SS ''Arabutan'' was the fifth Brazilian merchant ship to be sunk during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. At 21.10 hours on 7 March 1942, the German submarine fired a stern torpedo that hit the ''Arabutan'' (Master Aníbal Alfredo do Prado) after 102 seconds and caused it to sink in 13 minutes about 81 miles off Cape Hatteras, at 35.15N/73.55W. The ship had been spotted one hour earlier but no neutrality markings were noticed. One crew member, the nurse Manoel Florêncio Coimbra was lost, he probably was killed by the explosion while sleeping in his cabin. The master, 50 crew members, three sailors from the Brazilian tanker ''Itamarati'' and a survivor from ''Buarque'' abandoned ship in four lifeboats which were sighted about six hours later by aircraft. On 8 March, the

US Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, multi ...

cutter picked up the survivors and landed them at Little Creek, Virginia after sinking their boats as a hazard to navigation.

References

Bibliography

* Sander, Roberto. ''O Brasil na mira de Hitler: a história do afundamento de navios brasileiros pelos nazistas''. Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, 2007. * Wynn, Kenneth G. ''U-Boat Operations of the Second World War Volume 2: Career Histories''. United States Naval Inst Press, 1998 {{DEFAULTSORT:Arabutan (1942) 1917 ships Standard World War I ships Ships built in the San Francisco Bay Area World War II merchant ships of Brazil World War I merchant ships of the United Kingdom Merchant ships of Brazil Merchant ships of Italy Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II Maritime incidents in March 1942 World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean