The Sister Site to the Bermuda Triangle
Are UFOs to blame for the disappearances from Australia’s Bass Strait triangle?
In 1797 the Eliza, a longboat, disappeared in the Bass Strait. Along with the Francis, Eliza was taking part in a rescue operation. Eliza’s mission was to collect as many crew and whatever cargo could be salvaged from the wreck of the Sydney Cove. On July 6th, Francis arrived back in Sydney … but Eliza was never seen again.
It was the first recorded incident in the notorious stretch of water between Victoria and Tasmania. Since then, numerous incidents of strange goings-on have been reported. Some blame the treacherous rips. Others feel the fault is the huge waves whipped up by south-easterly winds.
Along with the naturally occurring weather phenomena, there have also been multiple reports of UFOS and mysterious lights in the area, pointing the finger in another direction.
SS Amelia J. | 1920
In September 1920 the Amelia J. departed Newcastle with a cargo of coal — destination, Hobart. The ship never arrived and was never seen again. The disappearance of the Amelia J. coincided with the first reports of unknown and unaccounted for lights in and around the Bass Strait.
“Received radio message this morning that unusual light had been seen in the vicinity of Settlement Point, Flinders Island. I immediately issued instructions that the Platypus, parent ship, submarine depot, should proceed to locality, and make search, and give full assistance to any persons found.”
— Minister of the Navy, Hon. W H Laird Smith, The Mercury newspaper, Saturday 25 September, 1920.
After enormous effort and a substantial amount of money was expended, the search for the Amelia J. was called off, and it deemed the schooner must be at the bottom of the ocean.
Miss Hobart | 1934
Miss Hobart was a de Havilland DH86 aircraft, one of the most advanced of its kind at the time. Designed with four independent engines, there was little possibility that all four engines could fail simultaneously. And in the event of such an unlikely occurrence, the plane was designed to enable pilots to manipulate an emergency landing without issue.
Despite all the safety measures, and on a day with perfect weather conditions, Miss Hobert vanished while flying over the Bass Strait in 1934. A mysterious oil slick was spotted, the size and thickness reported to be caused by at least 800 gallons of oil. However, Miss Hobart only had the capacity for 8–10 gallons of oil.
Other than the mysterious patch of oil, which could not be explained, no sign of Miss Hobart was ever discovered — the aircraft vanished without a trace. This, on its own, isn’t remarkable. Along with claims of unsinkable ships and airplanes with the best high-tech safety, there are many instances where technology has failed, causing disaster. It’s the events that happened directly before contact was lost with Miss Hobart that calls the notion of a simple aircraft crash into question.
In The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters, Ronald Story recounts the experience of two surveyors working near Wilson’s Promontory. According to Story, they heard the plane pass overhead, and without warning, the engine sounds ceased. Completely. Around the same time, a surface vessel saw a pink flare — but Miss Hobart was not equipped with flares. This report coincides with an earwitness report of Frederick Valentich‘s plane 44 years later.
It’s interesting to note that the disappearance of Miss Hobart was one of the catalysts for the invention of the black box flight recorder. David Warren was six years old when Miss Hobart vanished — his father was on board the airliner.
Frederick Valentich’s Disappearance & the Manifold Photo | 1978
On October 21, 1978, Frederick Valentich sent one last radio transmission — then his plane vanished.
“Unknown aircraft hovering on top of me.”
In the preceding six minutes, Valentich communicated with an air traffic controller in Melbourne.
7:06 pm Valentich asked air controller, Steve Robey, about other air traffic, in particular below 5,000 feet. Robey replied in the negative — there was no other air traffic in the area.
Valentich reported a visual of a large aircraft below 5,000 feet. He was unable to identify the type of aircraft, other than it included four bright landing lights.
Valentich reported the aircraft traveling at considerable speed and had now passed over him at 1,000 feet.
Valentich again asked if there is other air traffic in the area, this time asking specifically about military crafts.
7:08 pm Valentich reported, “It’s approaching from due east towards me. It seems to me to be playing some sort of game. It’s flying at a speed I cannot estimate.”
Robey asked Valentich to confirm his altitude, to which Valentich replied his altitude was 4,500 feet.
Robey asked for confirmation that Valentich was still unable to identify the aircraft. Valentich confirmed he was unable to identify the type of aircraft.
7:09 pm Valentich reported, “It’s not an aircraft it’s . . .” before the transmission breaks.
Robey asked for a description of the aircraft and Valentich replied, “It is flying past, it is a long shape. I cannot identify more than that. It’s coming for me right now.”
7:10 pm Robey asked about the size of the aircraft, and Valentich replied, “It seems to be stationary. I’m orbiting and the thing is orbiting on top of me
also. It has a green light and a sort of metallic light on the outside.”
Moments later, the aircraft vanished. Valentich repeated his question about military aircraft in the area and Robey again confirmed no military activity.
7:12 pm Valentich reported his engine was idling and coughing and that he intended to proceed to King Island. Then Valentich reported, “Unknown aircraft hovering on top of me.”
A long metallic noise followed, then all transmissions ceased. Robey was unable to reestablish contact with Valentich.
Neither Frederick Valentich nor his plane was seen again.
There was speculation that Valentich had become inverted and was flying upside down in the dark. The lights he reported would have been reflections. Valentich’s father, Guido, hotly contested this theory — his son had been trained in acrobatic flying and would not have been so easily confused. Due to Valentich’s own fascination with UFO’s some speculated the disappearance was a hoax — Guido firmly denied the notion his son’s disappearance was a hoax and remained convinced his son was taken by a UFO.
Steve Robey, the air traffic controller also dismissed claims of a hoax. “He sounded genuine when he was talking to me.” During his time as an air traffic controller, Robey heard many pilots report strange lights in the area.
Twenty minutes before Melbourne received the last communication from Valentich, Ray Manifold took a photo of the sunset. After snapping the picture, Ray went inside his shed while his son, Jason, stayed outside. Although Jason was unable to see anything. he could hear the sound of a plane overhead. Rather than the noise fading away, Jason reported that it suddenly ceased. There one moment, gone the next.
When Manifold’s photo was later developed, it showed a strange object hanging in the sky. The natural conclusion was a developing error, but tests by American photo analysts and the Kodak lab both came to the conclusion that the strange object was part of the photo, and the developing process had not been manipulated.
The three cases cited here are but a snapshot of the many, many disappearances from the Bass Strait. Accompanying these disappearances are numerous reports of strange lights and humming noises.
Are the occurrences within the Bass Strait triangle natural phenomena that science cannot yet explain? Or are they visits from extraterrestrials? Refusing to consider an idea because it goes against your beliefs is a symptom of a closed mindset. While we don't have the answer now, perhaps one day we will.
Whatever the cause, no one can deny that the body of water between Victoria and Tasmania is treacherous and many disappearances remain unexplained.
