The most intriguing UFO encounters are those that have been witnessed by many people at the same time.
One such mysterious incident called as UFO Encounter of Trinidad supposedly took place at a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean, producing photographs and testimony that have been criticized.
Trinidad Island
The island is a 3.9 square-mile rough slash of volcanic rock lying in the middle of nowhere.
Its only inhabitants an oceanographic post and a meteorological station run by the Hydrography and Navigation Division of the Ministry of the Brazilian Navy, and the Almirante Saldanha had been brought here for Naval oceanographic research as part of the International Geophysical Year project.
Aboard the vessel were Captain José Teobaldo Viegas, various scientists, and a civilian photographer Almiro Baraúna, brought aboard to take underwater pictures for the voyage, as well as some other civilian reporters and assistants.
Tale of UFO Encounter of Trinidad
On January 16, 1958, the Brazilian ship Almirante Saldanha was off the coast of the remote island of Trindade, around 680 miles from the east coast of Brazil.
The ship was prepared to head back towards Rio de Janeiro.
Around midday, people present on the deck observed something mysterious in the sky approaching the island from the east and flying towards the “Pico Desejado” (Wished Peak).
The object was described as gray, metallic, and shiny.
The unknown object was roughly spherical in shape and seemed to have a ring around it as well as a greenish, phosphorescent vapor wreathing it.
It was moving at such high speed that it was obvious to those who saw it, including the photographer Baraúna and Captain Viegas himself, that this was no normal aircraft.
The deck was full of sailors and officers. Suddenly, Mr. Amilar Vieira and Captain Viegas called me, pointing to a certain spot in the sky and yelling about a bright object which was approaching the island. At this same moment, when I was still trying to see what it was, Lieutenant Homero, the ship’s dentist, came from the bow toward us, running, pointing out to the sky and also yelling about an object he was sighting. He was so disturbed and excited that he almost fell down after colliding with a cable. Then I was finally able to locate the object, by the flash (of light) emitted by it. It was already close to the island. It glittered at certain moments, perhaps changing its own light – I don’t know. It was coming over the sea, moving toward the point called the Galo Crest
Baraúna
The unidentified object hovered over the peak for a few moments before vanishing behind it for a moment and then reappearing, after which it continued its enigmatic journey out over the forlorn sea.
This incident took place as the crew glared in awed fascination, as Baraúna was a professional photographer he snapped a series of four pictures of the mysterious object.
I had my Rolleiflex 2.8, Model E, which was kept inside an aluminum box for protection against the corrosive effects of water and salt. I had left my Leica with a telephoto lens in my cabin a few moments before. I had lost thirty seconds looking for the object, but the camera was already in my hands, ready when I sighted it clearly silhouetted against the clouds. I shot two photos before it disappeared behind the peak Desejado. My camera was set at a speed of 125 [125th of a second], with the aperture at f/8, and this was the cause of an overexposure error, as I discovered later.
Baraúna
The object remained out of sight for a few seconds – behind the peak – reappearing bigger in size and flying in the opposite direction, but lower and closer than before, and moving at a higher speed. I shot the third photo.
The fourth and fifth ones were lost, not only because of the speed the saucer was moving, but also for another reason: In the confusion produced as a result of the sighting, I was being pulled and pushed by other persons also trying to spot the object and, as a consequence, photographed the sea and the island only – not the object. It was moving out to sea again, in the direction from which it had come, and it appeared to stop in midair for a brief time. At that moment I shot my last photo (the last on the film). After about ten seconds, the object continued to increase its distance from the ship, gradually diminishing in size and finally disappearing into the horizon.Baraúna
As the unidentified object was gone, the commander of the ship ordered the negatives to be procured as soon as possible and they were saw was thrilling.
Many of the crew members reported that the ship had experienced technical malfunctions during and after the encounter as if the mysterious craft was influencing the ship’s electrical systems either accidentally or intentionally.
According to the rumors I heard at the deck, the electronic equipment of the ship stopped working during the apparition of the object; what I can confirm is that after the ship left the island, the equipment malfunctioned three more times and the officials didn’t have any plausible explanation for what was happening. Every time the ship stopped, the lights weakened slowly until the point they completely went out. When this happened, the officials would walk to the deck with their binoculars, however, the sky was clouded and they couldn’t see anything.
Baraúna
Once the crew got back to Rio, Baraúna was interviewed by many naval officials regarding the pictures he took of the unidentified object.
The military wanted to know the details and was very interested in analyzing the photographs, which apparently impressed them and were deemed to be genuine after exhaustive testing by the Laboratório de Reconhecimento Aéreo da Marinha, which is the Brazilian Navy’s Aerial Reconnaissance Laboratory.
I was interviewed by several high-staff officers, who asked me all kinds of questions. I went there twice. At the first meeting, they requested the negatives for examination. They were sent to a civilian organization, the Cruzeiro do Sul Aerophoto gram metric Service, remaining there for four days. I was told by the Navy officers that the analyses proved they were genuine -excluding definitely the possibility of a trick or falsification. On the second visit, they performed several time-tests. While I worked with my Rolleiflex, taking shots at the same time intervals I had used to photograph the object, three Navy officers with chronometers registered the times. They came to the conclusion – based on these tests as well as on studies concerning the ship’s position and examinations of charts of the island – that the object was flying at a speed between 900 and 1,000 km./hour [about 600 mph]. The object’s size was also estimated on the basis of studies related to the island’s details also appearing on the photos, diagrams drawn on charts, graphs, et cetera. The object was about 120 feet in diameter and about 24 feet high.
Baraúna
They were published in Brazilian news publications and in the media at large.
The pictures led to heated debates and discussions, the Brazilian Navy stayed quiet neither confirming nor denying the alleged incident.
The negatives were still viral among the people and with all the attention of the media Navy Ministry was forced to say something on the matter, giving a typical government opaque and ambiguous statement that reads:
With reference to the reports appearing in the press that the Navy is opposed to divulge the facts concerning the appearance of a strange object over Trindade Island, this Cabinet declares that such information has no basis. This Ministry has no motive to impede the release of photographs of the referred-to object, taken by Mr. Almiro Barauna, who was at Trindade Island at the invitation of the Navy, and in the presence of a large number of the crew of Almirante Saldanha from whose deck the photographs were taken. 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.
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