It’s one of the most feared stretches of water in the world and is thought to have claimed dozens of ships and planes in the last century.

Now a new theory has been put forward to explain the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle, a patch of sea between Florida, Puerto Rico, and Bermuda.

Researchers believe ‘rogue waves up to 100ft high’ may be to blame for some of the disasters which have taken place in the ‘Devil’s Triangle’.

A map showing the location of the infamous Bermuda Triangle (Provider: Getty Images)

A team from the University of Southampton recreated these ‘extreme storm waves’ for Channel 5 documentary The Bermuda Triangle Enigma.


The scientists built a model of the USS Cyclops, a huge vessel which went missing in the triangle in 1918 and resulted in 309 deaths – the single biggest non-combat loss of life in US Naval history.



The Cyclops was a 542ft vessel used to carry coal to American warships during World War I and was travelling from Bahia, in Salvador, to Baltimore when it vanished in 1918.

No wreckage or trace of its 306 crew and passengers have ever been discovered.

Some people believe a lack of a distress call from the vessel means it met with a supernatural end.

Dr Simon Boxall, an ocean and earth scientist, said the Bermuda Triangle is where three massive storms come together from different directions to form huge ‘rogue waves’.

‘There are storms to the south and north, which come together,’ he said.

The three points of the Bermuda Triangle (Image: Metro.co.uk – Google Maps)

‘And if there are additional ones from Florida, it can be a potentially deadly formation of rogue waves.

‘They are steep, they are high – we’ve measured waves in excess of 30 metres.’

Boxall believes such a surge in water could snap a boat in two.

This theory is unlikely to be accepted by everyone and doesn’t really explain the planes which have gone missing in that area.

Last year, a prominent scientist claimed there was no such thing as the Bermuda Triangle and said disasters were probably caused by human error.