Book excerpt: Truth is stranger than fiction, it is said. If so then Distant Horizons presents some of the strangest sea mysteries of all time. For it is not the product of uncritically passing along tales of the sea. It is the result of decades of research. The stories in this compendium are true, often presented with meticulous detail. Sometimes this explodes myth. Sometimes the facts reveal myth to be anemic by comparison. Famous ghost ships like the Mary Celeste and the Carroll A. Deering have become literary formula and economic rehash. But what are the actual facts? Thousands of derelicts once peppered the North Atlantic, but these two mystery ships have stood the test of time. What is really so unique about them? The Bermuda Triangle has earned its infamous reputation, but is it really to blame for some of its most famous victims? Did the Marine Sulphur Queen truly even vanish in the Triangle? What about the USS Cyclops? Could it truly be the American version of the HMS Bounty?