roughly 71% of the earth is covered in water that's a lot of room for the strange and peculiar to take place welcome to watchmojo.com and today we're counting down our picks for the top 10 ocean mysteries in fact these waters may have claimed up to 300 vessels for this list we're only interested in mysteries but take place on the surface of the ocean and are excluding any deep-sea or underwater mysteries our arrival in Haiti would end a career of mystery and misfortune a career of the cursed ghost ship mary celeste number 10 The Devil's sea
this 60 mile stretch of ocean may not appear on any map but experienced sailors know well enough to stay away also called the pacific bermuda triangle and the dragon's triangle the area is known for causing electronic malfunctions and the sudden disappearance of ships it's also been linked with the disappearance of Amelia Earhart UFO sightings and even temporal abnormalities what's more stories of sea monsters date back to 1000 BC in the surrounding areas scientific skeptics have blamed seismic activity from underwater volcanoes for the so called paranormal activities but seafaring folk know to trust the instincts of
animals and rumor has it that birds refused to fly over the area and dolphins and whales won't surface there either number 9 the Bermuda Triangle the Bermuda Triangle may sound innocent enough but what about the Devil's Triangle the Atlantic hole or the triangle of death this area of Atlantic Ocean between Florida Bermuda and Puerto Rico has been the site of multiple disappearances most notably in 1918 the USS Cyclops vanished without a trace taking 309 Souls with her however the triangles peril is largely overblown which is why it's all the way down here at number 9
in fact on the World Wide Fund for Nature x' list of the most dangerous waters in the world it doesn't even crack the top 10 so you're saying that the Queen Enders appear into the Bermuda Triangle a reasonable and somewhat boring potential explanation for the triangles weirdness the fast-flowing Gulfstream goes right through the triangle and can easily carry floating vessels far away still with so many theories about aliens and Atlantis associated with it we gotta admit it does have some mystical allure number eight murder at sea [Music] be warned this mystery is a disturbing one
in 2014 a video was found on a cellphone left in the back of a taxicab on the island of Fiji the video captures the brutal execution of at least four men believed to be Somali pirates helpless one even raises his arms in a sign of surrender but one by one they are shot and killed as a voice over a loudspeaker yells out the command shoot shoot shoot laughter can be heard mixed with the sound of some 40 shots fired the victims were surrounded by no less than three boats yet no witnesses have come forward with
no clear location marker no government has been willing to investigate number seven Sarah Jo and the Buried jawbone in 1979 five men left the island of Maui on board the fishing boat the Sarah Jo a sudden storm picked up and the ship never returned almost a decade later John Naughton a marine biologist who aided in the original search for the crew made a startling discovery while exploring an uninhabited island 2,000 miles away from Hawaii he found the wreck of a small boat and a human jawbone belonging to Sarah Jo fisherman Scott Morman buried in a
shallow grave a government survey of the landmass conducted six years earlier found neither the boat nor the grave so when did they get there and who buried the jawbone we may never know number six whale deaths in the Gulf of Alaska the protection of whales is a crucial modern day wildlife issue but how do you save them if you can't identify what exactly is threatening them in 2015 marine scientists were at a loss to explain this unusual mortality event in which more than 30 whales were found dead along the Alaskan coast the ocean waters in
the region have been rising too unnaturally high temperatures in recent years so toxic algae blooms were the first and primary suspect but when no other species in the region appeared to be significantly affected tests were forced to revisit their hypothesis biomagnification could account for the toxins only reaching fatal levels in larger predators but the evidence has so far proven inconclusive number five there may ha island it's nothing that cannot be found except how does one lose an island exactly that's what cartographers have been asking each other for years trying to understand the mystery of this
elusive island off the coast of Mexico a number of maps dating from 1535 to 1775 clearly depict the landmass but in the following centuries its presence on geographical documents has been spotty at best the last known map to include the island was printed in 1921 are you sure we're going the right way I don't know this map doesn't make any sense that's because you've got it upside-down chowderhead some might ask one little island what's the big deal but its existence actually plays a crucial deciding role in the claims between Mexico and the US over underwater
oil reserves resulting in a number of conspiracy theories including the possibility that the CIA literally destroyed the island [Music] number four SS baychimo ghost chip of the Arctic you'd think that a ship trapped in ice would be easy to get a hold of since it can't just sail away but while humankind has mastered traveling much of the globe the Arctic still presents a uniquely challenging environment to navigate in 1931 this cargo ship found itself stuck firmly in the ice unable to dislodge their vessel the crew abandoned ship in search of help upon their return to
its last known location two days later the ship was nowhere to be found it was located again the next year but poor weather conditions again boarded the effort to salvage it it has been relocated repeatedly over the years and even boarded briefly in 1939 but it's never been recovered number three glowing circles in the Persian Gulf and East Indian Ocean scientists have confirmed that the glowing milky sea effect is the result of bioluminescent bacteria but this explanation fails to address the unique glowing circles found in the East Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf particularly the
manner in which they appear to spin or rotate oceanographer Kurt kala has suggested that a combination of underwater earthquakes and glowing plankton could account for both the glow and the movement but the high speeds at which the wheel-like shaped spin make this explanation doubtful how else can we explain this strange phenomenon when in doubt blame it on aliens and that's exactly what a significant number of people have done number two Salish Sea feet a rabbit's foot might be lucky but there is nothing fortunate about discovering severed human feet the average Beachcomber rarely comes across anything
truly remarkable on a given day but since 2007 over 16 human feet often still wearing shoes have washed up on the shores of the Salish Sea on the coast of British Columbia and Washington of the grizzly collection of remains only two left feet have been found both of which were successfully matched with corresponding right feet this appears to be a pair great okay two down eleven ago no other matching body parts have turned up and attempts to trace the origin of the feet based on regional shoe sale markets have also been inconclusive and this mystery
is nowhere near over two feet were found as recently as 2016 Oh unless it rain fit these puppies definitely washed ashore before we unveil our number one pick here are some honorable mentions [Music] number one the Mary Celeste even in the modern day a life at sea is not for the faint at heart but back in the day it was a particularly treacherous lifestyle think ice trucking or king crab fishing sailors had to avoid piracy mutiny sudden storms navigational errors food and waterborne illnesses and much more but what was it that dooms the crew of
the Mary Celeste of the many ghost ships that color humanity seafaring history none has so intrigued or stumped historians discovered adrift at sea on December 5th 1872 she was entirely deserted the belongings of her crew undisturbed and the food and alcohol stores intact no explanation can satisfy the strange conditions in which the ship was discovered her wake speculation wild guesses and many theories were proposed none fitting all the facts or by any means do you agree with our list what ocean mystery do you find the most captivating Bermuda's name comes to strike fear into the
hearts of sailors for more elusive top 10s published every day be sure to subscribe to watchmojo.com but ten persons the captain his family and crew had vanished without trace leaving few clues as to their fate
