was a cargo and passenger motor ship. She was built in Italy in 1927 for the Brazilian shipping company Lloyd Nacional. A U-boat sank her in August 1942, killing 131 of the crew and passengers aboard. She was sunk only hours after the same U-boat, , had sunk the Lloyd Brasileiro steamship , killing 270 people. These and other sinkings by U-507; on the same day and the next few days; were instrumental in Brazil declaring war on Germany and Italy.
-class ships In 1927 and 1928, Cantiere Navale Triestino in Monfalcone, Italy, built a class of four twin-screw motor ships for . The lead ship was , which was completed in August 1927. She was followed by , completed in October 1927; , completed in January 1928; and , completed in April 1928. At the time, they were the largest ships in the fleet.
On 5 February 1933, while en route from Cabedelo to Porto Alegre, grounded a breakwater at Rio Grande. All aboard were saved, but the ship was wrecked. did not replace her.
Building and registration
built the ship as yard number 176. She was launched on 1 August 1927 as , and completed that October. Her registered length was ; her beam was ; her depth was ; and her draught was . Her tonnages were ; ; and . She had four holds: two forward of her superstructure; and two aft. They had a combined capacity for either of grain, or of cargo in bales. of her cargo capacity was refrigerated.
Each of her twin screws was driven by a Fiat four-cylinder, single-acting, two-stroke diesel engine. The combined power of her twin engines was rated at 1,008 NHP, and gave her a speed of .
registered in Rio de Janeiro. By 1934 her wireless telegraph call sign was PUUC.
Context
In January 1942, Brazil suspended diplomatic relations with Germany. From that February, German and Italian submarines began to sink Brazilian merchant ships. However, Brazil remained neutral. Early in August, the United States Navy, aided by Brazil, began air patrols from Brazilian bases against Axis submarines, leading to a state of "latent war" between Brazil and the Axis. In response, the German Oberkommando der Marine (OKM) ordered U-507 to the Brazilian coast; there to conduct "free manœuvres"; i.e. sink any Allied or neutral ship, except Argentinian and Chilean ones.
Loss On 11 August 1942, left for Recife. She called at Salvador, where she left on 15 August. Her Master was Captain . At 19:12 hrs local time, U-507 sank the Lloyd Brasileiro ship , about off the Rio Real lighthouse and Aracaju. She sank too swiftly to transmit a distress signal, so remained unaware that a U-boat was nearby.
By 21:00 hrs local time, was about off the mouth of the River Real. Many of her passengers had retired to their cabins. At 21:03 and 21:04 hrs local time; or 02:03 and 02:04 hrs Central European Time, which the Kriegsmarine used; U-507 hit her starboard side with two torpedoes, one minute apart: one in her cargo holds; and the other in her engine room. Her hold caught fire; she listed heavily to starboard; and within five minutes she sank at position . Many of her passengers were trapped in their cabins. Captain ; seven of his officers; 58 other crew members; and 65 passengers were killed. Only eight members of the crew; two women passengers; and one male passenger survived.
A survivor's account One of the crew members who survived was First Officer . A month after the attack, he wrote a report describing the incident.
About the torpedoing, he stated:
"At 9:00 p.m., with the ship almost at the portside of the city of Aracaju, and with its glare in sight, I was sleeping in my cabin when I was awakened by a hollow bang, followed by the ship shuddering. I got up immediately, still hearing the noise of the explosion, and tried to turn on the light, but the power was out. I realized that the ship had been torpedoed. I was wearing my uniform trousers over my pyjamas when the Captain came up to me and asked the officer on the watch, Second Officer , what had happened. These were his words: "What was it, Benedito?"
The officer, overcome by great nervousness, answered nothing, and I then said: "We were torpedoed". "We were torpedoed, and the ship is sinking considerably." By now the crew was approaching the gangway awaiting the Captain's order, which was as follows: "Put on your life jackets and run to the lifeboats." The Captain's order was immediately executed.
As I passed by the lifeboat number 1, on the way to number 3, of which I was in charge, I saw the Captain, the Chief Engineer, and others who were near the lifeboat's davits already starting the service of lowering the boat.
When I arrived at lifeboat number 3, after about one minute after the first explosion, with the ship already heeling heavily to the starboard side, where the torpedo hit, another explosion was heard, followed by another explosion that set fire to hold number 3, and knocked down part of the boat, with the awning of the boat fell over my lifeboat, making it completely useless. Seeing the impossibility of lowering it, I thought about saving part of the crew, and I went up to the roof of the last awning to look for the rafts, which I couldn't find because they had already fallen into the sea, due to the great inclination of the ship. I went back to the lifeboat, but I couldn't find the crew any more, because, seeing the impossibility of lowering it, they looked for other ways to save themselves. I then ordered the disoriented passengers to go to the other side and try to save themselves as best they could, because the lifeboat would not be lowered.
I crawled out on the deck, followed by several passengers, and carefully went down the awning rails until I reached the side that was already horizontal, with the ship lying completely flat. I ran to the keel, making for the sea, certain that it would be impossible to save myself.
I swam a little, aided by the waves that were quickly pulling me away from the ship. I stopped and was able to witness the same, bury, or rather, dive the stern, standing completely upright and disappearing.
There was no time for any lifeboat to be lowered, every means having been employed to do so."
On the hallucinations of castaways:
"With the vacuum produced by the sinking of the ship, I went down a little, having drunk plenty of oiled water and taken several hits with the wreckage of the ship. When I came back to the surface and was able to breathe, I grabbed onto a floating box, cargo from hold #3. I saw a piece of the awning of the bar and swam to it, where I climbed up and was able to collect 3 more people, being: the Third Enginer, , the deck boy, , and an army officer, a passenger on the ship.
We were at the mercy of the waves, without finding other people nearby to whom we could turn. So I picked up and placed everything within my reach that I thought might be of some use on the board. That is how I got a small board, a trestle, a sack of flour and a defensive balloon, from which I used the whip of the cable to tie the small board and the trestle to the planks so that the sea would not take them away, because they served as ballast, i.e., they made weight on the board, sinking it, preventing the crest of the waves from bursting them. During the whole dawn we saw constant flashes of explosions at the place where the ship sank, explosions that I believe were in the compressed air bottles and oil tanks. We continued over the canopies, noticing that the sea was bringing us closer and closer to land, always in front of the bar.
This is how we spent the rest of the night of the 15th and the whole of the 16th, when, at approximately 2 o'clock on the 17th, the sailor began to show signs of mental disturbance, asking for food, saying he heard the coffee bell ringing, then tried to attack the lieutenant, which we prevented; afterwards, desperate with hunger and thirst, he threw himself into the sea, making it impossible to save him. Soon after, the second lieutenant began to show the same symptom, asking for his colleagues. I remembered then to ask his name, and he answered . I tried to calm him down, it was impossible, he threw himself into the water. Carefully, so that there would be no imbalance on the few planks we had left, I grabbed him by the boots and managed to put him back on them. However, a few minutes later, putting himself in an aggressive attitude, saying that my companion and I were drunk, that he was going home, he went overboard again, and this time, it was impossible to save him."
About the arrival on the beach and the survivors:
"There were now only myself and the third engineer left on the board. So we continued always sighting the flash of the city of , where we were being taken.
At daybreak, when we were already sighting the houses of the aforementioned city, the Cotinguiba River ebbing and the strong wind blew us out, causing us to fall into the banks. This just destroyed the boards and threw us into the water. We struggled with this riptide, swimming always in search of the board, because it still offered us resistance, but as we approached it, we were thrown back into the distance, making it impossible to grab it. We continued in this fight until about 9 o'clock, when we saw a crown, and headed for it. I noticed that the tide was rising, and calculating that at high tide, we might not be able to reach the crown, and that we were weak because we hadn't slept or eaten in 36 hours, I convinced my companion that we shouldn't rest, but rather swim to shore, from which we could already see the coconut trees. We stayed only for about 10 minutes, to regain our strength, and then we went out to sea, swimming towards the beach of Estancia, where we arrived at 3:00 pm.
[...] we started walking, and after walking 2½ leagues, we found the Barra farm owned by , where the administrator, Mr. , prepared dinner and offered it to us. After the meal, the administrator sent two of his employees in a canoe to take us to the city of São Cristóvão.
During the trip, we were able to sleep a little in the back of the boat. At 21 hours we arrived in the city, and we were received by the people, and then the mayor presented himself, who led us to his residence, forcing us to take a small meal, while we waited for the driver to continue the journey to . I then asked them to telegraph my family that I was safe.
As we were finishing our meal, another survivor of the appeared; it was the passenger , who had washed ashore on one of the rafts and was picked up by a fisherman. On that raft, there were two other passengers, who died fighting the surf. Mr. Mayor took us in his car to , where we arrived at midnight, taking us to the State Governor, with whom we talked for a few moments. After leaving the life jacket and lifebuoy we had brought with us in the palace, we retired to the Hotel , where we stayed.
The next day, we were rescued and treated by Dr. , a doctor at the assistance station.
I was unable to move around for 10 days, by doctor's order, and during this period, other castaways were arriving in ; I was informed of this by the agent, Dr. , who I asked to telegraph the company, informing them of everything, as well as the families who telegraphed me asking for news of their loved ones."
About the other survivors:
"The other survivors were the following: , barber, who saved himself on a piece of the board; , sailor, and , steward, who saved themselves on one of the rafts, bringing with them the passenger, Mrs. ; , sailor, , young man, and , a charcoal collector, who came ashore on the keel of the lifeboat no. 4, which floated down after the ship was submerged, with the passenger, Mrs. , in tow.