SS Cotopaxi - No Longer a Victim of the Bermuda Triangle

On December 1, 1925, the crew of SS Cotopaxi radioed that the ship was taking on water and listing during a storm. On December 31, the ship was officially listed as overdue. With that, it entered the legend of the Bermuda Triangle as one of those mysterious disappearances that so many find fascinating. Charles Berlitz in his

SS Cotopaxi?

book The Bermuda Triangle lists the SS Cotopaxi as one of the major ships that disappeared. Although there are sources that suggest 32 passengers, the description of the ship suggests that those 32 people were sailors and not really passengers.

I will note here that many of the disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle were not all that mysterious. In many cases, such as this one, the weather was bad and was, at least, a contributing factor. This is not to mention that many of the “facts” reported about these disappearances were not actual facts but speculations by the writers who believed that something strange was happening.

But those of us interested in facts, try to check beyond the original story which means not giving up once we have the preliminary information. On my radio program, A Different Perspective, I did mention the Cotopaxi had been found. CBS news was one of the sources that I used in that preliminary work. You can see that story here:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bermuda-triangle-ship-found-underwater-explorer-believes-hes-found-ship-that-vanished-nearly-100-years-ago/

and this is from the Science Channel (and yes, it’s a tad bit long):

https://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AwrJ61f.BTJeu.EAIipXNyoA;_ylc=X1MDMjc2NjY3OQRfcgMyBGZyA21jYWZlZQRmcjIDc2ItdG9wBGdwcmlkA2hOeXBpeklfUjlTU3U0TnVfZ2s2cUEEbl9yc2x0AzAEbl9zdWdnAzQEb3JpZ2luA3NlYXJjaC55YWhvby5jb20EcG9zAzAEcHFzdHIDBHBxc3RybAMwBHFzdHJsAzMzBHF1ZXJ5A3NzJTIwY290b3BheGklMjBmb3VuZCUyMHNjaWVuY2UlMjBjaGFubmVsBHRfc3RtcAMxNTgwMzM2NzU5?p=ss+cotopaxi+found+science+channel&fr2=sb-top&fr=mcafee&type=E211US105G0

and another source found here:

http://whatliesbeyond.boards.net/thread/10666/lost-ship-cotopaxi-augustine-coast

It seems, however, that a number of years ago, there was a story circulating that suggested the Cotopaxi, floating and abandoned, had been found by the Cuba Coast Guard. The story circulated widely on the Internet. This turned out to be a hoax. But this latest tale is different if for no other reasons than the ship was found underwater and divers, working with the Science Channel were among those who found it.

To add a bit of perspective to all this, I’ll mention again, I was an Air Force intelligence officer and I served, for a number of years with the 928^th Tactical Airlift Group, which was subordinate to the 440^th Tactical Airlift Wing. Those you follow the Bermuda Triangle nonsense, know that the 440^th lost a C-119 in the Bermuda Triangle in June 1965. Contrary to reports in many of those earlier sources such as the Berlitz book, wreckage was found during the search for the missing plane and crew.

Once, while at 440^th Wing Headquarters, I asked a couple of the officers about the loss. They told me they’d found wreckage and wanted to know if I wanted to see it… in those pre-cell phone days, we all didn’t have cameras in our pockets so, no, I don’t have any pictures. I did see some of the wreckage and reported on this case here:

http://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/2007/06/editorial-comment.html

http://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/2017/05/fake-news-abc-and-bermuda-triangle.html

According to some researchers, there are many victims claimed by the Deadly Triangle… but some of those others have been found. The Freya, a German Bark was discovered drifting and abandoned in the Bermuda Triangle… Except, of course, it was actually found in the Pacific Ocean, which means it wasn’t lost in the Triangle.

But I digress for the moment…

I believe, given the latest and best evidence, that the SS Cotopaxi has been found under water. The Science Channel will supply the evidence in a couple of days. At that point we’ll all have the information and can judge if this is another hoax, a mistake, or if the ship can be removed from the list of the disappearances in the Triangle as some of those others have been.

I will note, as mentioned in one of the latest articles, that the geographical coordinates put it north of the original Triangle, which means it hadn’t belonged there in the first place.

Fake News, ABC and the Bermuda Triangle

I have to wonder about ABC News. When I heard that an airplane had vanished on a flight from Puerto Rico to Miami, I knew it wouldn’t be long before someone had to mention it was another mysterious disappearance in the Bermuda Triangle. A solution for that mystery has been available for decades and some of the planes listed as having vanished, in fact, did not. Wreckage has been found. I mentioned much of this a long time ago on this blog, and have, of course, promoted the book, The Bermuda Triangle Mystery – Solved by Lawrence Kusche a number of times. For those earlier posts see:

http://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-bermuda-triangle-and-abc-evening.html

http://kevinrandle.blogspot.com/2007/06/editorial-comment.html

In this latest tragedy, ABC was the first that I saw that mentioned the Bermuda Triangle complete with a map showing the anchors of the triangle at Puerto Rico, Bermuda and Miami. They also mentioned the number of crashes of aircraft and sinking of ships in the area, never mentioning that the numbers are not significantly higher than those for other heavily traveled sea lanes.

From the information readily available, it seems that the aircraft crashed, though I have nothing to suggest why that happened. Wreckage identified as coming from the lost aircraft has been recovered by the Coast Guard. That tells me that the aircraft crashed, not that it disappeared.

A 440th Tactical Airlift Wing C-119.

Once again, I will note that while I was assigned to the 928^th Tactical Airlift Group, which was a unit subordinate to the 440^th Airlift Wing, I had an opportunity to talk with the pilots, crew, and command post staff about the loss of one of their aircraft in the Bermuda Triangle. They had wreckage from the aircraft that was identified with the unit numbers on it, not to mention the serial numbers of some of the parts recovered. The aircraft crashed; though it is still listed in many of the books about the Bermuda Triangle as having disappeared.

I suggest that the news media try to be a little more topical and get off their lazy butts and use Google. There they could learn that the Bermuda Triangle is a manufactured mystery that was the result of incomplete facts, flawed research and an abundance of imagination. Rather than fan the flames of mystery, try to learn the truth so that the story doesn’t become one more sensational chapter in a tale that is untrue. 

The Bermuda Triangle and the C-119 Disappearance

As most of you know, I spent some time as an Air Force intelligence officer. I was assigned to the 928^th Tactical Airlift Group which was part of the 440^th Tactical Airlift Group which was headquartered at General Billy Mitchell Field in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. During that time, there was an intelligence conference held in Milwaukee (and of no importance at all, it was here, late at night I first saw ZULU). The relevance of all this somewhat personal information will become obvious in a moment.

Now, according to Bermuda Triangle lore (and to Gian Quasar) on June 5, 1965, “a C-119 vanished somewhere over the Bahamas bound for Grand Turk Island while flying the busy skyway…” He suggests that the entire radio log between the aircraft and ground stations is available but that “it does not explain the disappearance.” It does “admit peculiarities in radio reception that are remarkably identical with other planes lost in the Triangle…” He notes that the last radio message was not heard in Miami as expected but in “New York, a distance of 1,300 miles away (!).”

An officer interviewed about this said, “We know that everything was fine about thirty minutes before landing. The pilot, Major Louis Giuntoli had made a position report about eleven p.m.”

Others, such as the International UFO Bureau suggested that a UFO reported by James McDivitt was somehow tied to the disappearance of the aircraft. At the time McDivitt and Ed White were on a Gemini mission in orbit and those at the International UFO Bureau thought that the astronauts might have seen the UFO that captured the aircraft. McDivit would later point out that UFO meant unidentified flying object and nothing more, at least to him at the time.

A search was launched when the aircraft failed to arrive at its destination and radio contact could not be established. According to Triangle lore, the search was called off on June 10 when no clues were found.

But that changed on June 12, 1965 when debris, stenciled with serial numbers and the tail number of the aircraft was recovered. Although this debris was not from the outside structure of the aircraft, it was equipment that was carried in it. About a month later a wheel chock, stenciled with the tail number was found near Acklins Island, in the general area where the first wreckage was located.

So, wreckage was found, though the aircraft itself was not. Now, as a member of the 928^th TAG, I was able to talk with those at the 440^th (see how all this comes together eventually?). They gave me some additional information and then asked if I wanted to see some of the debris, which they still had there. Naturally, I said that I did and was shown a few scraps that had been recovered.

These officers suggested that the C-119 lost an engine just after that final position report had been made. There was a corresponding electrical failure at the time, which was not all that unusual, according to what they told me. The pilots would have had no lights and no radio. And this particular aircraft had a history of electrical system problems. Given all that and that it was night and that it is often difficult to distinguish the horizon at night over water especially if there was a light haze (which is to say that the weather was clear but that a light haze tended to blend the sea with the sky so that there is not a definitive line, the deck was stacked against them.

In other words, this was an aircraft accident that wouldn’t have been noticed by anyone but the friends and family had it not happened in the geographic confines of the Bermuda Triangle. But the plane didn’t disappear without a trace as has been suggested. Wreckage was found, and found along the airways where it would be expected.

For me, this is always a test case. If those writing Triangle lore were not aware of these facts, and remember, I actually talked to people who were assigned to the unit when the accident occurred and I saw some of the wreckage recovered, it suggests that those others’ research is lacking. There is an explanation here and we don’t need to venture into the paranormal to find it. Tragic though it was it really has nothing to do with the Bermuda Triangle other than as a geographic location.

Oh, and that radio message picked up in New York. Radio skip is a well-known phenomenon. Back in the olden days of analog TV, I once watched thirty or forty minutes broadcast from Miami before the atmospherics changed and I lost the signal. I was more than 1300 miles from Miami at the time. This is an irrelevant fact that proves nothing other than radio waves sometimes bounce far and wide.