In March 1918, the U.S. Navy collier USS Cyclops left Barbados for Baltimore with 306 people aboard and about 10,800 tons of manganese ore, far over her rated load, with one engine broken. She never arrived. No distress call, no wreckage, no bodies were ever found. It remains one of the largest non-combat losses of life in U.S. Navy history.
The captain born Johan Frederick Wichmann, the consul’s telegram from Barbados, the U-boat and sabotage theories, the storm, the cracked hull theory, and the two sister ships that vanished the same way in 1941. A true story.
#USSCyclops #BermudaTriangle #AmericanHistory #UnsolvedMystery #WorldWarI
Chapters:
0:00 Last Seen
1:08 The Giant
2:36 The Captain
3:55 Too Heavy
5:56 Barbados
7:53 Overdue
9:40 The Theories
11:58 The Sisters
13:13 Still Missing
Footage and photos: Pixabay, Wikimedia Commons, Library of Congress, Prelinger Archives (Internet Archive).
Music: “Curse Of Old” by Density & Time (YouTube Audio Library); “Red Shift” by The Grey Room / Density & Time (YouTube Audio Library); “Kayak” by The Grey Room / Density & Time (YouTube Audio Library); “A Distant Call” by Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz, Tone Seeker (YouTube Audio Library); “Things I Could Have Said” by Adam MacDougall (YouTube Audio Library)
Image credits (Creative Commons):
– Book shelves Trinity College Library.jpg – Soyyosoycocomiel (CC BY-SA 4.0) – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Book_shelves_Trinity_College_Library.jpg
– Manganese Ore.jpg – Thamizhpparithi Maari (CC BY-SA 4.0) – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Manganese_Ore.jpg
– MV Rachel Corrie cargo hold upper deck 1.jpg – Free Gaza movement (CC BY-SA 2.0) – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MV_Rachel_Corrie_cargo_hold_upper_deck_1.jpg
– Death Notification Telegram, 1918 (8791176577).jpg – USMC Archives from Quantico, USA (CC BY 2.0) – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Death_Notification_Telegram,_1918_(8791176577).jpg
– Coaling USS Texas (49096428148).jpg – Harley Flowers from Mobile, USA (CC BY-SA 2.0) – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coaling_USS_Texas_(49096428148).jpg
– Suspected German spy system, Auckland 1914 (23754115195).jpg – Archives New Zealand from New Zealand (CC BY-SA 2.0) – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Suspected_German_spy_system,_Auckland_1914_(23754115195).jpg
– Black sea, black fog, sun&ice, polar sea.jpg – AWeith (CC BY-SA 4.0) – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Black_sea,_black_fog,_sun%26ice,_polar_sea.jpg
– A shipwreck discovered in December 2015.jpg – Australian Transport Safety Bureau (CC BY 4.0) – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_shipwreck_discovered_in_December_2015.jpg
– Divers explore Heian Maru, early 70s.jpg – Tomseattle (CC BY-SA 3.0) – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Divers_explore_Heian_Maru,_early_70s.jpg
– US Navy memorial3.jpg – Unknown (CC BY-SA 3.0) – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_Navy_memorial3.jpg
– U.S. Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C..JPG – AgnosticPreachersKid (CC BY-SA 3.0) – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:U.S._Navy_Memorial_in_Washington,_D.C..JPG
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