Ship Missing for 90 Years Reappears Near Bermuda Triangle-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
A ship reappeared 90 years after it went missing in the Bermuda Triangle.
The Truth:
A fake news website is behind this hoax.
An article that appeared at the World News Daily Report website claimed that the Cuban Coast Guard had found an unmanned ship believed to be the SS Cotopaxi that went missing in the Bermuda Triangle 90 years ago:
“The Cuban authorities spotted the ship for the first time on May 16, near a restricted military zone, west of Havana. They made many unsuccessful attempts to communicate with the crew, and finally mobilized three patrol boats to intercept it.
When they reached it, they were surprised to find that the ship was actually a nearly 100-year old steamer identified as the Cotopaxi, a name famously associated with the legend of the Bermuda Triangle. There was no one on board and the ship seemed to have been abandoned for decades, suggesting that this could actually be the tramp freighter that disappeared in 1925.
An exhaustive search of the ship led to the discovery of the captain’s logbook. It was, indeed, associated with the Clinchfield Navigation Company, the owners of the SS Cotopaxi, but hasn’t brought any clue concerning what happened to the ship over the last 90 years.”
Within days, the story had been shared more than 40,000 times on social media sites. People who were duped into believing that the story was true speculated that pirates could be behind the missing ship if its cargo was missing, and that it seemed unlikely an unmanned ship could survive in the ocean for 90 years. One reader commented:
“This is a very interesting matter. Would the authorities, searching and identifying the mystery disclose and publicize their findings with detailed report thereof? I would like to understand the details of this incidence.”
However, World News Daily Report is notorious for publishing fake news stories that trick readers into believing that they’re real. According to the website’s disclaimer, it assumes “all responsibility for any incorrect or inaccurate information” that can be found there.