The Parnaíba (Parnahyba) was a Brazilian cargo ship sunk during World War II by the German submarine on May 1, 1942, while sailing east of Trinidad and Tobago in the Atlantic Ocean, carrying coffee, cocoa, castor bean oil, cotton, and other commodities. She was the seventh ship attacked since the beginning of the conflict and the sixth after Brazil interrupted diplomatic relations with the Axis in January 1942. Seven people were killed in the episode. The ship After her construction was completed in 1913 at the shipyard of Flensburger Schiffsbau Gesellschaft in Flensburg, Germany, she was launched under the name Alrich and operated by Roland Linie of Bremen. The ship was one of the largest Lloyd Brasileiro ships at the time of her sinking, long between perpendiculars, wide, and a draught. Made with a steel hull, she had 6,692 gross register tonnage, and was propelled by steam turbines coupled to a quadruple expansion engine, allowing her to reach a speed of . The ship was in the Port of Rio de Janeiro when World War I broke out, which led to her retention and later confiscation by the Brazilian Government on June 1, 1917, when Brazil broke diplomatic relations with the German Empire. She was renamed Parnaíba (Parnahyba) and registered in Rio de Janeiro under number 17, being operated, from 1923, by Lloyd Brasileiro, which acquired full ownership of her in 1927. The sinking On May 1, 1942, after almost two months without attacks on Brazilian ships (since the sinking of the Cairu on March 8), the Parnaíba, commanded by Captain Raul Francisco Diégoli, was east of the island of Trinidad and Tobago and north of the Guianas (coordinates: 10° 12' N 57° 16' W), loaded with 40,950 bags of coffee, 30,000 of cocoa, 27,155 of bran, 25,000 bales of leather, 17,585 of castor beans, and 15,108 of miscellaneous cargo, totaling 155,739 volumes. She left Rio de Janeiro on April 5, with a stop in Recife, from where the cargo ship sailed on April 24, bound for New York City, unescorted but armed with a cannon. On board were 72 people, including three sailors in charge of surveillance. Shortly before 3 p.m. (8:46 p.m. Central European Time), the , commanded by Captain Jürgen Wattenberg, fired its first torpedo at the ship, hitting her at midship. The impact opened a breach in the engine room and instantly killed all the crew