Trindade Island 1958: four photos the Brazilian Navy would not vouch for

On 16 January 1958, photographs of an alleged flying saucer were taken from the Brazilian Navy ship Almirante Saldanha off Trindade Island. The Navy Ministry said the photographs were not sufficient proof, and U.S. naval intelligence and Project Blue Book filed them as a hoax.

20.5000° S · 29.3000° W · Trindade Island, Brazil · 16 Jan 1958

Source: Project Blue Book · Brazilian Navy

Photographs from a Navy ship

Trindade is a small island far out in the South Atlantic, at about 20°30' S, 29°18' W according to the Brazilian Navy ^[10]. In January 1958 the Navy kept an oceanographic post there, and the ship Almirante Saldanha was carrying out research for Brazil's part in the International Geophysical Year ^[9][2].

According to a report filed by the U.S. Naval Attaché in Rio de Janeiro, two leading Rio newspapers printed photographs on 21 February 1958 of an alleged flying saucer, taken from the Almirante Saldanha at approximately midday on 16 January while the ship was anchored off Trindade ^[2]. The photographer was Almiro Baraúna, a freelance, using a Rolleiflex set at speed 125 and lens opening 8; the film was developed in a laboratory aboard the ship ^[2]. The attaché added that Baraúna had a long history of photographic trick shots, including false pictures of treasure on the ocean floor and a humorous magazine article, "A Flying Saucer Hunted Me at Home" ^[2].

Baraúna was not aboard as an official expedition photographer. A Navy officer's report says he had come to Trindade with a group of spear-fishermen to take underwater photographs ^[9]; the Navy Ministry's public statement said he was on the island at the Navy's invitation ^[3].

The officer at the darkroom door

The fullest Brazilian account is the end-of-command report of Carlos Alberto Ferreira Bacellar, the officer whose team had just handed over the Trindade oceanographic post. He wrote that at about 11:00 on 16 January, after the handover, he was already aboard the Almirante Saldanha, in his cabin, when he was told that an unidentified aerial object had been seen from the ship over the island ^[9]. On deck he found several excited people, Baraúna among the most excited, because he had taken several shots of the object and doubted they had come out ^[9].

Bacellar stayed with Baraúna to check that the negatives were authentic. He watched him take the roll out of the camera and followed him to the darkroom, but did not go in because of the heat; he waited outside for the ten minutes the developing took ^[9]. He then took the film, examined it and saw a strange spot in three of the negatives. The film stayed with Baraúna, who promised to come to the Naval Staff (EMA) if needed. Back in Rio, Bacellar gave a verbal statement to Capitão de Corveta José Geraldo Brandão; from then on, he wrote, everything that was done was the EMA's initiative ^[9].

Objects over Trindade had been reported before. On 31 December the post sent a coded radio message to the EMA about an unidentified flying object shaped like a much-flattened ellipsoid, the colour of stainless steel, at about 1,600 metres, moving at dizzying speed towards the north-east without any noise ^[8]. The next day about twenty men of the garrison saw something they said was the same object; Bacellar, who was also watching, thought it was a gull, and that sighting was not reported to the EMA because of the doubt ^[9].

Tomei do filme, examinei-o melhor e, em três negativos e em posições diferentes, notei a presença de uma extranha mancha que mais tarde foi perfeitamente identificada. [Translation: I took the film, examined it more closely and, in three negatives and in different positions, noticed a strange spot that was later perfectly identified.]

— Carlos Alberto Ferreira Bacellar, end-of-command report, Trindade oceanographic post (Portuguese original; English translation ours) [9]

What the Navy said in public

The attaché reported that, immediately after the photographs were published, the Brazilian Navy refused to make any official statement confirming or denying the incident. Proofs from the original negatives had, however, been sent to the other armed forces and to the President by an officer-messenger, and according to the press the story so impressed President Kubitschek that he became convinced it was true ^[3].

On 24 February the Navy Ministry issued a statement, quoted in English in the attaché's report. It denied that the Navy opposed releasing the facts, said it had no motive to stop publication of the photographs, and noted that Baraúna had taken them in the presence of a large number of the ship's crew ^[3].

That day the ship docked at Santos, and the U.S. Assistant Naval Attaché went aboard. The commanding officer, Captain José Santos Saldanha da Gama, had not seen the object and was noncommittal; the executive officer had not seen it either. The attaché also learned that an officer had gone with Baraúna to the darkroom and waited outside the door while the photographer developed the negatives alone ^[3]. On 27 February Federal Deputy Sérgio Magalhães sent a note to the Navy Ministry protesting its failure to secure sworn statements from witnesses; other reports surfaced, including a claim that the crew of the tug Tridente had seen a flying saucer days earlier ^[4].

Clearly, this Ministry will not be able to make any pronouncement concerning the object seen because the photographs do not constitute sufficient proof for such purpose.

— Brazilian Navy Ministry statement, 24 February 1958, as translated in U.S. Naval Attaché report 39-58 [3]

A confidential inquiry, kept at arm's length

On 9 April 1958 the Navy Minister, Admiral Antônio Alves Câmara Júnior, answered the Deputy's formal request (Requerimento nº 2957/58) in Ofício nº 898 to the Chamber of Deputies. He enclosed a copy of the confidential inquiry made by the Naval Staff, which he said answered almost all of the Deputy's questions, together with four photographic copies, and stated that the Ministry had nothing on record about the tug Tridente ^[7].

He explained the silence in the letter's third paragraph: "O fato foi mantido em sigilo para que pudesse ser concluído o inquérito instaurado a respeito, uma vez que a Marinha não poderia, levianamente, tornar público um fato ocorrido em navio seu, sem que antes tivesse feito as necessárias investigações a respeito." [Translation: "The matter was kept secret so that the inquiry opened into it could be concluded, since the Navy could not lightly make public an event that occurred on one of its ships without first having made the necessary investigations."] ^[7]

The inquiry itself is not among the documents reviewed for this story, so its conclusions are not reported here. Popular retellings say the Brazilian Navy and President Kubitschek authenticated the photographs; the documents show the Navy Ministry publicly calling them insufficient proof and privately telling Congress it did not want to be officially linked to the case ^[3][7]. Nor do they support the often-quoted sighting log by Bacellar: his own report says he was in his cabin when the object was reported ^[9].

Outrossim, tratando-se de assunto controvertido, não deseja a Marinha a êle ligar-se, oficialmente, por motivos óbvios. [Translation: Moreover, as this is a controversial matter, the Navy does not wish to be officially linked to it, for obvious reasons.]

— Admiral Antônio Alves Câmara Júnior, Navy Minister, Ofício nº 898 to the Chamber of Deputies, 9 April 1958 (translation ours) [7]

The American verdict

The attaché's report, number 39-58 of 11 March 1958, was prepared by Captain M. Sunderland, USN. He wrote that the story should have proved the existence of an unidentified flying object, but further investigation provided only frustration ^[5]. He saw two explanations: that some overwhelming power had told the Navy neither to verify nor deny the incident, which he did not believe, or that it was a fake publicity stunt by a crooked photographer that the Navy fell for, which he judged most likely ^[5].

He found the land in the photographs extremely sharp but the disc hazy, with little contrast and no shadow effect. The object appeared inverted in photograph 2 compared with 1 and 3, and despite the extremely high speeds mentioned in the papers there was no lateral blurring ^[5]. He closed with a joke that Martians are too comfort-loving for so barren an island ^[5].

Project Blue Book's record card for 16 January 1958 lists the location as "Trinidade, Island", the time as 1200 local and the conclusion as Hoax. It notes that the Brazilian Navy refused to make an official statement, that the Air Force center had been unable to obtain copies of the photos, and that ONI's analysis was that they were a hoax ^[1]. In 1960 the Air Force told a member of the public that the U.S. Navy had evaluated the picture as a hoax and that no witnesses were present while the photographer developed the negatives ^[6]. None of these papers contains a laboratory study of the negatives, and no document reviewed identifies what, if anything, was over the island.

the photographs furnished by the Brazilian Navy are unconvincing

— Capt. M. Sunderland, USN, U.S. Naval Attaché report 39-58, 11 March 1958 [5]

Last fact-checked: 2026-10-03. Every claim cites its source.