaGull nor the war diary of Seeadler contain any reference to a sailing ship that might just be the missing vessel.

The key to this mystery may well be her cargo of coal. Coal is prone to spontaneous combustion.

Either way, it is another of those cases where only a small part of the lost vessel's course was actually in the Bermuda Triangle. Whatever happened to the Timandra may have happened far from the Triangle, yet the sensationalists tacitly assume they can count her as a triangular victim.

Brown Brothers

Brown Brothers, November 13, 1916.

The bark Brown Bros. was lost (vanished?) east of Savannah, Georgia, with a company of twelve. (Berlitz, Without a Trace, p. 23.)

LONDON, March 21. — The American bark Brown Brothers has been posted as overdue.

The Brown Brothers sailed from Brunswick on Nov. 13 last for Troon, Scotland. She was last reported as having been spoken on Dec. 16 about midway between the Newfoundland Banks and the Azores. The bark, of 870 tons gross, is owned by the American Shipping company of Brunswick, GA. ("Names Americans Lost on Vigilancia," The New York Times, March 22, 1917.)

The American barks Brown Brothers and Manga Reva and the Swedish barkBarden have been posted as missing at the New York Maritime Exchange on receipt of a cable dispatch from Lloyd's, London.

The Brown Brothers sailed from Brunswick on Nov. 15, 1916, bound for Troon. She was a vessel of 870 gross tons, and was built in Haugesund, Norway, in 1875.

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("Three Vessels Missing," The New York Times, March 29, 1917.)

So she was way out of the Bermuda Triangle when she was last seen. East of Savannah, Georgia, my ass. More like way east.

Whatever mystery it may be, it is no Bermuda Triangle mystery. Thus, for our purposes, it is solved.

Chicopee

Chicopee, September 29, 1915.

The "schooner Chicopee, 55 tons, last reported in the Gulf of Mexico on September 29, 1915, heading toward the Triangle," allegedly vanished there. (Quasar, p. 56.)

According to the Monthly Weather Review, there was a hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico on September 29.

Our 55-ton ocean liner was probably reduced to toothpicks.

QED.

Doris

Doris, August 8, 1915.

The "382-ton schooner Doris, last seen in the Gulf of Mexico on August 8, 1915," allegedly vanished in the Bermuda Triangle. (Quasar, pp. 56.)

HAVANA, Aug. 14. — Weather conditions are still so bad that many steamers do not dare to leave port. The steamship Miami, carrying U.S. mail, and several other steamers have been compelled to return to port. The American steamer Calamares, which sailed, despite the warning of the Captain of the port, who refused to give her clearance, sent a wireless message late this afternoon that she was breasting the storm successfully. ("Storm Holds Ships at Havana," The New York Times, August 15, 1915.)

In my line of business, we call that the 1915 Galveston Hurricane.

Maude B. Krum

Maude B. Krum, April 20, 1915.

The schooner Maude B. Krum was lost (vanished?) east of St. Andrews, Florida, with a company of seven. (Berlitz, Without a Trace, p. 23.)

According to Singer, the Maude B. Krum was the former Grace Bailey and left St. Andrews for Buenos Aires on that day. (Singer, p. 227.)

A search of The New York Times doesn't reveal any earth-shattering storms at that time, but as the Maude B. Krum was en route to South America, she may well have been hit by a storm in the South Atlantic the Times would not cover. I'll have to look at some other sources when I get around to it. Stay tuned.

Then again, some common accident my have gotten her. Finally, this is another of those cases, like the Bella, where only a small part of the lost ship's course was in the Bermuda Triangle. Who's to say the Maude B. Krum isn't a victim of the Buenos Aires Triangle?

Silva

Silva, April 1915.

The freighter Silva was lost (vanished?) on a journey from New York to the Netherlands Antilles. (Berlitz, Without a Trace, p. 23.)

CHARLESTON, SC, April 5. —

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Capt. D.E. Archibald of the Clyde Line steamship Algonquin, which arrived yesterday morning from San Domingo, after having suffered much damage in the storm off Cape Hatteras, said that in his opinion the Royal Dutch Mail steamship Prins Maurits sank with all her passengers and crew in Saturday's gale.

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Capt. Archibald said he did not think it had been possible for the four passengers or any of the crew of the Prins Maurits to escape in lifeboats because it would have been impossible to lower a boat in the storm and no small boat could have lived in the swirling seas if it had been launched.

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Capt. Proctor said that he sighted the wreck of two small sailing vessels on Sunday afternoon about forty miles north of Diamond Shoals Lightship. Both vessels had been abandoned. ("Told by Wireless Prins Maurits Sank," The New York Times, April 6, 1915.)

Saturday was April 3. Unless I find a record that shows the Silva sailed after the storm blew over, I think it's very well possible, if not probable, that she perished in the same storm as the Prins Maurits.

Would be good to know what sort of ship the Silva was. As we have seen in the case of the freighter/schooner Bertha L. Basker, for Berlitz, freighter does not automatically mean steamer. If the Silva was another in Berlitz' endless series of schooners, she might very well have been one of the two small sailing vessels found abandoned.

BARNEGAT, NJ, April 11. — The British bark Invermay ran ashore at 1:30 o'clock this morning off the beach at Mantoloking, eight miles north of Barnegat…

Capt. Lawrence, who was driven forty miles off his course by the storm on Saturday night…

Her position is precarious, as a heavy storm began to blow tonight from the southeast.

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("British Bark Ashore; Breeches Buoy Ready," The New York Times, April 12, 1915.)

Saturday was April 10. So if the Silva sailed later, she may have been hit by the storms on April 10 and 11.

Bertha L. Basker

Bertha L. Basker, April 1915.

The freighter Bertha L. Basker was lost (vanished?) on a journey from New York to St. Martin. (Berlitz, Without a Trace, p. 23.)

In 1916 the Lejuez family received the sad news that James Edwin Lejuez and his wife Adelaide Beatrice van Gurp lost their lives when their ship, the American schooner Bertha L. Basker, which left New York for St. Maarten on April 7, 1916, was lost at sea.

So much for Berlitz' date. And a schooner. Some freighter, huh? Technically, of course, a schooner can be a freighter, but I bet most people think of a big old steamer when they hear freighter, and I bet that's what Berlitz wanted, as his series of lost schooners was beginning to look boring and non-mysterious.

Anyway, what might have happened to the schooner Bertha L. Basker in April 1916?

WASHINGTON, April 8. — The yacht Mayflower, which left here last evening with the President and Mrs. Wilson on board, returned to the Washington Navy Yard at 4:30 o'clock this afternoon. … The abandonment of the trip was due to a heavy storm which came up the coast in the night and made it uncomfortable on the yacht.

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("Wilson Abandons Cruise," The New York Times, April 9, 1916.)

QED.

Fitz J. Babson

Fitz J. Babson, February 27, 1914.

The schooner Fitz J. Babson was lost (vanished?) east of Jacksonville, Florida, with a company of seven. (Berlitz, Without a Trace, p. 23.)

WASHINGTON, March 1. — The storm which swept New York and the surrounding country to-day originated off the Georgia Coast yesterday and traversed the Atlantic Coast from Savannah to Long Island. Prof. Edward H. Bowie, forecaster in charge of the United States Weather Bureau, said the storm was central over Long Island and New York City to-night, and that it would pass through the New England States and off into the St. Lawrence Valley.

Many wires were down, and for this reason the Weather Bureau was without complete reports from its observers to-night, but such dispatches as were received by the forecaster showed that the storm was central off Georgia yesterday, that it passed Cape Hatteras to-day, and was central over Long Island to-night.

"I have been unable to have telegraphic communication with New York City to-night," Prof. Bowie said. "Such advices as we had from that city came by long-distance telephone. The wind at New York City to-night was blowing at seventy-two miles an hour, and had shifted to the northwest. The message from New York said that the barometric reading there to-night was 28.38. I question this figure, because it is abnormally low, and we have been trying to verify it. About 30 would be more like a normal reading of the barometer. If the barometer is anything like 28.38 it is about the lowest ever recorded in New York.

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"We also issued a warning to all vessels along the Atlantic Coast not to venture from port on account of the severity of the gale. The wind blew sixty miles an hour yesterday at Savannah. The storm passed rapidly up the coast, whirling violently as it proceeded. When these southern coast storms whirl like this they make rapid headway up the coast and increase in intensity. There is every indication that this whirling storm was not less than 1,000 miles in diameter. The storm covered a wide area as it moved northward. Our reports indicate heavy storms in New York and Pennsylvania.

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("Started off Georgia Coast," The New York Times, March 2, 1914.)

WASHINGTON, March 2. — The severest storm of the winter raged to-day from Eastport, ME, to Savannah, GA, while a cold wave, rolling down from the Great Lakes country, overspread the Atlantic States as far south as Florida. Lowest temperatures ever recorded in March were registered in Charleston and Macon and other points in the Southeast.

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("Storm Zone from Maine to Georgia," The New York Times, March 3, 1914.)

The Fitz J. Babson sailed (or was lost?) on or around February 27, 1914. The storm originated on February 28. Check.

The Fitz J. Babson was lost (vanished?) east of Jacksonville, Florida. The storm originated off the Georgia Coast. Check.

QED.

Update: According to Singer, February 27 was the day the Fitz J. Babson left Jacksonville. At 69 tons, she wasn't exactly an ocean liner, either. (Singer, p. 227.)

Benjamin F. Poole

Benjamin F. Poole, January 29, 1914.

The schooner Benjamine F. Poole [sic] was lost (vanished?) east of Wilmington, North Carolina, with a company of eight. (Berlitz, Without a Trace, p. 23.)

The spurious e in the first name is probably Berlitz' typo on account of the last name ending in that letter.

The "1,555-ton Benjamin F. Poole… went missing after leaving North Carolina and heading south in January 1914." (Quasar, p. 57.)

The snowstorm which the Weather Bureau foretold on Thursday was headed this way from Texas and which arrived on schedule time on Friday night bade New York good-bye yesterday afternoon and is now headed, propelled by north-westerly gales, for the southern coast of Newfoundland, where it is expected to pass out to sea and into history.

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At sea the blizzard was felt at its full force. Several wrecks were reported along the coast, and the transatlantic liners now on their way to New York all sent word by wireless that they would be from one to two days late.

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"This storm," said Forecaster Scarr yesterday, "is the greatest experienced in the northeastern part of the United States in several years. The center of barometric depression primarily responsible for the storm was central near Atlantic City this morning, the center having switched from the Carolina coast to that place since 8 o'clock Friday night.

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The storm, so far as New York City was concerned, started at 6:10 o'clock on Friday night. At that hour the long-heralded "Texas Blizzard," which, as a matter of fact, originated in Northern New Mexico, and not in Texas, arrived in the form of a gentle fall of snow.

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("City Snow-Bound and Eight Perish in 75-Mile Gale," The New York Times, February 15, 1914.)

I wonder where the Benjamin F. Poole was bound and where the storm was when she was halfway there.