Annibal Benévolo (ship)
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The Annibal Benévolo was a passenger ship put into service in 1905 , which originally belonged to the Brazilian shipping company Companhia de Navegação Cruzeiro do Sul and from 1910 to the Companhia de Navegação Lloyd Brasileiro, for which it transported passengers and cargo for 32 years. She was one of five Brazilian merchant ships that were sunk in mid-August 1942 within 48 hours of the German submarine U 507 without warning off the Brazilian coast. A total of 607 people died, 150 of them on the Annibal Benévolo . As a result of this event, Brazil declared war on the German Reich on August 22, 1942.
The ship
The 1,905 GRT steamship was built in 1905 as Jupiter by the Hamburg shipyard Reiherstieg Schiffswerft und Maschinenfabrik AG for the Brazilian shipping company Companhia de Navegação Cruzeiro do Sul, based in Santos , and completed in April 1905. The ship was 82.0 meters long, 11.5 meters wide and had a maximum draft of 3.51 meters. It was used as a passenger and cargo ship. The Jupiter was powered by twin propellers and drove at an average cruising speed of 12 knots. The triple expansion steam engines achieved an output of 156 nhp.
In 1910 the ship was bought by the Companhia de Navegação Lloyd Brasileiro. This was a shipping company based in Rio de Janeiro that had existed since 1890 and operated passenger and freight traffic in Brazilian coastal waters and the Amazon basin . She was also known as Lloyd Brasileiro . Rio de Janeiro became the new home port of the steamer. In 1914 the steamer sank off Santa Catarina , but was lifted and repaired. The ship was renamed three times: in 1917 in Ruy Barbosa , in 1923 in Commandante Alvim and finally in 1931 in Annibal Benévolo .
The sinking
In mid-August 1942, the Annibal Benévolo was on another crossing from Salvador da Bahia in the state of Bahia to Aracaju in the state of Sergipe . There were 71 crew members and 83 passengers on board, a total of 154 people. Captain Henrique Jacques Mascarenhas da Siveira was in command.
On Sunday, August 16, the Annibal Benévolo was sighted by U 507 . U 507 was a German submarine of the type IX C , which was under the command of Korvettenkapitän Harro Schacht on patrol. The ship was about 15 miles from land at the level of the mouth of the Rio Real, the border between the states of Bahia and Sergipe. The Annibal Benévolo was an unarmed merchant ship from a neutral state, but Schacht on board U 507 decided to attack anyway.
At 09.13 hrs, two torpedoes from U 507 hit the stern and the engine room of the Annibal Benévolo . The ship went down almost immediately. Only the captain and three other crew members survived by clinging to debris and eventually coming ashore at Estância . The remaining 67 crew members and all 83 passengers were killed by the sinking. The Annibal Benévolo sank to position 11.41S 37.21W.
consequences
On the same day, U 507 sank another passenger steamer belonging to the Companhia de Navegação Lloyd Brasileiro, the Baependy (270 dead) and the Araraquara (131 dead) belonging to Lloyd Nacional. The following day, August 17, 1942, he sank two more Brazilian ships from other shipping companies, killing another 56 people.
The sinking of five unescorted, unarmed merchant ships from a neutral nation within 48 hours with a total of 607 fatalities resulted in Brazil declaring war on the German Reich on August 22, 1942.
Web links
- The Annibal Benévolo in the submarine database (with picture)
- Technical data and brief description of the sinking of Annibal Benévolo
- Information about the shipping company Companhia de Navegação Lloyd Brasileiro with a list of their ships
- Facts about Annibal Benévolo in key points
Footnotes
- ↑ Data according to the Miramar Ship Index