16th to 18th century The Trindade and Martim Vaz Islands were discovered in 1502 by Portuguese navigators led by
Estêvão da Gama, and along with Brazil, became part of the
Portuguese Empire. Many visitors have been to Martim Vaz, the most famous of whom was the English astronomer
Edmund Halley, who took possession of the island on behalf of the
British Monarchy in 1700. Wild goats and hogs, descendants of ones set free by Halley, were still found on Martim Vaz in 1939. , a 198-ton, 12-gun
cutter-rigged
sloop, was wrecked on Trindade on 21 October 1781, shortly after Commander
Philippe d'Auvergne had taken over command.
Rattlesnake had been ordered to survey the island to ascertain whether it would make a useful base for outward-bound
Indiamen. She anchored, but that evening the wind increased and by seven o’clock she was dragging. Two hours later the first cable parted and Commander d’Auvergne
club-hauled his way out, setting main and fore sails, and using the remaining anchor cable as a spring. This successfully put
Rattlesnake’s head to seaward. The remaining cable was then cut, and the sloop wore round and stood out to sea. However the ground now shallowed quite rapidly and suddenly
Rattlesnake struck a submerged rock. She started filling with water, so, in order to preserve the lives of the crew, d'Auvergne ran her ashore.
Commodore Johnstone on board had previously wished to colonise the island and claim it for Britain, so d'Auvergne agreed to stay on the tiny island with 30 sailors, 20 captured French sailors, one French woman, some animals and supplies. They were resupplied by another ship in January 1782, then they appear to have been forgotten, as they lived on the tiny island for a year until and a convoy of Indiamen, which fortuitously called there, rescued them in late December 1782. Johnstone had made a naval base in Trindade, so Portugal reacted. They sent the 64-gun
Nossa Senhora dos Prazeres, commanded by
Captain of sea and war José de Melo, with 150 soldiers and artillery, but the British had already abandoned the Island. In 1889,
Edward Frederick Knight went treasure hunting on the island. He was unsuccessful but he wrote a detailed description of the island and his expedition, titled
The Cruise of the Alerte. In 1893 another
Franco-American,
James Harden-Hickey, claimed the island and declared himself as James I,
Prince of Trinidad. According to James Harden-Hickey's plans, Trinidad, after being recognized as an independent country, would become a
military dictatorship and have him as dictator. He designed postage stamps, a national flag, and a coat of arms; established a
chivalric order, the "Cross of Trinidad"; bought a schooner to transport colonists; appointed
M. le Comte de la Boissiere as
secretary of state; opened a
consular office at 217
West 36th Street in New York City; and even issued government bonds to finance construction of infrastructure on the island. Despite his plans, his idea was ridiculed or ignored by the world. In July 1895, the British again tried to take possession of this strategic position in the Atlantic. reinstated Trindade Island to Brazilian sovereignty. In order to clearly demonstrate sovereignty over the island, now part of the State of
Espírito Santo and the municipality of
Vitória, a landmark was built on 24 January 1897. Nowadays, Brazilian presence is marked by a permanent Brazilian Navy base on the main island. In July 1910 the ship
Terra Nova carrying the last
expedition of Captain
Robert Falcon Scott to the Antarctic arrived at the island, at the time uninhabited. Some members of Scott's expedition explored the island with scientific purposes, and a description of it is included in
The Worst Journey in the World, by
Apsley Cherry-Garrard, one of the members of the expedition. In August 1914, the
Imperial German Navy established a supply base for its warships off Trindade. On 14 September 1914, the
Royal Navy auxiliary cruiser fought the German off Trindade in the
Battle of Trindade.
Carmania sank
Cap Trafalgar, but sustained severe damage herself.
21st century Trindade was a
port passing mark for the
2022 Golden Globe Race, a single-handed round-the-world yacht race. In March 2023, plastic rocks called
plastistone were found on Trindade. ==Gallery==