n August 3 1492 Christopher Columbus left Spain in a convoy of three small ships heading west across the Atlantic Ocean certain he would find a new trade route to China After two months his ships were stranded in strange waters that were covered with seaweed His uneasy sailors thought this was a sign they were near land But land did not appear Instead their compasses started acting strangely no longer pointing to where the crew knew north to be Then they spotted strange lights at night a fireball that seemed to drop into the sea and a flickering in the distance that rose like
a candle flame and then disappeared When they finally found land they thought they'd reached Asia unaware they'd come to islands in what are now called the Bahamas Nor did they know they had sailed through the Bermuda Triangle a region of the sea that has become infamous for swallowing ships and planes and their crews without leaving a trace Columbus made four trips through the region turning a new page in the history of civilization But hundreds of other travelers have simply vanished More than 500 years later what happened to some of them remains a
