by George Ivanov

Created on: February 26, 2008

On December 5, 1945, the five Avenger Torpedo bombers, commanded by Charles Taylor, was involved in a training mission, just off the coast of Florida. With the war over for a few months at the time, the United States was still on alert, in case conflagrations started again.

What is so special about this mission, however? A seasoned commander, able crew, trustworthy aircraft and all disappeared without a trace. Flight 19, as it is called, is legendary among Bermuda Triangle researchers. It is the first publicized case of the disappearances, which would mark the decades following. Given its name in the 1960's, rumors, stories and legends circulate around the Triangle, ranging from natural phenomena, to time travel, to alien manifestations.

Even Christopher Columbus reported strange events, as he was sailing through the Sargasso Sea on his voyage to the Americas. Columbus himself has documented strange events in the logs of his first voyage in 1492, thus further deepening the mystery of what makes the Bermuda Triangle so alluring, dangerous and fascinating to the adventurer.

The rumors, I believe, are based on fact. While accounts of aliens and time travel are not to be dismissed entirely, there is a more realistic solution to assume for the explanation of the disappearances.

First and foremost, there are proven, gigantic reserves of methane gas, otherwise known as pockets, beneath the ocean floor of the Bermuda Triangle. On occasion, this gas is released into the water, and it floats to the top, where it dissipates in the atmosphere. The problem is that the area is one of the most traveled, and when these pockets will erupt, cannot be predicted. When a ship happens to stumble on such a vent of methane gas, we revert to simple, deadly physics.

The concept is water displacement. The vent displaces water, and occupies the freed space with methane. The diluted density of the water means that the ship slowly sinks, as its volume is greater than the water available to be displaced. Because the duration and frequency of methane pockets is unpredictable, it can stop as suddenly as it starts. At that point, the ship is too sunk to recover its buoyancy, and as the water flows in the place of the gas, it covers the ship, engulfing it in the depths of the ocean. Such a death is unexpected, quick, and terrifying.

Let's look at aircraft. Since Flight 19, numerous accounts of disappeared passenger, cargo and military aircraft have been aired. One speaks of a pilot, traveling from

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