In 1858 a British warship, Sappho, vanished into thin air, along with over a hundred crew. The Sappho had been seen by the crew of the schooner Yarrow, off Cape Bridgewater, Victoria, at the western entrance to Bass Strait on 18 February. But she never reached her destination of Sydney. Numerous ships took part in a search, but all failed to find any trace of the missing ship.
With the introduction of aircraft in the beginning of the 20th century, the Southern Sea’s “triangle” continued to make headlines with mysterious vanishings. The first aircraft to vanish was a military Airco DH 9A. It was being used to search for a missing ship, the Amelia J, in 1920. No trace of the plane has ever been found.
Ocean Submarine Mysteries
USS Scorpion (SSN-589) was a Skipjack class nuclear submarine of the United States Navy and the sixth vessel of the U.S. Navy to carry that name. Scorpion was lost on 22 May 1968, with ninety-nine crewmen dying in the incident. The USS Scorpion is one of two nuclear submarines the U.S. Navy has lost, along with the USS Thresher. It was one of four mysterious submarine disappearances in 1968; the others being the Israeli submarine INS Dakar, the French submarine Minerve (S647), and the Soviet submarine K-129.
Massive Antarctic Algae Bloom Seen From Space
The bloom, estimated to be around 500 miles wide and 200 miles long, was captured by Australian scientists monitoring a satellite 1,850 miles above the Earth. Scientists from the Australian Antarctic Division say they are still not sure exactly what caused the bloom but they predict it may affect the local wildlife. ABC News, March 05, 2012
ABOUT GREIG BECK
Greig Beck grew up across the road from Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. His early days were spent surfing, sunbaking, and reading science fiction on the sand. He then went on to study computer science, immerse himself in the financial software industry, and later received an MBA. Today, Greig spends his days writing, but still finds time to surf at his beloved Bondi Beach. He lives in Sydney, with his wife, son, and an enormous black German shepherd.