found to be in her hold, the ship was still seaworthy. A small repair job, visible on the deck, had been set aside, as though the seaman had been suddenly interrupted.
What mysterious force had beset the crew of the Bavaria? Searchers discovered a batch of freshly baked bread in the galley oven. The captain’s papers were on his desk along with a box containing a large quantity of money. It had been collected from the cargo recently delivered to American ports. Who would have left the money behind?
In one cabin a canary still chirped in its cage. It was ironic that the only survivor of such a mystery could not tell the tale.
The seamen did discover that one lifeboat was missing. Some men thought an explanation might still be found. The search continued.
On the return of the Armenia to Kingston, news of a ghost ship spread throughout the city. People speculated, but what was even more significant, they began to recall earlier days when others had set sail, never to return. Unnatural happenings in this region of water on Lake Ontario became a subject of much conversation.
Several days later it was reported by the captain of another vessel that there had been a storm at the time. They had sighted a lifeboat with two motionless figures at the oars shortly thereafter but repeated attempts to pull alongside failed. Each time the lifeboat was drawn away. No matter how the captain manoeuvred his vessel, the lifeboat remained out of reach. Eventually, the lifeboat disappeared into a thick fog and was never seen again. The two men in the boat had simply stared blankly and made no effort to be saved.
A lighthouse keeper also reported seeing two men adrift in a boat. He, too, attempted to save the men, but to no avail. According to him, each time he had the boat within his grasp he failed to snag it. He also reported that the men made no sound or attempt to be saved.
It remains a mystery.
In June 1900 the ship Picton, heavily laden with coal, sailed on course for the Marysburgh Vortex. Following in close proximity were the ships Minnes and Acadia, the crews of which rubbed their eyes in disbelief. The Picton had vanished before their very eyes.
While the men prayed silently, the other ships entered the vortex. They searched for hours, to no avail. There were no signs of wreckage, no signs of survivors. They concluded that the Picton had somehow sailed into the unknown.
When they reached port on the Canadian side, the crews shared their stories with others. Many listeners nodded their heads as if acknowledging what was already understood: the Marysburgh Vortex was a place where people and ships could vanish without a trace.
Others still hoped for a sign of wreckage or of a lone survivor. A few days later a clue surfaced at Sackets Harbour just a few miles northeast of where the Picton was last seen. The young son of a local fisherman spotted a bottle floating in the water just off the harbour. He borrowed his father’s boat and rowed out to get it. To his amazement he discovered a message from Captain Sidley in the bottle. Captain Sidley, of the missing Picton! The news of such a find became the talk of the district.
What was that message?
Sidley had written that he had lashed himself to his son in order that they could be found together. That was the extent of his hurried note.
Certainly the existence of such a note indicated that the captain and his son did not die suddenly but had experienced some sort of chaos. Some researchers believe the Picton entered a doorway to another dimension.
The next autumn, 1915, at the end of the shipping season, the F.C. Barnes set sail along the north shore of Lake Ontario headed for Kingston. Witnesses later remarked that while watching the ship from shore it seemed to disappear into a cloud of mist. Once again, this occurrence was at the edge of the Marysburgh Vortex.
When the mist dissipated, the tug was no longer visible. Although a search party scoured the waters, no debris was ever found to explain its disappearance. Authorities listed the disappearance of the F.C. Barnes as “unexplained.”
The eeriest story on record is the simple but bizarre story of Captain George Donner. On April 28, 1937, Captain Donner and his crew sailed down the middle of Lake Ontario. At 10:15 p.m. the captain ordered the second mate to notify him when they neared their destination and then he retired to his cabin.
A few hours later the second mate knocked at the captain’s door. There was no answer. He continued to knock. Something was wrong. He opened the cabin door. No one was there. The crew searched the entire ship. Captain Donner had vanished. Some of the crew testified that they had seen him enter his cabin. Others had heard him moving about in his quarters.
The authorities in port launched a thorough investigation. Nothing turned up. Was it possible that the captain fell overboard? This was quickly discounted since the trip was calm and an experienced sailor like Donner would not have fallen overboard.
Although the authorities alerted all vessels to watch for his body, nothing ever surfaced. Another unsolved mystery.
David Childress, in his book entitled, Anti-Gravity & the World Grid, described the existence of an Earth Grid or “crystalline Earth” in the Marysburgh Vortex.
According to Childress, “This Earth Grid is comprised of geometrical flow lines of gravity in the structure of the Earth itself.”
Richard Lefors Clark made reference to this in an article called “Earth Grid, Human Levitation & Gravity Anomalies.” He states, “The pyramids and ley lines are on the power transfer lines of the natural Earth gravity Grid all over the world. The Earth Grid is comprised of the geometrical flow lines of gravity energy in the structure of the Earth itself.
“While the subject of the Earth Grid has been covered in a considerable number of publications, one point in the Grid, marked by a long and strange history at the eastern tip of Lake Ontario is worth special mention.”
David Childress also refers to the significant number of aircraft and ship incidents in the Lake Ontario Earth Grid area known as “The Other Bermuda Triangle” and “The Gateway to Oblivion on the eastern end of Lake Ontario.”
Clark referred to a project started in 1950 by the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada and the United States Army to investigate the magnetic anomalies and possible magnetic utility of this area. Officials call it “Project Magnet.” Was it top secret? Perhaps.
Project Magnet was the first official government research program involving the Earth Grid System. Wilbert Smith, a Canadian communications engineer for the Department of Transportation, directed the project. Smith and a team of scientists did find something. However, as Richard Clark explained, “Project Magnet was terminated.”
Wilbert Smith was born in Lethbridge, Alberta in 1910. According to journalist Paul McManus in an article entitled “Project Magnet,” “Smith graduated from the University of British Columbia, with degrees in electrical engineering and worked as the chief engineer for radio station CJOR in Vancouver. By 1939 Smith was working for the federal Department of Transportation designing Canada’s wartime monitoring systems.”
McManus added, “In 1950 Smith attended a North America Radio Broadcast Association conference in Washington, DC, where he became further convinced of the existence of UFO’s, and that they used magnetic forces to operate.”
Smith described what happened at the conference. “In 1950 I was attending a rather slow-moving broadcasting conference in Washington, DC, and having some free time on my hands, I circulated around asking a few questions about flying saucers, which stirred up a hornet’s nest. I found that the United States government had a highly classified project set up to study them, so I reasoned that with so much smoke maybe I should look for the fire.”
Upon his return to Ottawa, Smith met with Dr. Omond Solandt, chairman of the Canadian Defence Research Board. Solandt agreed to provide laboratory space, equipment, and personnel for research into geo-magnetism.
McManus stated, “In his project proposal of November 21, 1950, Smith outlined seven areas of geo-magnetic research. UFO research was not mentioned. Commander C.P. Edwards, Deputy Minister of Transport for Air Services, accepted the proposal. The