Naufrágio Beberibe (U19)

The Beberibe began life as USS Herzog (DE-178), a destroyer escort built in New Jersey, in the United States, and commissioned into the US Navy on 6 October 1943. It was one of eight destroyers handed over to the Brazilian Navy after an agreement between the two governments in 1943: it left the US Navy on 1 August 1944 and was commissioned into the Brazilian Navy as Beberibe on 4 August. The name comes from a river that runs through Recife and which, in Tupi-Guarani, would mean "river flown over by birds". Still in 1944, it took part in the first all-Brazilian convoy, on the Rio–Trinidad–Rio route, and over its service in the Brazilian Navy it sailed 220,908 miles. On 7 February 1964, it was reclassified as an Aviso Oceânico (ocean dispatch vessel) and given the pennant U19.

On 8 February 1966, it sailed from Rio de Janeiro to Ilha da Trindade, carrying personnel and resupply material for the oceanographic station. On the 11th, anchored in heavy seas and unloading material ashore, it suffered a failure in one of its engines and, while manoeuvring, broke an anchor chain and lost an anchor. Unable to manoeuvre, it was driven by the wind and waves onto the reefs in front of the anchorage, next to Praia da Calheta; there were no casualties, and the crew abandoned ship safely. The Navy sent the tug Tritão, the corvette Ipiranga and the destroyer Pará for rescue and salvage, but on 3 March 1966, given the very poor conditions at the site, the team gave up on saving the ship and removed much of its equipment.

Today, because of the force of the sea, the ship is broken up into small fragments, few parts are identifiable and much of the wreckage is exposed at low tide. Among the wreckage on the bottom are the remains of an auxiliary boiler, starting-air cylinders and even a urinal, as well as two sections of the shaft and what is left of the propeller, with its three blades broken. The stern, still with much of the steering gear, lies in the surf zone, little explored because of the sea. The bottom is a bank of calcareous algae, and the ship's chains are already fused to it. Less than 50 m from the Beberibe, on the island's anchorage side, lies another wreck, the Chinese fishing vessel Hwa Shing. Some of the ship's parts are on display on the island, such as the spare anchor, kept in the museum. In the Trindade region, marine life is intense, with many fish species, some endemic to the island, and passing fish such as dourados, garoupas and garoupetas; there are also tubarões-lixa and reef sharks, and tubarões-tigre of about 3 m have been seen.