Policeman with a can of marijuana seized on Leblon beach, south of Rio, Brazil October 10, 1987
Silence of the Cans
During the Summer of ’87, the buzz around Rio de Janeiro didn’t come from its streets or around the favelas, instead the cities high washed ashore in waves.
Swimmer collecting can’s filled with cannabis off the coast of Rio, Brazil 1987
A drought on the streets of Brazil started the summer of ’87, finding good cannabis was getting harder due to large scale enforcement operations combating the drug trade throughout South America. The dry spell continued for many living in the cities until September brought salvation upon its waves.
The first reports of UFO’s (unidentified floating object’s) off the coast of Brazil came in on September 25, 1987. A fishing vessel just off the coast of Maricá (about 37 miles from Rio) was the first to report the strange silver objects glistening on the water’s surface.
Opened can’s of cannabis found floating off the coast of Rio, Brazil 1987
After fishing out 18 of the large sealed tin cans from the ocean’s waters, the crew expected them to contain food from a distressed ship. But when crew members opened one of the cans fished aboard, they discovered the cans contained something of a much higher value.
Shocking the crew, when opened each of the sealed cans was found to contain 1.5 kilo’s (around 3 pounds) of high grade pressed Thai cannabis. Surprised at the discovery, the boat immediately turned over its unplanned catch to the local law enforcement who was just as surprised as the fisherman.
Swimmers collecting can’s filled with cannabis off Rio’s coast, Brazil 1987
Word of the floating treasure traveled fast throughout the city as the first can’s of cannabis began to wash ashore in the dry city. Before the police could contain the situation, locals were using boats, surfboards and even swimming beyond the waves to fish out as many of the cans they could from the waters waves before the floating treasure could be rounded up and seized by authorities.
marijuana found floating on the beach of Ipanema beach, Brazil by swimmers, November 10, 1987
Police fearing too many of the cans would be taken by the growing crowd of herb hunters, decided to close the beaches while the never ending flood of cans could be contained and collected.
The closures had little effect with the overly enthusiastic crowds already gathered at the waters edge.
Policemen collect cans found by bathers in Ipanema, in the South Zone of Rio, November 10, 1987
The mystery only intensified as the flood of cans continued for weeks without a single clue of where the cans could have originated. The case was growing cold until the DEA received a tip on a vessel that had been harbored for repairs since the incident began.
Thai cannabis shown as the contents of opened cans found off the coast of Brazil, 1987
The Panamanian registered yacht the ‘Solana Star’ limped into Rio’s harbor for repairs after the ships engines began to fail in open ocean. The ship had originally left Singapore on its journey, stopping in Australia to refuel before continuing through Brazil waters in route to its final destination in Miami, Florida.
When authorities raided the broken down vessel a single crewman remained on board, the ships cook Stephen Skelton. He was promptly taken into custody after the ships completely emptied cargo area turned up a trace amount of marijuana…
Panamanian-registered yacht the Solana Star in port in Rio, Brazil 1987
After his arrest Stephen told authorities the rest of the crew had left the country soon after docking leaving him alone to wait for the boats repairs before the voyage could continue. He explained after the ships engines began to fail, the captain ordered its crew to dump its entire cargo into the sea before it could pull into port.
Stephen claimed as the ships cook, he had no knowledge of the cargo’s contents…
One of the tin cans opened revealing Thai Cannabis within, Brazil 1987
The judge didn’t believe Stephen, a first time offender, who was facing 15 years on international drug trafficking charges and decided to throw the book at him, giving the ships cook a 20 year prison sentence…
After serving 1 year of his sentence in prison, a appeals court agreed to hear Skelton’s case. With only a small amount of marijuana actually found on the boat as evidence and with no way of proving Skelton’s connection with the floating ‘can’s’, the case was overturned and Stephen was set free!
He immediately returned to the United States…
Stephen Skelton a cook aboard the Panamanian-registered yacht Solana Star arrested in Brazil in connecton with dumping the cans into the ocean
According to DEA reports the crew of the Solana Star had dumped an estimated 22 ton’s of the high grade Thai grown cannabis that had been hermetically sealed within around 15,000 tin cans into the ocean’s water.
police analyze cans of marijuana found on the coast of São Paulo, Brazil October 5, 1987
That year during Carnival, the recovered floating cans fueled the parties throughout the city. It was rumored that some of the parties thrown that summer were even devoted to the can’s themselves with the term ‘Da lata’ becoming popular slang meaning ‘something good’.
A famous Brazilian poet later memorialized that Carnival season of the can’s in his poem ‘A Lata’, The Can.
‘A Lata’ / The Can
The can
In the background of the dawn
In the silence in the shed
Suddenly it was kicked
On the beat
The batucada began
And the dry sound of that can
It was a funk there in the barn
It was the wailers in Jamaica
A pagoda in Nigeria
It was the hill on the warpath
It says in the can kicks canned mutton
Says on the hand says on the foot says it says
In the can
Say
And it does not
It took snague good
It’s the tram and the train.
From Stato to Peacock
You do not have anyone
From Borel to Tabajaras
In the Mangueira at Cruzada
I do not live there, Mrs. Marta.
From Macumba to Macumbada
In the restinga of Marabaia
It says in the Tin can kicks mutt
Says on the hand, says on the foot, says it says
All power tricks the can
All power kicks the can
All for the can
– By Brazilian Poet Relógio by Chacal
Later Brazilian singer Fernanda Abreu put Chacal’s poem to music on her album titled after the incident ‘Da Lata’.
FERNANDA ABREU – A Lata
Opened can of cannabis found floating off the Brazilian coast, 1987
Navy ships and helicopters patrolled the Brazilian coast for months but in all the authorities seized only 2,563 of the estimated 15,000 floating cans of cannabis, leaving over 37,000 pounds of cannabis unaccounted for.
The summer of ’87 would become known by the locals in Rio as the ‘Summer of the Can’s’.
police analyze cans of marijuana found on the coast of São Paulo, Brazil October 5, 1987
After more then 30 years they say all the can’s have been silenced…
But there remains a few who still believe, sitting quietly on a Rio beach listening to the crashing of the waves, a distant ting can still be heard from a drifting tin can, still wanting to be found!
still from the 2014 documentary about the incident, ‘Verão da Lata’