This man says he’s solved the Bermuda Triangle. Why doesn’t the world believe him?

 

Jaromir//Getty Images

From POP Mechanics by Tim Newcomb

The answer is simple, he says ... but it’s not much fun.

 
Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:An Australian scientist says probabilities are the leading cause of the Bermuda Triangle disappearances.
Add in suspect weather, and iffy plane and boat piloting, and Karl Kruszelnicki believes there’s no reason to believe in the Bermuda Triangle phenomenon.

While the conspiracy of the Bermuda Triangle has existed for decades, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association and Lloyd’s of London has long championed the same ideas.
Pick any one of the more than 50 ships or 20 planes that have disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle in the last century. Each one has a story without an ending, leading to a litany of conspiracy theories about the disappearances in the area, marked roughly by Florida, Bermuda, and the Greater Antilles.

Australian scientist Karl Kruszelnicki doesn’t subscribe to the Bermuda Triangle’s supernatural reputation. Neither does the United States’ own National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA). Both have been saying for years that there’s really no Bermuda Triangle mystery.

 

In fact, the loss and disappearance of ships and planes is a mere fact of probabilities.
“There is no evidence that mysterious disappearances occur with any greater frequency in the Bermuda Triangle than in any other large, well-traveled area of the ocean,” NOAA wrote in 2010.

And since 2017, Kruszelnicki has been saying the same thing. 

 

NOAA says environmental considerations can explain away most of the Bermuda Triangle disappearances, highlighting the Gulf Stream’s tendency towards violent changes in weather, the number of islands in the Caribbean Sea offering a complicated navigation adventure, and evidence that suggests the Bermuda Triangle may cause a magnetic compass to point to true north instead of magnetic north, causing for confusion in wayfinding.

“The U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard contend that there are no supernatural explanations for disasters at sea,” NOAA says. 

“Their experience suggests that the combined forces of nature and human fallibility outdo even the most incredulous science fiction.”

Kruszelnicki has routinely garnered public attention for espousing these very thoughts on the Bermuda Triangle, first in 2017 and then again in 2022 before resurfacing once more in 2023.

Throughout it all, he’s stuck to the same idea: the numbers don’t lie.

Even with some high-profile disappearances—such as Flight 19, a group of five U.S. Navy TBM Avenger torpedo bombers lost in 1945—pushing the theory into popular culture, Kruszelnicki points out that every instance contains a degree of poor weather or likely human error (or both, as in the case of Flight 19) as the true culprit.

But culture clings to Bermuda Triangle conspiracy theories.

The concepts of sea monsters, aliens, and even the entirety of Atlantis dropping to the ocean floor—those are fodder for books, television, and movies.

It sure does sound more exciting than poor weather and mathematical probabilities, anyway, even if the “boring” story holds more water.

 

Links :

• GeoGarage blog : The Bermuda Triangle: A breeding ground for rogue .. / from the Bermuda Triangle to ... / Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle solved?

Puffs up to intimidate enemy

Puffs up to intimidate enemy! pic.twitter.com/USQ7Wc18w8

— 🧬Maxpein🧬 (@maximumpain333) January 30, 2026

Don't pick a jellyfish to be your Valentine -- they have no hearts

Don't pick a jellyfish to be your Valentine -- they have no hearts! But here's a red jelly in honor of #ValentinesDay anyhow! pic.twitter.com/wvvCELv0di

— NOAA Ocean Exploration (@oceanexplorer) February 14, 2018

Ancient people had nautical tech, know-how to cross hazardous Arctic channel

An exciting discovery has been made at an archaeological site in the Arctic. 

The Calgary Eyeopener's Loren McGinnis speaks with University of Calgary professor Matthew Walls about how this changes what we know about prehistoric people living in the area.

From CBC news by Emily Chung

New archeological evidence for repeat sea journeys and stays at remote islands 

Archeologists have found the remains of an ancient camp on a remote High Arctic island that dates back more than 4,000 years.

They offer surprising new insights about the first people who lived near what is now the Canada-Greenland border and journeyed to take advantage of a rich new ecosystem that formed around the time.

 

Localization of Carey Oer in the GeoGarage platform (DGA nautical raster chart)

 

The Paleo-Inuit archeological site was found in Kitsissut, a rocky cluster of cliff-edged islands between Greenland and Ellesmere Island. 

 

A view of the crossing between Kitsissut and the shores of Avanersuaq in northwest Greenland, with a minimum distance of 53 kilometres. 

UAV image from Isbjørne Island in clear weather looking towards key locations, with beach ridges and Early Paleo-Inuit features in the foreground (figure by authors). 

The archaeological beach ridges where ancient tent rings were found can be seen in the foreground. 

(Walls et al.)

 

Distance of crossings to Kitsissut from key locations, including Nuuliit, the closest Early Paleo-Inuit site

(image source: Copernicus Sentinel-2; figure by authors).

 

As it was thousands of years ago, getting there today by boat is a journey of at least 53 kilometres from the nearest shore in harsh, High Arctic sea conditions.
"It would have been a fairly extraordinary journey for them to get to this location by watercraft," said Matthew Walls, lead author of the new study describing the findings published Monday in the journal Antiquity.

Study co-author Mari Kleist of the University of Greenland studies a Paleo-Inuit tent ring visible in the foreground. (Walls et al.)

Walls estimates that by canoe or kayak, getting to Kitsissut would have taken 12 to 15 hours of difficult paddling — so long that the weather might easily go from calm to stormy en route.
The archeological site contains evidence that many people visited and stayed there repeatedly. 
"It's obviously a place where people are returning over the long term," Walls said.

A photo of the research team. Back row, left to right: Pia Egede (Ilisimatusarfik/University of Greenland), Mari Kleist (Ilisimatusarfik), Pauline Knudsen (Ilisimatusarfik), Qalaseq Sadorana (Qaanaaq), Pivinnguaq Mørch (Ilisimatusarfik), Matthew Walls (University of Calgary). Front row, left to right: Niels Miunge (Qaanaaq), Otto Simigaq (Qaanaaq). (Matthew Walls/University of Calgary)

Max Friesen, a University of Toronto Arctic archeologist who has collaborated with the paper's other authors but was not involved in this research, said the findings suggest the Paleo-Inuit people had much more sophisticated seafaring technology than previously thought.
He said small fragments of their boats have been found, suggesting they had canoe- or kayak-like vessels made of animal skins pulled over a bone or wood frame. But not much more was known.

Friesen, who was Walls's PhD supervisor, said the Paleo-Inuit were found across the High Arctic.

If they had the skills and technology to travel repeatedly to Kitsissut, they likely could also do things like hunt seals or even whales far out in the ocean. 
That means they may have had wider options for what resources they could use and how they could impact ecosystems thousands of years ago.
"It has huge implications across the rest of the Arctic, right?" said Friesen. 

"So that's really exciting, to really add to what we know about the transportation technology."

What the ancient camp looks like

Walls worked with University of Greenland (Ilisimatusarfik) Inuit archeologists Mari Kleist and Pauline Knudsen, and a team that included Inuit from nearby communities to map the archeological site and exposed artifacts between 2017 and 2019.

A set of ridges have been rising out of the ocean over time, springing back from the weight of now-melted glaciers.

On the oldest, highest ridges, farthest inland from the modern coastline, there are least 18 tent rings — circular areas cleared of rocks, with a ring of stones around them. 
Those stones may have held down the edges of the tents, likely sealskin stretched over driftwood frames.

 

The researchers mapped 18 Paleo-Inuit tent rings on the beach ridges in Kitsissut.

(Matthew Walls/University of Calgary)

There was typically a central hearth with the remains of burnt driftwood in the centre, and a line of stones dividing the tent into two "rooms" that could have been used for different activities, such as working with animal skins or making stone tools.

A seabird bone found inside one of the tent rings was sent for radiocarbon dating.

From that analysis, the researchers estimated the age of the site to be between 4,000 to 4,400 years old, a period when the first archeological evidence of people, known as the Paleo-Inuit, are found across the High Arctic.

 

Kitsissut refers to the group of islands and skerries, many of which do not have individual names in Kalallisut. The archaeological features on Isbjørne Island were identified by the authors during a 2019 survey of Kitsissut and include features from the Early Paleo-Inuit and later periods

(image source: Maxar; figure by authors).

Polynya pioneers of many species

It was also around that time that the rich ecosystem was developing in Kitsissut, due to the formation of a rare channel of open water in the sea ice called the Pikialosorsuaq or North Water polynya.

Walls said it's caused by the unique wind, current and geographic conditions in this area.
"It's a really important ecological hotspot," said Walls. 

The open water allows for phytoplankton blooms that support an entire food chain.

 

This map shows Kitsissut's location in the polynya between Ellesmere Island (Canada) and Greenland. (Walls et al.)

The cliffs of Kitsissut are home to nesting colonies of seabirds and the marine mammals such as seals hunt in the surrounding waters, many of which would have first moved there when the polynya opened.

Walls said that's important for how people think about these Arctic ecosystems and their conservation. 
"Indigenous communities are part of their development over the long term, right back to their early formation," he said, supporting the argument for Indigenous stewardship today.

Lesley Howse is director of archeology at the Inuit Heritage Trust, the Inuit organization that co-governs cultural heritage with the Nunavut government, including archeological collections and education, permitting for archaeological projects and requests to work with Inuit belongings.

Howse, who has previously worked with Walls, Kleist and Knudsen but wasn't involved in this study, said archeologists used to think that Paleo-Inuit relied heavily on hunting animals on land.
She's not surprised by evidence that they had such a high level of skill on the sea, given the need to make use of all available resources to survive in such a harsh environment.
"The water is essential to living in the north," she said. 

 

Early Paleo-Inuit features on Isbjørne Island; A) location of site beneath the nesting cliff; B & C) sample of bilobate tent rings with axial features, which bisect the dwelling and include central hearths; D & E) Early Paleo-Inuit tent rings included adjacent dwelling structures or box hearths (figure by authors).

 

"You have to depend and rely on all animals that are there and adapt with the technologies you have. I think this [research] kind of brings this to light."

 

Links :

• Cambridge Univ : Voyage to Kitsissut: a new perspective on Early Paleo-Inuit watercraft and maritime lifeways at a High Arctic polynya 

The pioneering sailor you’ve probably never heard of: Nicolette Milnes Walker

Nicolette Milnes Walker sailed from Dale to Newport in just over 44 days; she took the Azores route across the Atlantic.

Credit: Nicolette Milnes Walker Credit: Nicolette Milnes Walker

From PBO by Julia Jones

 

In 1971 Nicolette Milnes Walker was the first woman at 28 to sail solo and non-stop from the UK to the USA. Julia Jones charts her trailblazing achievement

 
Ann Davison had crossed single-handed in 1952 in her 24ft wooden yacht Felicity Ann but she’d taken more of a cruise approach, pausing several times along the way. 
It had been a remarkable achievement by a remarkable woman. 

Almost 20 years later, Nicolette Milnes Walker was planning something different. 

Nicolette Milnes Walker enjoyed fixing gear at sea, as it prevented boredom from setting in.

Credit: Getty

Boats and equipment had changed during the boom years of the 1960s. 
Like thousands of other people Nicolette had built a Mirror dinghy from a kit.

She’d been living in a Bristol University student flat and had to get it out through the window. 
By the end of the decade mass production using GRP had revolutionised sailing as a leisure activity. 
There was much more stuff on the market and many more people ready to have a go, even if they didn’t have a big bank balance or generations of sailing experience. 
Practical Boat Owner, founded in 1967, was just the magazine they needed. 

Nicolette Milnes Walker: Spark of an idea 

In January 1971 Nicolette had been to the International Boat Show at Earl’s Court and had become fascinated by the variety of equipment available. 
The year before she’d sailed to the Azores with friends. 
Now she began collecting catalogues, making lists and calculating what she’d need to sail to America alone. 
To begin with it was just a game.

She was good at planning – her current job was as an industrial psychologist devising experiments that helped test how people in high tech jobs might react under stress. 
Gradually her ideas developed from the ‘what if?’ stage to the ‘why not?’ 

Aziz was the 39th Pionier class racer to be built in the UK.

Credit: Nicolette Milnes Walker

There were plenty of negatives.

She wasn’t a hugely experienced sailor. 
She could manage a dinghy but had never handled a yacht on her own, though her trip to the Azores had taught her what an Atlantic gale felt like. 
She wasn’t a good swimmer but swimming alone in the Atlantic wasn’t going to help much anyway. 
She was short sighted, she was female.

Should that stop her? 
Nicolette had a hunch that there were aspects of women’s inherited experience that might potentially make them more resilient than men. 
That was one of the things she wanted to test, with herself as the subject of the experiment. 

Aziz was fitted with Hasler Gibbs self-steering gear.

The boat didn’t have a stern pulpit so a bracket had to be fitted to support the windvane.

Credit: Nicolette Milnes Walker

She wanted to know how she’d react to fear and loneliness: she also wanted the thrill of being first to succeed. 
Imperceptibly she found she’d reached a decision: “I could find no reason for not going. So I decided to go.” 
She resigned from her job and borrowed enough money to buy a small yacht. 
She chose a second hand Pionier, a very early GRP design by EG van der Stadt. Built in 1963 and named Aziz (from its first owner’s polo pony) it would probably be considered unsuitable for single-handed distance cruising today. 
Instead of the traditional long keel, giving good directional stability, Aziz had a fin keel and spade rudder. 
Later, Nicolette described how difficult it had been to keep Aziz steady under engine, ‘a moment’s inattention and she whips round in a semi-circle’. 
It became ‘quite a laugh’ to dash down to the cabin for a cigarette and matches and get back to the helm before Aziz shot off in the wrong direction. (In 1971 even a doctor’s daughter could smoke without shame!)

Transformative

Under sail, however, Aziz responded well to a Hasler Gibbs servo-pendulum steering system, another 1960s innovation that was transforming life for the single-handed sailor.
Nicolette made clear, practical decisions about what not to take – such as a spinnaker. 
She’d never used one and guessed that twin headsails, poled out, would be much easier to handle. 
She chose to prepare and set out from a small yachting centre – Dale in Pembrokeshire – rather than the more conventional south coast centres which might be too busy to bother with an enterprise like hers. 
Setting out from Milford Haven also avoided most of the busy Channel shipping. 

Nicolette Milnes Walker decided to leave from Dale in Wales, rather than a South Coast yachting centre. 

Credit: Nicolette Milnes Walker

Once she was away from land, Nicolette remained practical and analytical. She was given a tape recorder into which she spoke each day. 
When she listened to these after the voyage, she realised they were much more revealing than her careful diary entries. 
Her subsequent book, When I Put Out to Sea, reveals that she was hard on herself, getting angry over what she regarded as ‘stupid’ errors. 
She also enjoyed using her initiative to fix her mistakes. 
Later she would joke that she’d almost looked forward to things going wrong at sea because having something to fix relieved the monotony. 

Nicolette Milnes Walker sets off on her Atlantic crossing. It was only the second time she has sailed solo over any distance. 

Credit: Nicolette Milnes Walker

She was also young and fun-loving.

She enjoyed the freedom of summer days without clothes. 
She daubed herself with scent, dressed up and drank brandy for special, solitary celebrations.

(She also used the alcohol to fix her steering compass.) 
All the time she was observing herself as the subject of her own experiment. 
She wondered whether she would lose her voice if she spent time without speaking to people; she noticed she was “thinking very loudly”. 
She endured periods of despair and believed she was facing death. 

Party time

When she arrived safely at Newport in Rhode Island, she changed into a mini-dress and flung herself into celebration. 
Yet it wasn’t long before she was noticing that this also had an effect on her personality. 
It’s probably not surprising that after a period of celebrity –press articles, TV interviews, Women of the Year lunches, Desert Island Discs, an MBE – she decided that it was time for a new challenge… which turned out to be raising twin daughters, Rosalind and Frances. 
When Nicolette decided to retire from the fray, she did so thoroughly, packing away her notes, cuttings, photos and memorabilia and setting herself up not only to make a success of motherhood, but also to be a successful bookseller with her husband, Bruce Coward, at the Harbour Bookshop Dartmouth. 

Being presented with a painting of Aziz by Robin Knox-Johnston. 

Credit: Nicolette Milnes Walker

She never spoke about her achievement and most people have never heard of her. 
Now she is about to be 80 and has been persuaded to unpack some of those packages as a new edition of her book is published. 
She will give a single talk in Dartmouth in aid of the RNLI. 

When I Put Out to Sea is released on 15 March 2023 

Buy When I Put Out to Sea by Nicolette Milnes Walker at Waterstone (UK) 

She has written a brief Afterword. “I have often been asked to give a talk about the crossing, but always declined, as I felt that I was no longer that girl who had set out with such excitement to challenge herself. 

“But re-reading this book after very many years makes me realise that I am indeed not that girl, but a new version of her. I have changed my opinions on a number of the views expressed in the book. But I do remember her and I know that her experience gave me the confidence to accept who I am and to be delighted in the life I have. "
“That seems almost as important an achievement as sailing the Atlantic.”

When I Put Out to Sea by Nicolette Milnes Walker is republished by Golden Duck, priced £11.99, www.golden-duck.co.uk and is also available on Amazon Kindle.