Some of the world’s most famous unsolved
disappearances have happened in the mysterious Bermuda Triangle, but none are as baffling
as the unexplained vanishing of the USS Cyclops. In 1918, the USS Cyclops set sail from Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil to Baltimore, USA, making a brief stop in Barbados. After the vessel
departed from Barbados on March 4 with 309 people on board, both the ship and its crew
were never seen again. To this day, not a single piece of debris from the ship has been
found. So how exactly did the massive USS Cyclops disappear without a trace? Let’s
go back in time and discover what happened. Built in 1910, the USS Cyclops was known as
the largest collier in the US Navy. Colliers were coal-carrying ships that were used to
transport the coal used for fuel to other ships. At around 540 feet (165 m) long and
65 feet (20 m) wide, the Cyclops was so big that it was the size of one and a half football
fields. The massive steel hulled collier was appropriately named the Cyclops after the
fabled one-eyed giants of Greek mythology. In April of 1917, the US entered World War
I, and the Cyclops was commissioned on May 1, 1917, to join the US war effort. During
the war, the ship was used to transport troops and resources, and help refuel warships of
the Allied Forces. On its last trip, the USS Cyclops left Rio de Janeiro loaded with between
10,000 to 11,000 tons - the exact tonnage is disputed - of manganese ore, a much heavier
and denser cargo than it usually had to carry. Some port officials in Rio at the time believed
the ship had exceeded its carrying capacity and appeared overloaded. It’s also important
to note that the crew had no familiarity with the ore, as this was the first time the USS
Cyclops was carrying such cargo. Before the ship left Rio on February 15, the
ship’s commanding officer reported that the starboard engine appeared to have a cracked
cylinder and could no longer function. This reduced the speed and performance of the USS
Cyclops, from an average maximum speed of 15 knots to about 10 knots. A survey board
that inspected the ship agreed with the commander’s observation about the engine and recommended
that the Cyclops return to the US for repairs. So, the ship departed, making another stop
in Bahia before leaving Brazil. Today, the navy believes that there were 309 people on
board, though contemporary accounts of the ship’s disappearance list 293 people on
board, including 15 officers, 221 crewmen, and 57 passengers. The passenger list included
prominent figures such as Alfred L. M. Gottschalk, the American Consul General at Rio de Janeiro,
who was returning to the US after a long-term post abroad. Though the USS Cyclops was supposed to head
straight to Baltimore, the ship made an unscheduled stop in Barbados on March 3 to resupply. To
this day, it’s still somewhat unclear why the ship made this stop, as the Cyclops should
have had enough supplies to continue to Baltimore. Some think the Captain was worried about the
ship’s cargo. A few inspectors in Barbados stated that the cargo wasn’t stowed correctly
– instead of being level, it was piled up higher in the middle rather than spread out
evenly. Additionally, the water was over the ship’s Plimsoll mark, a line on a ship’s
side which indicates the legal limit of submersion, meaning the ship was overloaded. The USS Cyclops
let Barbados the next day, March 4th, and was supposed to arrive at the Port of Baltimore
a week and a half later on March 13th. After sending out a transmission of “Weather fair,
all well”, just after clearing the port of Barbados, the USS Cyclops seemingly vanished,
never to be heard from again. In the days after the ship disappeared, hundreds
of American ships nearby made repeated radio calls to the USS Cyclops to try to establish
its whereabouts. All the calls went unanswered. As the days passed, publications immediately
started throwing around theories about the Cyclops’ disappearance and what might have
caused it. Did a freak storm sink the enormous collier? Or sidid an enemy German U-boat torpedo
the USS Cyclops and send it to a watery grave? Multiple magazines at the time, including
“Literary Digest”, even suggested that a giant octopus might have risen from the
sea, entwined the ship with its tentacles, and dragged it down to the bottom. Perhaps
understandably, the Navy spent little time investigating this last theory, much to the
relief of Cthulhu. What was the actual fate of the Cyclops? Could
a simple tropical storm have sunk the ship? After all, one of the reasons the Bermuda
Triangle has so many disappearances is because the weather in the area is notoriously unpredictable,
and storms can become very violent, very fast. Most experts believe the storm theory doesn’t
hold water, pun very much intended, because the Cyclops made no distress calls, and there
were no major storms reported in the area at the time of its disappearance. Others point
out that there are smaller thunderstorms, known as meso-meteorological storms, that
are unpredictable and hard to identify, especially with 1918 technology. Storms like these can
start at sea and completely dissipate before they ever approach land. According to meteorologists
like Dr. Joanne Simpson, these storms form very quickly, especially over the Gulf Stream,
which happens to travel right through the Bermuda Triangle, and they may last just a
few minutes before vanishing. However, while the thunderstorms are brewing, they are particularly
violent, causing giant, chaotic waves to form that put any nearby ships in danger. The lack
of any distress call may be explained by these storms, as they sometimes also cause electrical
disturbances that interfere with communications systems, such as the radio transmission on
the USS Cyclops. Without any thunderstorms definitively identified in the area, however,
this theory remains just that: a theory. How about the Germans? Is it possible they
sunk the ship? The USS Cyclops was a great asset to the Navy during World War I, and
would have made an excellent target for Germany. However, there was no evidence that any German
submarines were in the area of the Bermuda Triangle at the time. Furthermore, no proof
has ever emerged that Germany was involved, even after US forces intercepted German communications
and acquired German military intelligence. This makes it seem highly unlikely a German
military attack took down the USS Cyclops. However, part of the reason the theory about
Germany destroying or capturing the Cyclops persisted is because of the ship’s captain,
Lieutenant Commander George W. Worley. Despite his English-sounding name, Worley was born
in Germany as Johan (Yo-an) Frederick Wichmann and changed his name after moving to the United
States. Reports came out that some crewmembers referred to Worley as a “damned Dutchman”,
a derogatory reference to his German heritage, as the word “Deutsche”, meaning German,
was confused with Dutch . Even while he commanded US naval ships, some thought he might have
supported Germany during the war and turned over the Cyclops to the Germans. However,
as with the theory of Germans destroying the USS Cyclops, this seems unlikely. The US military
combed through German records after Germany was defeated in World War I, and no record
of the Cyclops being captured or Worley working as a double agent was ever found. Even though Worley most likely wasn’t some
sort of German 007 (double O seven), the Captain had other problems that attracted investigators’
attention. At some point shortly before the ship vanished, there were unconfirmed reports
of a mutiny against Captain Worley. Crewmembers allegedly accused him of being a drunk, and
completely unsuitable to steer the ship - both pretty undesirable traits in a sea captain. Several books and articles have described
the Captain as a strange character who had a habit of pacing the quarterdeck wearing
just a hat, a cane, and his underwear. After the alleged attempted takeover of the ship
by the crew, Captain Worley was said to have reacted harshly, imprisoning the mutineers
and even executing one. It’s unclear whether he dressed up for the occasion or gave out
the execution orders in his hat and underwear. In a letter to the State Department after
the USS Cyclops’ disappearance, even the US Consul in Barbados said that the rest of
the officers on the ship seemed to deeply dislike the Captain. Offering their own theory
on the disappearance, the Consul wrote, “while not having any definite grounds I fear fate
worse than sinking, though possibly based on instinctive dislike felt toward the master.” In addition to the Consul, many other sources
suspected a mutiny on the ship during the time of its disappearance. They assumed the
crew of the USS Cyclops, tired of their Captain’s strange behavior and harsh punishments, decided
to seize control of the ship. However, even if a mutiny occurred and the crew were able
to take control, it still doesn’t explain why the ship was never seen again. The fugitive
crew would still have had to dock somewhere and no records exist of a stolen US naval
ship showing up anywhere.. There is also the possibility that the USS
Cyclops’ disappearance stems from a flaw in the ship’s design. Some naval experts
believe that the fate of two of the Cyclops’ sister ships provide the most support for
the “design flaw” theory. The USS Cyclops had three sister ships: the USS Jupiter, the
USS Nereus, and the USS Proteus. Sisters ships are ships of the same class that are built
following almost identical designs; so if there was a structural flaw in the design
of the Cyclops, there would likely be one in its sisters as well. The USS Jupiter was
sunk by Japanese aircraft in World War II, so the cause of its demise is known, but the
other two ships suffered similar fates as the USS Cyclops, albeit decades later, both
vanishing somewhat mysteriously in the Bermuda Triangle in 1941. At the time, US Navy Admiral George van Deurs
thought the ships might have sunk because their design was incompatible with their cargo.
Both ships, like the USS Cyclops, were designed to carry coal. Yet, when they vanished, again
like the USS Cyclops, both the Nereus and the Proteus were carrying ore, though it was
bauxite ore instead of manganese ore. Some thought this cargo may have weakened the ships’
structures. Additionally, van Deurs believed the support beams of the ships may have been
eroded after years of carrying acidic coal, exacerbating any weaknesses in the design. No matter what happened to the USS Cyclops,
one of the most perplexing pieces of the puzzle is the lack of any debris or trace of the
ship’s wreckage, even decades after its disappearance. Thanks to better technology
and search tactics, more historical shipwrecks are being discovered year after year, yet
the USS Cyclops still evades detection. Some scientists think it’s possible the
Cyclops disappeared in the Puerto Rico Trench, which is the deepest point of the Atlantic
Ocean. Located at the southern tip of the Bermuda Triangle, the trench reaches down
to 27,500 feet (8,380 m) below sea level at its deepest point, just 1,500 feet (460 m)
shy of the height of Mount Everest. Shipwreck aficionados believe that not only the USS
Cyclops, but many other shipwrecks have been lost to time in this deep-sea trench. However,
because the exact day and time of the Cyclops’ disappearance is uncertain, Navy investigators
aren’t sure if the wreck is actually in the trench or someplace else along the Atlantic
coast. Relatives of the 309 people lost on the USS
Cyclops are still searching for answers to this day. They are hopeful that the Cyclops
will turn up as search technology continues to improve, and give them some answers for
what happened to their relatives over a century ago. In fact, in the 1960s, an experienced navy
diver named Dean Hawes stumbled upon a massive wreck off the coast of Cape Charles, Virginia.
Hawes was reportedly stunned by the enormous size of his find, and claims to have seen,
among other things, a bridge on steel stilts while exploring the wreck, which is consistent
with the design of the Cyclops. He surfaced with the hope of going back down and re-examining
the wreck along with his dive team, but bad weather forced the crew to abandon the area
and sail back to shore. After a few years, Hawes happened to read
an article about the USS Cyclops, and recognized the ship in the photo as the wreck he had
found off the coast of Virginia. Excited by his discovery, Hawes convinced the navy to
lead another investigation at the site of the shipwreck he had found all those years
ago. Unfortunately, a follow up search of the area turned up a different wreck altogether,
and no evidence of the USS Cyclops was found. There are also some, like astronaut Gordon
Cooper and treasure hunter Darrell Miklos from The Discovery Channel, who believe that
aliens may be abducting ships in the Bermuda Triangle. Using maps of the Earth drawn from
space that his friend Cooper gave him, Miklos found a giant submerged object in the Triangle’s
waters in 2018, which he couldn’t definitively identify as a shipwreck or a natural formation.
He believes it may be an alien craft. In Miklos’ view, the Bermuda Triangle is an alien abduction
hotspot, which explains why ships like the USS Cyclops go missing. What happened to the USS Cyclops remains a
mystery for now. However, regardless of the reason for the ship’s sinking, the disappearance
of the Cyclops was undoubtedly a huge tragedy. According to the US Naval Institute, it remains
the largest loss of life for the US Navy in peacetime. So, did the USS Cyclops meet a similar fate
to that of her sisters due to a major design flaw? Or perhaps the answer lies in some combination
of the different theories around the ship’s disappearance. Maybe a mutinous crew, weakened
structures, an overload of dangerous, dense, ore, and a freak thunderstorm all coincided
and proved fatal for the USS Cyclops and its passengers. We won’t know for sure, but
we’d love to know what you think. And now we’ve got something else for you
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