FACT CHECK: No, This Photo Does Not Show A Ship That Disappeared In The Bermuda Triangle For 90 Years

Trevor Schakohl | Legal Reporter

An image shared on Facebook allegedly shows a ship that reappeared intact after vanishing in the Bermuda Triangle in 1925.

Facebook/Screenshot

Verdict: False

The picture actually shows a shipwreck in a Chilean waterway.

Fact Check:

The Atlantic Ocean’s Bermuda Triangle has a reputation among some people as being an area where many individuals, aircraft and boats have mysteriously vanished, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Ocean Service (NOS). The NOS states on its website there is “no evidence” that more “mysterious disappearances” take place in the Bermuda Triangle than in other “large, well-traveled” areas of the ocean.

In the Facebook post, a rusty, dilapidated ship can be seen sitting in a body of water with mountainous land in the background. Text in the image alleges the vessel was “last seen in 1925, and has mysteriously reappeared after disappearing 90 years ago, in the Bermuda Triangle.” It goes on to claim the ship “remains intact, and afloat, and has NEVER been seen by any aircraft, or sea-going ships, in 9 decades..nor has she ever run aground.”

The photo, however, was not taken in the Bermuda Triangle. The same ship appears in a February 2016 picture available on Getty Images, where the caption explained it was located in the Messier Channel in Chile’s portion of the Patagonia region. Other photos of the shipwreck on Alamy identify it as the MV Captain Leonidas, a vessel that ran aground in the Chilean waterway in the 1960s.

An Australian blogger included the photo that appears in the Facebook post in a 2008 blog post about his travels in Chile, alongside a caption that reads, “Ghost Ship Cotopaxi – Navimag.” (RELATED: Does This Image Show Drone Footage Of Chinese Troops On A Cargo Ship Off The Coast Of America?)

Check Your Fact previously debunked the claim that Cuban authorities found the S.S. Cotopaxi fully intact and floating toward the island nation 90 years after its disappearance. That ship’s sunken remains were discovered in the 80s but took some three decades to be properly identified, according to Smithsonian Magazine.

Trevor Schakohl

Legal Reporter
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