Blake's courage stunned Amazon's predatory water rats

By CATHERINE MASTERS in Auckland and FRANCISCO FRANCA in Macapa.

Silently watching from the jungle along the Amazon's banks, the water rats who murdered Sir Peter Blake would have planned their attack by day.

They had no idea who he was.

They had seen his boat, the Seamaster, anchored close enough to shore to identify the tempting objects they wanted to steal.

Known as "ratos de agua", or water rats, the bandits prey on boats anchored near towns along the river's edge.

When darkness falls, the robbers make their move, rowing small boats and striking quickly.

Usually, they meet no resistance. Then they disappear back into the jungle or the small villages that dot the river.

Their loot is sold cheaplyor exchanged for drugs.

The Seamaster had nearly made it out of the Amazon River and was anchored about 14km from the tiny port town of Macapa in the extreme north of Brazil, the last main stop before the river collides with the Atlantic Ocean with a thunderous roar.

The yacht was sitting in a small bay not far from shore waiting for customs clearance to leave Brazilian waters.

To the water rats, the crew were rich, foreigners, sitting targets. Another night's easy pickings. They apparently did not know that the Seamaster had in Sir Peter a famous skipper - whose reaction in confronting the robbers with a rifle may have cost him his life.

Water rats are poor in a place where poverty is measured in cents, not dollars. They have no education, no jobs, no money and see no future. So they rob.

They might not mean to kill, but they are armed and violence comes without hesitation when they are threatened.

The rats are not organised gangs, just small groups from the same neighbourhood, who are born near the jungle and know the area, making them hard to find.

Except when they murder a world-famous yachtsman. These water rats were hunted down and arrested in record time - within 24 hours of their raid on the Seamaster and after they had terrified the crew by pointing guns at their heads.

Brazilian police say Sir Peter's decision to defend his crew and protect his boat was fatal.

"Maybe if Peter did not present himself armed this would not have happened," said Jose Araujo Filho, a spokesman for the federal police.

"The robbers would have left with the objects and just left it at that."

Macapa locals believe it is unlikely police would have acted so swiftly if the victim had been less well known.

Police arrested seven men but released three for lack of evidence, and are vigorously hunting two more. None of the four detained men, who apparently include the two ringleaders, is saying who shot Sir Peter, despite an earlier confession by one of them. All will be charged with "latrocinio", or armed robbery followed by murder.

Latrocinio usually attracts jail terms of 18 years but because these men have a history of crime their sentences will be a lot longer.

The Seamaster crew identified the arrested men at an identity parade through a one-way mirror.

Police told the Herald that the crew would not be needed at the trial - the required "information of facts" had already been collected.

Yesterday, the Seamaster was in the same spot where the attack took place and the 250,000 people of Macapa - a town, tiny by Brazilian standards, sweltering on the Equator - went about their business amazed and embarrassed at the slaying of someone so famous on their doorstep.

Last night, armed guards watched over the saddest, most famous boat on the Amazon.

- Additional reporting by Juliana Xavier in Auckland.

Full coverage:

Peter Blake, 1948-2001

America's Cup news

Blakexpeditions