Nelcy da Silva Campus

Nelcy da Silva Campos was born in Recife on 21 January 1931. He worked for 25 years as a tugboat captain at Port Recife. His father’s name was Nélson Campos and he also worked at Port Recife. It was from his father that he learned this craft.

Nelcy married Luíza de Carvalho Campos and together they had four children: Nancy, Nelcy Filho, Lucy and Kildare.

He also had two other children – Pedro Henrique Costa Campos and Cybelle Costa Campos – from an extramarital relationship.

On 12 May 1985, the oil tanker Jatobá (owned by the shipping company Flumar), carrying 1500 tons of butane gas – the well-known gas for cooking – was in flames: one of its three tanks in the engine room had exploded at 1:30am.

Despite all its efforts, the fire department could not extinguish the fire; the flames were 20 metres high.

If the Jatobá were to explode, it would be a great tragedy; all that was within a five-kilometre radius would be destroyed. It is worth mentioning that 500 meters from the oil tanker was the Brum Tank Park, where 153,000 cubic metres of flammable products were stored.

Thus, together with the Palace of the Princesses and the entire Historical Centre of Recife, the following districts of the city would all explode: Santo Antônio, Recife, Boa Vista, Brasília Teimosa and Pina.

Called in urgently from his house by the port authorities, Nelcy arrived at the port at 2 o’clock in the morning on a Sunday. The towing operation was very difficult and took a lot of courage. Distributing orders, he even sawed two of the nine cables of the tanker, which was anchored in Warehouse A-1.

Commanding of the tugboat Saveiro, he used a 200-metre cable and towed the ablaze Jatobá far from the dock, four miles (six kilometres) off the coast. The flames of the ship lasted for more than 15 hours.

At the request of shipping agents, Nelcy also removed another Norwegian-flagged ship, which was two hundred meters from the Jatoba, carrying butadiene gas (highly explosive) and already releasing thick rolls of smoke. The ship was left well away from the danger area. Luckily, the accident had no casualties; it only caused material damage.

The then governor Roberto Magalhães, to honour the captain hero, waited for him in the port of Recife at 11 o’clock in the morning. Nelcy Campos, however, did not ask for recognition. When he arrived, he declared: I have never been in such a difficult and dangerous situation, but I thought of the people. Even though I knew I might die, I left for the operation.

At that time, the main means of mass media – radio, local newspapers and national journals – publicised the incident, extolling the courage of Nelcy da Silva Campos.

Victim of a chronic illness, on 27 September 1990, the hero tugboat captain died.

Almost two decades after his death, on 29 September 2003, in a ceremony celebrating World Maritime Day, the Third Naval Command of the Brazilian Navy ordered a marble bust to be erected in his honour, next to the Maritime Passenger Terminal in Marco Zero Square, the place where the construction of the city of Recife was initiated.

The statue that honours him was by the Pernambuco sculptor Demétrio Albuquerque. It has a bust made of marble and a triangular base, measures 1.5m in height, and symbolises the keel of a ship. On this basis, a metal plaque (with the profile of the Navy emblem) is observed and a few words describing what happened.

With all the deserved honours, therefore, the memory of Nelcy da Silva Campos was rescued as that of a “Contemporary Pernambuco Hero”.



 

Recife, 14 November 2003.

(Updated on 23 April 2008).

Translated by Peter Leamy, December 2016.