USS Cyclops, March 1918
A Navy collier that sailed from Barbados and was never heard from again.
How this site works. Every fact is in our own words and linked to its source, beside it. The pictures are our own drawings. We remember that real people died in these events, and we stick to the records.
She vanished with all hands in early March 1918, on her way back from Brazil. US Navy Museum
Her wreck has never been found, and the cause of her loss remains unknown. US Navy Museum
The ship
USS Cyclops was named after the one-eyed giants of Greek myth. DANFS
She was a collier, a coal-carrying fuel ship, launched on 7 May 1910 by William Cramp and Sons of Philadelphia. DANFS
She was 542 feet long, displaced 19,360 tons and had a complement of 236. DANFS
She helped carry refugees from Tampico, Mexico, to New Orleans. DANFS
She was commissioned on 1 May 1917, when the U.S. entered the First World War. DANFS
The last voyage
In 1918 she sailed to Brazil to refuel British ships in the South Atlantic. DANFS
She left Rio de Janeiro on 16 February 1918, called at Barbados on 3 and 4 March, and was never heard from again. DANFS
The search
Many ships searched for her. At first she was thought to have been sunk by a German submarine. US Navy Museum
Britannica says she went missing in the Bermuda Triangle area; there were no survivors. Britannica
The official Navy ship history calls her loss one of the sea’s unsolved mysteries. DANFS
What is known
She left Rio de Janeiro on 16 February 1918, called at Barbados on 3 and 4 March, and was never heard from again. DANFS
Her wreck has never been found, and the cause of her loss remains unknown. US Navy Museum
Our view: Cyclops is a genuine mystery, in the sense that nobody knows what happened. That is not the same as a mysterious force. Ships were lost at sea in wartime and in storms long before anyone drew a triangle.
Next: the evidence →