5/2 0300 hours Woke up to the clang of alarms. Something strange is happening in the sea. It was boiling and bubbling all around us as if perhaps a new volcano or sea mount were being born. In that case the water should be slightly warmer, or at least the same temperature. Instead it is several degrees cooler. I can't explain it, but perhaps this accounts for the eerie, yellowish fog that has settled in around us.

Coast Guard radio Bermuda reports extremely violent undersea quakes, epicentered approximately our location, registering 8.2 on the Richter scale. We rigged sea anchor and prepared to ride out tidal waves. Incredibly, none have appeared, nor have any been reported. Why?

The crew is tense and on edge. They don't know what is happening, nor even why we are here, and that makes them nervous. They have probably been reading too much of this "Bermuda Triangle" nonsense. I cannot explain what is happening, but I refuse to resort to bogeyman explanations.

No further problems, but we will delay start of operations in the morning for several hours so the crew can catch up on lost sleep. Tired people make silly mistakes. I want everyone sharp and alert.


5/2 Morning has brought an increasing gloom to all of us. The strange fog is still with us and becoming denser all the time. It is a dirty yellow in color and has a distinct greasy feel to it. More than anything else, it resembles smog, but it isn't that either. You can't even see from the bow to the stern anymore. I have never seen anything like it in thirty-five years at sea.

Also, the water has gotten colder. It is more than fifteen degrees below normal now. I have never heard of anything like this.

Began sonar and electronic search procedures at 0900 hours. We are using standard deep search pattern. I have everybody not on watch checking over the JIM suits. If there is anything down there within our range, we will find it.


5/2 2100 hours We have had a long day and have found nothing. There is some bottom clutter, which we are mapping as instructed, but that is all. I think we found a wrecked ship on the bottom, but that is not what we are looking for. This is slow work and we have covered less than one fifth of our search area. I am more convinced than ever that this is a hoax. Oh, well, we will get an early start in the morning. The sooner we are done, the sooner we are out of here.

The crew is tired, cranky, and uneasy. There was almost a fist fight in the mess hall. Schwartz and Lyndon got into it a little bit. Luckily, it got broken up before it really got started. But it didn't help anyone's nerves. And those two are normally the best of friends.

The sea is deathly still. The water is still getting cooler, but much more slowly now. And the dirty fog is still all around us.