Vapor do Paracuru

The Glenlogan was a 925-ton English iron steamer, launched in 1877 by the Barrow Shipbuilding Company, of the Merchant Steamship Company of Liverpool, which ran the New York–Rio de Janeiro route with cargo and mail. In 1881 it was sailing from New York to Natal carrying spirits, turpentine, 15,000 cases of kerosene and railway wagons for the Natal railway. Abandoned and on fire, the ship drifted north; jangada crews from Mucuripe reached it but could not board because of the heat of the hull, and it sank off Paracuru. For decades the wreck was known only as Vapor do Paracuru, until it was identified as the Glenlogan in April 2024 by cross-checking newspapers of the time, with the cargo of train wheels as the decisive clue.

In the holds, train axles and wheels still lie in rows, remains of the cargo, and a mooring bollard bears marks of metal melted by the fire. The four-bladed propeller, with blades over 1.8 m, is still in place at the stern, and the admiralty-type anchor remains fixed against the port side. Turtles, rays and dense schools of sardines and other fish live on the wreck.