The Bermuda Triangle…..ships that disappear without trace…….the Loch Ness monster……the Kraken…..the Devil’s Sea. Maritime mysteries, whether they be ships that have curiously vanished without trace, or mythical tentacular squid-like monsters from the deep, have fascinated us for centuries.

It is impossible to comprehensively cover and debunk each and every maritime legend that has emerged throughout human history in one article. However, we can make a foray into the maritime mystery world with a basis of philosophical skepticism.

If there is a case to be made for convergent evolution in mythology, we can see it in the evolution of maritime folklore, due to time, migration, and living with an aquatic environment. Scandinavians have the mythical beast, the Kraken; the Japanese have Umibozu, a sea creature/spirit that swallows the ships whose crews displease it.

The Leviathan, originating in various Hebrew biblical references, has become widely known in the English-speaking nations. In the book of Enoch, included in the apocrypha, leviathan is a female sea monster, while behemoth, the male counterpart, is exiled to east of Eden.

The treacherous waters of the Bermuda Triangle are arguably the best known maritime mystery trap in the world. It does have its evil twin in the Pacific, the Devil’s Sea. Notorious for its dangers, the Bermuda Triangle has claimed its share of disappeared ships, and airplanes, throughout the decades.

Bounded by Florida, Bermuda and Puerto Rico, the Bermuda Triangle has been the subject of numerous TV specials, shockumentaries and pulp publications. But does all that hype match the reality?

The US Coast Guard does not actually acknowledge the putative triangle as a particularly distinctive or disturbing source of maritime hazards. They have analysed the physical losses of maritime traffic, and apart from natural causes, there are no mysterious nonphysical or spiritual-energy forces making the said triangle an unusually hazardous region.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in conjunction with the US Navy, have conducted extensive tests regarding maritime traffic in the alleged triangle. They have stated that there are no supernatural causes, no negative energy or demons, making ships disappear.

The fantastical speculations regarding the Bermuda Triangle trace their modern origins to the 1960s, with writer William Gaddis to first coin the term in 1964. Since then, pulp magazines and putatively scientific TV programmes have jumped on the bandwagon.

Most tropical storms and hurricanes in that part of the world travel through the region of the Triangle, making for dangerous conditions. But that is neither better nor worse than other seas and oceans. The Gulf Stream, a powerful ocean current which produces sharp changes in the weather, passes through the Bermuda Triangle. Once again, a factor that increases hazards for maritime traffic, but nothing extraordinary or unusual.

The depth of the ocean in the region of the triangle varies – some areas are 1500 metres deep; in others, such as the Puerto Rico trench, the depth is 8230 metres. However, that variation in depth is nothing unusual in maritime environments.

It is not just in the Atlantic Ocean that we confront maritime mysteries. In the Pacific Ocean, thanks to paranormal advocate and New Age spiritualist Ivan T Sanderson, we have the Devil’s Sea. A maritime region south of Tokyo, the Devil’s Sea became the Pacific counterpart to the more famous Bermuda Triangle. Known as the troublesome sea by Japanese sailors, the infamy of the Devil’s Sea exploded in the late 1960s and early 1970s – a maritime twilight zone.

Sanderson, a British biologist with a strong interest in the paranormal and cryptozoology, began writing essays and making media appearances regarding his favourite pseudoscientific hobbies. He expounded, for instance, on how UFOs can be piloted, and presented numerous theories on cryptozoology, the search for extinct and/or fantastical, legendary animals.

The Devil’s Sea, a tectonically and weather active region of the Earth, presented a wonderful opportunity for Sanderson to expand on his paranormal hobbies. To be sure, there have been maritime mishaps and accidents in the region known as the Devil’s Sea. A Japanese scientific research vessel disappeared in that region in 1952. The entire crew of 31 people died.

At first, Japanese investigators were stunned – how did an entire ship vanish? Was the Devil’s Sea aware of the original purpose of the mission, and deliberately target the vessel to protect its secrets? Actually, there is a physical explanation. An underwater volcano erupted, just as the ship reached its destination. The incredibly hot water caused the vessel to lose its buoyancy, and tragically the ship sank.

However, as with the Bermuda Triangle, the Devil’s Sea has an unlimited capacity for making facts, and rational thinking, disappear without trace.

I would be remiss if I did not include a section of this article on the world’s most famous cryptid, the Loch Ness monster. Nessie, as she is affectionately known, has fascinated the mystery-loving public for generations. Sure, there have been numerous cryptids in the past – creatures known only through eyewitness testimony and fragmentary ‘evidence’. The Sasquatch is one such creature, (Bigfoot) currently roaming the forests of Northern America.

However, it is Nessie, inhabiting the murky waters of Loch Ness, Scotland, who has exercised the imaginations – and drained the pockets – of the cryptid’s devotees since the 1930s. It is near impossible to prove something does not exist. You may believe, if you want to, that a leprechaun inhabits my refrigerator and is detectable only when the door is closed. I will go on my merry way, because there is no point in expending time and energy to disprove the existence of leprechauns, unicorns or martians.

There are Loch Ness investigators, who invite members of the public to submit any information or evidence they think they have to buttress the claim for a Loch Ness monster. However, there is no factual basis for Nessie; even the famed black-and-white photograph showing a dinosaur-like creature in the lagoon is a hoax.

In our age of social media influencers, it is easy to be influenced by memes, viral videos, and celebrity-endorsed products. Philosophical skepticism, while an ancient practice, still has modern day applications. The persistence of maritime mysteries is one area of population culture where a healthy dose of skepticism would provide an antidote to the highly speculative and fantasist stories that envelope the culture in which we live.