Arará
Brazilian Steam merchant
| Name | Arará | ||
| Type: | Steam merchant | ||
| Tonnage | 1,075 tons | ||
| Completed | 1907 - R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie & Co Ltd, Hebburn-on-Tyne | ||
| Owner | Cia Serras de Navegação e Comércio, Rio de Janeiro | ||
| Homeport | Rio de Janeiro | ||
| Date of attack | 17 Aug 1942 | Nationality:  Brazilian | |
| Fate | Sunk by U-507 (Harro Schacht) | ||
| Position | 13° 20'S, 38° 49'W - Grid FJ 8749 | ||
| Complement | 36 (20 dead and 16 survivors). | ||
| Convoy | |||
| Route | Salvador, Bahia - Santos, São Paulo | ||
| Cargo | Scrap iron | ||
| History | Completed in March 1907 as Russian Beshtau for Russian Steam Navigation & Trading Co, Odessa. 1925 sold to Brazil and renamed Providencia for Carbonífera Próspera Ltda, Rio de Janeiro. 1933 renamed Serra Azul for Cia Serras de Navegação e Comércio, Rio de Janeiro. 1935 renamed Arará for the same owner. | ||
| Notes on event | At 18.03 hours on 17 Aug 1942 the Arará (Master José Coelho Gomes) was hit amidships by one torpedo from U-507, just after she stopped to pick up the survivors of Itagiba, which had been sunk by the same U-boat about two hours earlier. They had lowered two lifeboats for the rescue efforts and already picked up 18 survivors, when a lookout spotted a torpedo wake approaching the ship, but had no chance to evade with stopped engines and sank almost immediately after being hit about 9 miles off the São Paulo Lighthouse, Bahia. The survivors of both ships landed at the coast the next morning, went to the small village of Valença the following day and were taken to Salvador aboard the Rio Grande do Sul (C 11). The sinking of five Brazilian ships by U-507 with over 500 casualties within two days, led to the Brazilian declaration of war against Germany on 22 Aug 1942. | ||
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