The Eugene Thayer shipwreck, which dates back to the Second World War, was the most challenging collection of the Sun-Coral Route project. On April 9, 1942, on its way from Buenos Aires to Capirito in Venezuela, the tanker was intercepted and bombed several times by the Italian submarine Pietro Calvi , which was patrolling the South Atlantic at the time. Of the 37 crew members on board, 11 died trying to abandon ship and the rest were rescued. After two days of burning, the SS Eugene Thayer sank.
Today, this wreck represents the northernmost artificial substrate in Brazil where the presence of sun coral is recorded, an invasive species that quickly adapted to Brazilian waters and spread along our coastline.
Initially, we left Fortaleza at 3 a.m. for the city of Itarema and, after 220 kilometers, we arrived at Porto dos Barcos. The diving operation was the responsibility of instructor Paulo Roberto (Siará Scuba Dive) and the Rambo Dive team, who were responsible for getting us safely to our destination.
The fishing boat had cables stretched across the boat to help us move around in the heavy Ceará sea. After 23 miles of driving and humpback whale watching, we arrived at the SS Eugene Thayer, which lies under an extensive sandbank at a depth of 18 meters.
Anchoring is done in the wreck under a strong surface current with the divers descending on the cable. Visibility was over 20 meters and the temperature was 28ºC. As we started the dive, we began to see the two species of sun coral scattered all over the tanker, predominantly at the bow and stern.
We collected 25 colonies of each species and, in addition to this invader, we found the lionfish. It is a highly predatory species that feeds on a variety of prey, mainly reef fish and shrimp, whose presence causes an ecological imbalance in marine communities.
On the way back, we also climbed up the cable, and the safety stop was made at 5 meters under a strong current. Once on the boat, we carried out the tissue biopsy process, followed by the necessary refrigeration and a beautiful sunset. To everyone's delight, we were greeted with a Northeastern pirão and a tuna steak prepared by the fishermen.
We returned to the pier at around 9pm with a sense of accomplishment. That's because we visited a relic of the Second World War, a wreck that very few divers have ever been to due to the difficult access.
Karine Venegas Macieira
