6. São Fitzcarrald and the Naughts Arms Race: illustrated history of landships, 1858-2008
All Rights Reserved, 2023. See author's note.
Author’s note: As far as we are aware, all images are taken from public domain sources; please inform the author of any mistakes in this regard. In terms of any original sketches, these are amateur attempts based on the author’s own archival research. He welcomes improvement from any professional illustrators interested in enhancing this work. ~ CAH, 2023
In memory of Dad, who taught me a love for all things historical, and in homage to William Pène du Bois, who opened up my imagination.
Part One: Introduction and the Great Gravitational Shift
Part Two: The Sally Ann and Westward Expansion
Part Three: The Boudreaux Circus Ship and Reconstruction
Part Four: HML Transvaal and British Colonialism
Part Five: Le Maréchal Murat and the Helium Wars
The São Fitzcarrald, 1904
The São Fitzcarrald was a joint venture between the government of Brazil and an international rubber company, helping lead to the worldwide run on landships.
Class & Type: Rio de Janeiro, dreadnaught (only one built)
Crew: 12 officers, c. 120 enlisted
Capacity/Complement: one dozen Rubber Company Policia
Construction: São Paulo Landshipyards, Brasileiro-Zacharias Industries, 1904
Hull: steel
Buoyancy: 10 x helium Zeppelins, rigid, attached
Buoyancy source: internal pumps, replenished in port
Wheels/track: 6 x tracks, 7 wheels each
Propulsion: powered tracks
Sail Plan: n/a
Power plant: coal-powered steam turbines
Length: 275 ft
Beam: 48 ft
Decks: 6, incl. flag tower and “keel hole” deck
Weight (empty): 308 tons
Clearance: 4 ft
Steering: tracked, basic differential system
Speed: 5-6 mph
Armor: 4” hull, 3” gun casements and superstructure
Armament: 3 x 12” guns, 8 x 6” guns, 8 x Nordenfelt Rifles
Communications: flags; speaking tubes
Other Transportation: n/a, rafts
Amenities: company store
Fate: broke up on way to Argentina, 1911
When the average lay person thinks of landship excesses, they often have in mind the gaudy dreadnought era with their multiple smoke stacks and towering superstructures. It is true these huge early landships did no favors for either the environment or for the nations they purported to defend.
The forerunner of this era was the São Fitzcarrald of Brazil, setting a new standard in size and ambition. This sparked the landship race of the early 1900s, most notably in Europe, ending in the disasters of 1914-18. Ironically, the São Fitzcarrald never saw combat apart from the tragic mutiny by her own crew in 1911, known to history as the Revolt of the Chains.
The origins of the São Fitzcarrald are unique, and sadly part of the cynical corporate greed which helped lead to reforms across so much of the West in the Progressive Ear. The São Fitzcarrald was first pitched to the Brazilian government by international arms dealer, Vasileios Zacharias, who was simultaneously pitching the same plans for a large landship to the Argentinian army.
While the Argentinians eventually passed on the idea, the Brazilians took it up in 1901, with the promise that it would be built in the São Paulo landshipyards and named after the city. Nevertheless, many of the ship parts, including the large guns, would be built in factories connected to Zacharias in the United States and Great Britain - while similar products were also sold and shipped to Brazil’s neighbors. The arms race had begun.
However, after the 1902 elections, the new Alves administration cut funding for the São Paulo and her sister ship, the Rio de Janeiro. That’s when Peruvian tycoon Marcus Fitzcarrald stepped in. Fitzcarrald wanted control of the rubber market in the upper Amazon border regions of Peru and Brazil, and saw his chance. The rubber baron offered to pay sixty percent of the remaining costs if Brazil agreed to allow his company to manage the army-crewed ship in peacetime.
The arrangement was complicated, but the sum is that the newly named São Fitzcarrald would be leased to Fitzcarrald’s rubber company. The captain would report to a corporate board, half from Fitzcarrald’s company and half from the Brazilian Army. The president of Brazil was given the tie-breaking vote, if needed, with an appeal process to the Brazilian Supreme Court by either side. In the occasion of formal war, the São Fitzcarrald would resort back to full army command.
Thus, São Fitzcarrald remains one of the few military landships to have reported to a majority civilian board rather than to a military chain of command, essentially making her a peacetime mercenary ship. The arrangement had its difficulties, but for the most part, worked out well for the board - until the Revolt of the Chains in 1911.
When it was launched in 1904, painted bright green and yellow and spouting clouds of coal dust, the São Fitzcarrald was purported to be the pride of the nation. Even to this day, floats modeled after her can be found during Carnivale although they are often mislabeled Rio de Fitzcarrald after her sister landship which was never completed.
The actual engineering of the São Fitzcarrald is rather dull in comparison to her colorful launch. In effect, the São Fitzcarrald imitated the basic engineering of the pre-dreadnaught classes but with everything larger. The São Fitzcarrald boasted three 12” guns on two turrets (no explanation can be found as to why there is only one gun on the aft turret). Its secondary armament consisted of eight 6” guns, two of which were on superimposed turrets above the huge 12 inchers.
For anti-personnel protection, the São Fitzcarrald carried eight Nordenfeldt ten-barrelled rifle-calibre guns, sadly turned on their own crew by the Company Policia during the Revolt. Another lesson learned from earlier landship designs was the danger posed by the relatively high clearance - which could cause havoc if dismounted adversaries got under the landship between the tracks. To counter this, so called “keel holes” were placed at the bottom of the hull, with sliding hatches from which small grenades could be dropped.
The most revolutionary part of São Fitzcarrald’s design was undoubtedly her ten fixed helium zeppelins, eight fixed to the deck itself, and two to the superstructure. These enabled the landship to sport a lower profile making it less vulnerable to enemy fire, although this advantage was somewhat spoiled by its opulent five (!) story superstructure. She was also one of the first landships to steer by way of the new differential systems just beginning to make their way into tracked vehicle science.
The most interesting thing about the São Fitzcarrald’s appearance were the V-shaped braces used to hold these zeppelins to the hull, giving the ship its nickname among the crew, pequena vitória, one expects at least somewhat ironically. The crew was standard fare for the time, about a dozen Army officers, and approximately one hundred twenty enlisted soldiers. Details can found in Jane's Fighting Landships, 1905 edition.
Much more interesting to the history of landships and their relationship to social history generally, was the Revolt of the Chains which took place aboard the São Fitzcarrald in 1911.
Led by Sargento Jose Gomes, historians see the Revolt of the Chains as something of a precursor to the Contestado War of 1912-16. Interviewed later in prison, Gomes would claim his inspiration came from the Taylor’s Revolt in the Captaincy of Bahia in 1798, but the 1910 mutiny, the “Revolt of the Lash” led by João Cândido Felisberto aboard the battleship Minas Geraes, seems more likely.
Both revolts protested the harsh conditions of enlisted personnel in the military of Brazil, particularly for blacks and former slaves - who were not emancipated until 1888. This is not the volume to explore this important issue further in depth, so we refer readers to the fine work by Luis Araujo, Relações raciais a bordo de navios terrestres brasileiros, 1888-1916 (Race Relations Aboard Brazilian Landships, 1888-1916).
However, of particular note onboard the São Fitzcarrald, and a difference with the Revolt of the Lashes, was the involvement of the Fitzcarrald International Rubber Company. Even thought the crew were all members of the Brazilian army, including the officers, the company placed a dozen Rubber Company Policia on board to ensure company interests were upheld - even to the point of violent discipline.
Infractions that could be cited among the enlisted crew ranged from failing to salute the civilian Policia to failing to purchase their goods at the company-run store onboard the São Fitzcarrald. It also involved chaining delinquent soldiers to their posts in the engine room or gun turrets to ensure they remained on the job.
Although the mutiny ultimately failed, with two crewman killed and all the leaders arrested and imprisoned, its impact was felt far and wide. Eventually, it helped lead to reforms across the Brazilian military to ensure rights for all enlisted personnel, regardless of race or skin color. More immediately, the Revolt of the Chains led to conflict among the São Fitzcarrald corporate board, causing President Hermes da Fonseca to disband it and sell the landship to Argentina in 1911.
However, during the transfer, while attempting to cross the Parana, the São Fitzcarrald broke up and she was declared a total loss and decommissioned by the Zacharias insurance adjusters. The sale to Argentina was obviously never completed, causing yet another diplomatic stir in the region. The many court cases arising from the disaster were finally resolved at The Hague in 1977.
A 1982 Werner Herzog film entitled São Fitzcarraldo memorialized this final, sad journey of an altogether unnecessary landship. In fact, new research uncovered by Dr. Maria Teixeira at the University of Campinas has shown the deep connections between Vasileios Zacharias and Marcus Fitzcarrald, going all the way back to 1898.
The São Fitzcarraldo was no accident and neither was the luxury that either man lived in, even as many of their employees and clients suffered poverty and injustice. Thankfully, much landship history would see brighter - and more peaceable - ventures ahead.