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Myths & facts 7
Myth 7
The majority of disappearances can be attributed to the area's unique environmental features. First, the "Devil's Triangle" is one of the two places on earth that a magnetic compass does point towards true north. Normally it points toward magnetic north. The difference between the two is known as compass variation. The amount of variation changes by as much as 20 degrees as one circumnavigates the earth. If this compass variation or error is not compensated for, a navigator could find himself far off course and in deep trouble.
Fact 7
False. The Agonic Line— the area of no difference in calculation— moves over time as the axis of the magnetic field slowly changes in response to the Earth’s rotation. It is now approaching the middle of the Gulf of Mexico— as far as the Coast Guard is concerned far outside of the Triangle. Disappearances continue to occur in the same areas within the Triangle. The Coast Guard statement above is 30 years obsolete, but they have not updated it. To do so would prove most of their statement to have been in error.
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