U.S.S Cyclops
The disappearance of the U.S.S. Cyclops has puzzled and distressed the United States for decades. This ship is recognized as being the largest life loss on a liner not connected to war times. The vessel was a 19,360-ton collier, built in 1910 by William Cramp and Sons of Pennsylvania, specially engineered to keep a mobile battle-fleet supplied with fuel. Prior to World War I, the U.S.S. Cyclops supported U.S. warships in European waters, off the Atlantic seaboard and in the Caribbean as a unit of the Naval Auxiliary Force. On March 4, 1918 the U.S.S. Cyclops routinely left port for Baltimore and was spotted five days later off the coast of Virginia by molasses tanker, Amolco, March 9. Mysteriously however, “Reports indicate that on March 10, a violent storm swept through the Virginia Cape region, suggesting that the combination of the overloaded condition of the ship, engine trouble, and bad weather may have ultimately caused the loss of this ship. The ship was never seen or heard from again” (Bermuda-Triangle). The U.S.S. Cyclops was presumed to be lost at sea in the Bermuda Triangle. The Bermuda Triangle, also referred to as the “Devil’s Triangle”, is an area in the sea where the laws of physics do not apply. Strange or paranormal happenings seem to occur while in the Bermuda Triangle, even in 1492; Christopher Columbus noted, “Erratic compasses readings that were recorded thrice while in the Sargasso Sea and Triangle” (Bermuda-Triangle). There are many explanations that attempt to solve the mystery, but the likelihood these alternative theories about the U.S.S Cyclops are true is little to none. One of these theories is the logical explanation of the loss of the Cyclops is that it capsized due to the massive amount of extra weight, each ship has a standard capacity and as the Greatest Unsolved Mysteries reports “The vessel was nearly 3,000 tons over her standard capacity” (Greatest-Unsolved) which would allow the Cyclops to roll over,...