Project Blue Book file: Trinidade Island, 16 Jan 1958

ROB MERCERPage 6
Trindade ...
(Continu ed f,'om page ~)
persons also trying to spot the object
amI, as a consequence, photographed the
sea and the island only-not the object.
It was movin g again toward the sea, in
the direction from which it had come,
and it appeared to slop in mid-air for a
brief time. At that moment I shot my
last photo (the last on the film) . After
a bout 10 seconds, the object continued
Lo increase its distance from the ship.
gradually diminishing in size and finally
disa ppearing into the horizon.
"Q. Did you hear anything unusual
during the sighting? Was the object emit-
ting any sound? A. I am not sure, to be
honest, because of the noise made by the
sea waves against the island's rocks, as
well as for the yelling aboard the ship
at the time. However, I th ink that I
heard nothing besides those sounds .
"Q. What was the color of the object?
A. It showed a dark grey color, appear-
ing to be surrounded-mostly in the area
ahead of it-by a kind of condensation of
a greenish, phosphorescent vapor (or
mist).
"Q. Did the object appear to be me-
tallic? A. Yes_ It was obviously a solid
object.
"Q. How was it flying? Any special
characteristic? A. Yes. It showed an
undulatory movement as it flew across
the sky, likc the flight of a bat. And.
when it came back, it changed speed
abruptly, with no transition, in a jump_
"Q. Do you know how many persons
aboard the 'Almirante Saldanha' sighted
the object? A. The object was sighted
by almost all the people on the deck at
that time, including Lieutenant Homero,
Captain Viegas and Mr. Amilar Vieira.
"Q. What happened after the sighting?
A. The ship's commander and several
officers from the garrison wanted to see
what I had got in the photos. As I was
very curious too, I decided to develop
the exposed film at once, aboard the
ship. The processing was done under the
superyision of several officers, including
Com'. Carlos A. Bacellar. But only the
negative:; were seen aboard. The reason:
there was no photographic paper for the
copies on the ship at that time. The
negatives, however, were seen and exam-
ined by the whole crew_
"Q. Did you keep the nagtives in your
hands? A. Yes.
"Q. Were you undcr any pressure to
give up those negatives to the Navy's
authorities? A. No . Com . Saldanha da
Gama (the ship's C.O.) and the other
Navy officers aboard were very kind.
They never tried to get the negatives
from me.
"Q. What happened ' whcn the ship
came back to Rio? A. The ship stopped
first at Vitoria, in the State ~of Espirito
Santo. As it was going to stay th ere for
two days and later travel to Rio, we
THE A. P. R. O. BULLETIN '-~
were permitted-the civilians from the
submarine hunting group only-to leave
the ship there and to take a bus for the
rest of t he trip. Later, two days after
the arrival of the 'Almirante Sald anha'
at Rio, Com. Bacellar (ex-commander
of the Navy Post at Trindade) appcared
at my residencc. He wanted to see the
enlargements made from the negatives,
and asked permission to take them to
the Navy's authorities. Two days later
they were returned with con gratulations.
I was also requested to appear at the
Na vy Min istry as soon as possible. They
wanted to ask me certain questions, and
to sec the negatives again.
"Q. And what happened there? A. I
WaS interviewed by several high-s taff
officers, who asked me all kinds of ques-
tions . I went there twice. At the first
meeting, they requested the negatives
for examination. They were sent to a
civilian organization, the 'Cruzeiro do
SuI Aerophotogrammetric Service', re -
maining there for four days. I was told
by Lhe Navy officers that the analyses
proved they were genuine - excluding
definitely the possibility of a trick or
falsification. On the second visit, they
performed se veral 'Time-tests'. While I
worked with my Rolleiflex, taking shots
at the same time-intervals I had used
to photograph t he object, three Navy
officers with chronometers registered the
times . They came to the conc1usion-
based on these tests as well as on studies
concerning the ship's position and exami-
nations of charts of the Island-that the
object was flying at a speed between 900
and 1000 Km ./hour (600 m.p.h.). The
object's size was also estimated, on the
basis of studies related with th e Island's
details also appearing on the photos,
diagrams drawn Oil charts, graphs, etc.
The object was about 120 feet in diam-
eter, and about 24 feet high.
"Q. Do you know anything about the
official report on the case? A. I saw a
'dossier' which was consulted many
times during the interrogation. However,
I didn't read what was written there.
I was also informed that my photos,
mixed with other pictures, had been
shown to witnesses of the sighting-to be
identified. The result was positive.
"Q. Do you know anything about any
photos by other people aboard the ship?
A. No. Besides myself, there were at
least four other persons with cameras
at the time of the sighting. But appar-
ently they were not able to spot the
object in time, or were paralyzed by
their own emotions.
"Q: Were you warned against some-
thing by the Navy's authorities? Was
there some recommendation? A. Yes.
Th ey requested me to keep the matter
secret for some time . 1 was permitted
to publish the case only after authori-
zation from the Navy. The permission
was granted, verbally, on the night of
February 15, by Com. Bacellar. They
March, 1960
made only one restriction, which I can-
not mention for the reason that I have
given my word ...
"Q. Do you know if your sighting was
the first over the Island of Trinda de?
A. I was informed of foul' other sight·
ings over the island during those th irty
days preceding the incident of January
16. I wa s also informed of anothcr thing:
At one of those sightings, the 'object'
was photographed by a Navy sergeant.
His photo obviously was not released and
probably never will be~the reasons are
evident. Besides those four s ightings,
there was also the radar CaSCo A 'target'
flying at supersonic speed was tracked
through the radar of the !Almirante Sal·
danha', on January 15.
"Q. Did you receive any money from
the Navy for your work at the Island
of Trindade? A. No. I was there as a
guest.
"Q. Did you rcceivc any money from
the Navy for your p.hoto gr <lphic work, or
for the enlargements you made for them '!
A. No. I only received the photographic
paper to be used for enlargements.
"Q. How many enlargements have you
given them? A. Thirty-eight.
"Q. One last question: What kind of
impression did you get from observing
the 'flying saucer'? A. I am absolutely
sure it was a controlled object-either
directly or by remote control-bu t very
well operated, in any case. The general
impression of people aboard the ship was
the same : it had come to make a close
observation of the ship." Unquote.
The interview transcribed above was
rechec!~ed and confirmed by the witness.
However, Mr. Barauna also talked to the
press reporting additional details not
mentioned previously. The more interest-
ing were the following ones:
(1) "I cannot estimate the number of
persons on the ship's deck at the moment
of the sighting. However, during tile offi-
cial investigation ordered by Com. Sal-
d<lnha cIa Gama, about one hundred mem -
bers from the sh ip's crew confirmed that
th ey had sighted the UAO.
"The radar was not in operation at the
timc. The object was already gone when
it was put to work.
"I shot the si x pictures in about 14
seconds." (R io de Janeiro ULTIMA HO-
RA, February 21, 1958 )
(2) "1 was worried for a few days after
an officer told me that I was under mili·
tar y regulations, as any civilian aboard
a Navy ship, so that the film was goini
to be confiscated according to ord ers from
the Navy Headquarters, at Rio. But noth-
ing happened. No,\-, 1 am convinced that
he was joking_" (R io de J anciro ULTIMA
HORA, F ebruary 22, 1858)
BARAUNA'S INTERROGATION AT
THE NAVY MINISTRY
On February 24, 1958, the news-paper
"0 GLOBO" printed an exclusive inter-
view with Almiro Barauna about his in·
(See TrilUlade, page 7)