May 2, 2022

10:05

Ricardo Oliveira – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – The historic steamboat Benjamin, whose last trip was in 1995 on the waters of the Rio Negro, can be transformed into an important space of memory of navigation in the Amazon, if there is interest from the public power or private initiative to invest in its recovery. At least, this is the expectation of its owner, Dahilton Cabral. He says that he is open to partnerships and that a Memorial to the History of Navigation in the Amazon, with Benjamin as a symbol, would be an extra tourist attraction, besides its historical value.

“The Benjamin is being recovered in the part of the plates, which were changed. It even floats. The idea is to get it working again. We are open to tourism projects for our region. If we have some kind of financial support, we could finish the renovation of this important historical ship, a landmark for steam navigation in the Amazon. Investment in tourism is for the long term. I am always open to partnerships for our land”, says Cabral, who is also the owner of the first steamboat in the Amazon, the Justo Chemont.

With 55 meters from bow to stern and nine meters high, Benjamin is starting to be recovered after almost three decades resting in the middle of a bush and a lot of garbage, at the edge of Avenida Lourenço da Silva Braga, known as Manaus Moderna. It was very important for transporting passengers and extractivism products between Acre and Amazonas.

History

Launched in the waters in 1905, it made its first trip in 1912, initially “baptized” as Baturité. Wood-fired, it was built in the United States on order from the shipping company Nicolaus & Cia.

The traditional steamer has a strong history with the state of Acre, since, in the rubber boom period, between the 19th and 20th centuries, it made hundreds of trips taking supplies and families between the route Belém – Rio Branco – Belém, always passing through Manaus. Although it is no longer able to make great journeys as it once did, it can serve society again as an attraction, a symbol of the golden age of rubber in the Amazon, when it sailed through the three states.

‘Rare jewel’

Cabral also owns the Justo Chermon, a 48m² boat built in 1895 in England. “In the past, we took tourists and extractive goods to the rubber plantations on the Rio Negro,” he says. For him, both boats are part of his own history. “The past is a legacy of the history I have lived through. And I have a love for preserving history. I saw the streetcars being taken as scrap metal to the south of the country. I also saw pieces of the streetcars thrown on the riverbank. A past that we throw away. The ships are a rare jewel.

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