José Santos de Saldanha da Gama

José Santos de Saldanha da Gama was a Brazilian Navy captain who commanded the ship Almirante Saldanha during the International Geophysical Year expedition to Trindade Island in 1958. On January 15, 1958, the ship's radar tracked a target moving at supersonic speed. The next day, January 16, multiple crew members, including retired Air Force Captain José Teobaldo Viegas and photographer Almiro Barauna, witnessed and photographed a Saturn-shaped UFO hovering over the island. Saldanha da Gama showed the original photos to the commanding officer of the visiting ship Westwind but did not publicly commit to their authenticity. Prior sightings, including one photographed by a Navy sergeant, were reported to Barauna by officers. No birth or death dates are known; he played a key command role in one of Brazil's most famous UFO cases, though not actively in ufology research or publications.