Theodor

Theodor, March 17, 1906.

On March 17, 1906, the steamer Virginian, skippered by Captain J. M'Donald, was steaming through the Bermuda Triangle from Liverpool to New Orleans. Captain M'Donald sighted another vessel, and made the following entry in his log:

Passed Norwegian four-masted barque Theodor, steering east, showing signals WDCP; light wind and clear weather; latitude 29 32 N, longitude 69 10 W.

The signals referred to in the log were signal flags flown to identify the vessel. The Theodor's actual signal letters were HDCP, so that the entry of WDCP in the log means that there must have been a mistake either in hoisting the flags on the Theodor, or in reading them from the Virginian.

The "Theodor, a Norwegian steamer-barkentine of 2,638 tons, … sailed from Tampa, Florida, to Yokohama, Japan, on March 2, 1906." (Quasar, p. 57.)

And was lost somewhere along the way, a tiny fraction of which led through the Bermuda Triangle.

By the way, the Theodor was the former China of the Cunard Line, which had been converted into a four-masted bark when she became uneconomical as a steamer and a liner.