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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY
GENERAL STAFF OF THE FLEET
SUBDIVISION OF INFORMATION
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SUBJECT:
1. Clarification of the
observation of unidentified flying objects sighted on
the island of Trinidad, in the
period of 12/5/57 to 1/16/58.
OCCURRENCES:
1. Captain of Corvette Carlos
Alberto Ferreira Bacellar, Commandant of the
Oceanographic Station of the Island of Trinidad
submitted the following information to the General
Staff of the Fleet on January 27 of the current year
[1958].
I - That he knew of the sighting, over the island, of
the passage of an unidentified flying object, on
12/21/57, seen by the Medical Officer, 1st Lieutenant
Ignacio Carlos Moreira Murta, by one crewman and by
five workmen, during the morning, about 10 minutes
before 8 o'clock; and that in view of the conviction
of the observers and the agreement of the information
reported, he had resolved to communicate by radio,
which brought about the present verification;
II - That on this occasion he found out that an
identical object had been seen previously, on 12/5/57,
by a workman, also in the morning at approximately the
same time.
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III
- That on the following day, 1/1/58, at the same
time in the same location and with a direction
approximately northward (the same as in the previous
cases) something appeared, moving with incredible
velocity. In spite of the affirmations of
various crewmen, he believed, and still believes,
that it was a sea gull, in spite of the brilliance
which it presented at a certain point of the
trajectory; his doubt originates from the fact that
the object -- or gull -- was projected against the
sky, producing, in his opinion, a stereoscopic
effect;
IV - That posteriorly, on 1/2/58, a new alert had
been given, this time at night, at about 10:00 pm,
an alert to which he gave no importance, because he
himself was on watch and had seen nothing.
V - That finally, on the morning of 1/16/58, on
board the ship NE "Admiral Saldanha," then anchored
next to the island, and at the moment carrying out
the operation of hoisting the launch, another alert
of the UFO had been given, simultaneously by
personnel in the prow and in the stern of the ship.
VI - That, on this last occasion, a professional
photographer, civilian, who was on deck in the stern
of the ship, ready to photograph the operation of
hoisting the launch, advised and alerted about the
UFO, had the opportunity to take four photographs
which are shown.
3
VII
- That, after having taken the above-mentioned
photographs, the photographer, in the presence of CC
Bacellar and other persons, took the roll of film
from the machine; later, in company of this official
he went to the dark room of the ship (improvised in
the head of the infirmary), dressed as he was in
shirt and shorts, and where he remained only ten
minutes, presenting at once the negative of the film
to CC Bacellar, who affirms having seen the
above-mentioned UFO represented on the negative,
although with much less clarity because the
film was somewhat dark;
VIII -
That, posteriorly, when the above-mentioned
photographs were shown to persons on the ship who
witnessed the phenomenon, they recognized the image
represented in the photograph as identical to that
which they saw in the air;
XXI
- That the person who called the attention of the
photographer to take the photographs was a retired
Aviation Captain of the Brazilian Air Force, then on
the ship coordinating an amateur group of divers
specializing in submarine fishing, also a specialty
of the photographer;
X - That the whole process of taking photographs
must not have lasted more than thirty seconds;
XI - That, finally, there was observed, in a marked
way, a strong emotional state in the photographer as
well as in the persons who saw the UFO.
4
2. Immediately CC Bacellar
related a phenomenon observed by him personally
during his stay on the Island, twice, with the aid
of a precision theodolite, during the day and
witnessed by other persons, in the following terms:
I
- That he was observing a sounding
balloon when he became aware of the falling of the
transmitter, a falling clearly recognized by the
signals heard on the receiver and by the line traced
on the recorder;
II
- That after the above-mentioned falling
the sounding balloon must have burst, since the
average duration of a balloon is 40 minutes, after
which it bursts because of having reached great
height;
III
- That the sounding balloon in accompaniment
was concealed at 14,000 meters of altitude,
approximately, when it lost the transmitter, and
that immediately afterward he observed a point in
the sky at about 30º, on the horizontal of the
point in which the balloon had disappeared upon
passing behind a
cloud;
IV
- That seen through the theodolite the
point observed presented a strange shape of a half
moon, with a certain reflection of light, the
phenomenon remaining for 3 hours and a half, the
object apparently moving with the same angular
velocity as the sun;
V
- That the point only failed to be
seen when the sky began to be covered with cirrus
clouds;
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VI
- That he had not been able to explain
what he had observed, considering the duration of
the sounding balloons, the shape and illumination of
the object and the state of the sky (moon, stars),
leaving no margin for doubt;
VII
- That, finally, the phenomenon was also
witnessed by the Doctor, various crewmen and by a
civil functionary of the DHN
2. The one who took the
photographs, professional photographer Almiro
Barauna, residing on Praia dc Icarái 251,
Apartment 1004, in Niterói, heard in this
General Staff of the Fleet (headquarters), declared
the following;
I
- That he was on the deck, in the stern,
of the ship NE "Admiral Saldanha" when he was called
to see a strange object, which he succeeded in
seeing after watching a short while;
II
- That, immediately after seeing the
object, he aimed his camera, taking six photographs
successively;
III
- That, at once, having no more film, he
took the used roll out of the machine and remained
almost an hour with the roll in his hands, waiting
for the strong emotional state in which he found
himself to pass; then, he went to the dark room to
develop the film, by then accompanied by CC
Bacellar;
IV
- That he was in said dark room for the
space of 10 minutes, approximately, accompanied only
by the Aviation Captain already mentioned, who
served him as aid. When the developing was
finished, he brought the still damp file to
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CC Bacellar, thinking that the object which had been
photographed had not appeared on the developed
film. This impression was contradicted by CC
Bacellar himself, who showed him certain spots which
could be the object in question;
V
- That, immediately afterward, he put
the film away until his return to Rio de Janeiro,
when, in his laboratory, he made several enlarged
copies; the UFO showed up well only on two plates,
because the negative was quite dark;
VI
- In order to improve the negatives, he
performed the operation known as "reduction," an
operation which consists in lightening all the
negative equally. However, as on two places
the UFO was already visible and, fearful of losing
them in case he should not succeed, he cut the roll
of file and submitted to the process only the four
negatives, the UFO having, then, appeared on two of
them, and in different dimensions, form
and position;
VII
- That, seeing the UFO with the naked
eye, he had had the impression of a solid body, with
indefinite contours, of great mobility and
manageability at high speed, of imprecise color
because it seemed to be wrapped in a substance which
he compares to "soapsuds;" it also gave the
impression of leaving a wake of like appearance and
it made no noise when it moved;
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VIII -
That he became profoundly moved with what he saw,
having even felt difficulty during the process of
developing the film, caused his nervous state;
IX
- That he put his negatives at the
disposition of the General Staff for all the
examinations judged necessary for proof of
authenticity.
4. From the declarations made,
according to the above report, we summarize the
following principal facts:
a) Observed, above the Island Of
Trinidad, by different persons, the appearance of
UFO four times, three in the morning and one at
night;
b) Observed, by CC Bacellar and by
other persons, in the morning, once, what he thought
to be a sea gull, in spite of crewman (SGs and MNs)
who were with him and affirmed it to be a UFO;
c) Observed, twice over the
Island, by his then Military Commandant, Superior
Officer of the Fleet, a hydrographer experienced in
meteorology and in radiosounding operations, and by
other persons, a phenomenon which he, CC Bacellar,
could not explain satisfactorily;
d) Obtained, on board the NE
"Admiral Saldanha," when it was anchored off the
Island of Trinidad, on its return to Rio, four
photographs of the UFO, by a civilian professional
photographer, in the presence of other persons who
affirm having seen the photographed object.
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ANALYSIS:
1. The analysis of the preceding
facts shows:
a) That of the five observations
of the UFO four were during the day and one at
night.
b) That of the five observations
of the UFO only one was witnessed by CC Bacellar,
who prefers to accept the hypothesis of having seen
a gull;
c) That the persons who affirm
having seen the UFO are of various qualifications --
workmen, sailors, dentist, doctor, aviator, officer
and professional photographer;
d) That no officer of the Fleet
saw the phenomena related above, with the exception
of those narrated by CC Bacellar;
e) That in all cases a very strong
emotional state was noted on the part of those who
witnessed the appearance of the UFO, including the
professional photographer, a man accustomed to
submarine
photographs. There was even a case of a
workman, a young considered normal, who ran away in
fright;
f) That the testimonies, in spite
of the great difficulty in obtaining them from
personnel for the most part of rudimentary
education, are in agreement as to; Form -- from the
now classic Disc, although irregular, tending
to tear-shaped. Seen from below,
according to observers who saw it when it passed
over the Island on 12/31/57, it presented a
hexagonal rounded form. Seen from a distance,
it presented
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the shape of a disc, with protuberances on the upper
and lower parts;
Color -- For
some, indefinite; for others, of stainless
steel;
Sound --
Unanimously the witnesses affirm not having
heard any sound;
Discharges
-- Some affirm having seen a discharge,
in the form of a fine white trace
against the sky; others say they saw
nothing in this respect;
Dimensions -- No observer succeeded in
estimating dimensions, including the
aviator and the photographer.
Velocity -- All are unanimous in
recognizing that the UFO was
endowed with very great
velocity, without being able to
estimate it however.
Mobility -- All
witnesses agree in
recognizing great mobility;
the movements noted are not
continuous, like those of
airplanes, but much more
rapid and brusque;
Manageability
-- Also all recognized
great manageability in
the observed object;
Altitude
and distance -- Only the
observers of
12/31/57, when the
UFO was seen passing
over the island
estimated the
altitude, comparing
it with the height
of Desejado Peak,
approximately three
times that height,
or 1800 meters;
Appearance -- A
solid body, of
indefinite
contours;
Time of
observation --
Very short,
estimated
always in
seconds.
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g)
That the
personnel who
saw the UFO
know perfectly
how to
identify an
airplane, as
when planes
fly over the
Island,
communications
were made to
the DHN;
h)
That under the
circumstances
in which the
photographs
were taken and
immediately
developed, the
atmosphere in
which this was
done and the
state of the
photographer,
as well as the
time during
which this
work lasted,
all indicate
that no
photographic
montage was
done;
i)
That regarding
the
photographic
proof,
undeniable of
greatest value
and importance
there remain
as:
Negative
factors
I - No copy of
the film was
made at the
moment of
developing;
II - The
negative,
after
developing,
was not kept
intact by the
Commandant of
the ship;
III - The work
of copying and
enlargement
was made by
the
photographer
in his own
laboratory.
Positive
factors
I - The
testimony of
CC Bacellar
that he saw
the
recently-developed
and still damp
file, the
marks that he
later
identified on
the copies as
the object
photographed
and that the
film contained
the previous
photographs of
the hoisting
of the launch;
II - The
testimony of
persons who
saw the object
and who,
seeing the
copies of the
photographs
affirm having
seen exactly
that which
appears in the
photograph;
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j)
That with
respect to the
negatives,
they were
submitted to
examination by
the technician
of the DHN and
by technicians
of Aerial
Photography
Survey Service
of airline
Cruzeiro do
Sul, with the
following
results:
I - The
technician of
the DHN, after
making the
examinations,
affirms:
the negatives
are natural,
of the object
photographed;
II - The
technicians of
Cruzeiro,
after more
complete and
thorough
examinations,
including
microscopic,
for then
verification
of signs,
luminosity and
details of
contour,
affirm:
- There was on
the
above-mentioned
negatives no
sign of
montage, all
indicating it
to be a
negative of
the object
really
photographed;
- Any
hypothesis of
posterior
montagem was
removed;
- It would be
impossible to
prove either
the existence
or
nonexistence
of anterior
montage, which
requires,
however,
extreme
technical
skill and
circumstances
favorable to
its execution.
CONCLUSIONS
1.
In view of the
presentation
of the facts
and the
analysis
carried out
and expressed
above, it can
be concluded:
A - That there
are
innumerable
witnesses who
affirm having
seen UFOs over
the Island of
Trinidad.
These
witnesses are
of various
categories,
and the
appearances
occurred on
different
days.
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B - That the
testimonies
presented are
fallible,
owing
principally to
the little
preparation of
the majority
of observers
and the
rapidity with
which the
phenomenon
passed,
nothing can be
stated
conclusively,
therefore, as
to positive
data about the
UFOs.
C - That the
strongest and
most valid
testimony
offered, that
of the
photographer,
loses its
definitively
convincing
character
given the
technical
impossibility
of proving if
there was or
not previous
photographic
montage.
D - That,
finally, the
existence of
personal
testimonies
and of a
photographer,
of some value
given the
circumstances
involved
permit the
admission that
there are
indications of
the existence
of the UFO.
3/2/58
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