What happened to the USS Cyclops?

The Cyclops was nearly 550 feet long, with a crew of 306 people and around 11,000 tons of manganese aboard. She had been sailing successfully since 1910, traveling between the Baltic Sea, the Caribbean and Mexico and assisting with moving coal around the world and helping refugees. But in 1917, when America entered World War I, Cyclops became a key naval asset, transporting troops and coal to fuel other ships all over the world.

In March 1918, the ship was given a new cargo: tons of dense manganese ore, used in steelmaking. She left Brazil loaded up with the brittle metal, then voyaged to Barbados to resupply for the long journey home to Baltimore. The last known message from the ship said simply: “Weather Fair, All Well.” But on the nine-day journey, something went awry, and no one from the ship was ever seen or heard again—vanishing without even an SOS.

In a feature published a couple of years after the ship’s disappearance, ‘Santa Fe Magazine’ described the strangeness of the disappearance: “Usually a wooden bucket or a cork life preserver identified as belonging to a lost ship is picked up after a wreck, but not so with the Cyclops,” they reported. “She just disappeared as though some gigantic monster of the sea had grabbed her, men and all, and sent her into the depths of the ocean, and the suddenness of her destruction is amplified by the absence of any wireless calls for help being picked up by any ship along the route.”

Her disappearance remains a mystery.

More Info: www.history.com

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37 Comments

David Ching

This is an unproven option - no body knows. It is also possible that she was torpedoed by a German submarine near St. Kitts. If the wreckage is ever found, then a fact can be proffered.

Peter Paplawsky

Maybe, while in the Devil's Triangle, its boiler exploded after it was torpedoed by a German submarine.

Rob Orr

This seems a much more logical explanation: "two of Cyclops's sister ships, Proteus and Nereus, vanished at sea during World War II. Both ships were transporting heavy loads of metallic ore similar to that which was loaded on Cyclops during her fatal voyage. In both cases, their loss was theorized to have been the result of catastrophic structural failure"

Christopher Stoeckel

For all who are saying that there is no right answer, consider this, the simple facts are she sailed into the triangle and disappeared. That is fact, no one knows how or why, but the Cyclops disappeared. She disappeared in the triangle, those are facts and the correct answer as the other three are supposition and guesswork.

David Bartlett

The theory is German torpedo in the St Kitts area.

Steve Edwards

The only correct answer is that she disappeared. I don’t see what he fuss is about there being more than one correct answer!

Keith Richard Mears

The most likely scenario, is a catastrophic boiler explosion, not the sensationalist rubbish of "the devil's triangle".

Jon Woolery

GREAT question. That figure of 306 who went missing includes passengers.

Tammy

But what really baffles me is if the Bermuda Triangle is real like an unexplained vortex or something, how is it that others could get close enough to reveal there was nothing and not disappear themselves?

Tammy

tkwanless, But what really baffles me is if the Bermuda Triangle is real like an unexplained vortex or something, how is it that others could get close enough to reveal there was nothing and not disappear themselves?

Jason Hicks

It’s Aliens, simple 😬

tkwanless

What baffles me the most, is that there was no signs of an explosion, no life vests which would of been eventually found floating, no debris, no nothing. Hard to rule out the Burmuda Triangle when 50 ships and 20 aircraft’s have disappeared as well.

bgmcattee

Fact is no one knows what happened to the Ship. If we are going to play quiz let’s keep it real! Lol

Sue Grayson

Rob Orr, But, why not even a scrd3p of wreckage?

mcgahanp

mcgahanp, plus the boiler explosion fornthe overloaded ship and only running online engine is a more likely cause since it pulled into a port in Barbados I believe for over heating.

mcgahanp

Is the Bermuda Triangle and "Devil's triangle" the same thing? If not there is no true answer on here.

Michael Matheson

there were two vessels bearing that name which one are you talking about

Matthew Roen

David Ching, torpedoed by a German U-boat would leave wreckage, which has never been found. Usually, with a ship this size, it isn't an instant sink, either. Third, even the German navy has no record of a ship fitting this description and route being torpedoed during this timeline.