André Rebouças

André Pinto Rebouças (13 January 1838 – 9 April 1898) was a Brazilian military engineer, abolitionist and inventor, son of Antônio Pereira Rebouças (1798–1880) and Carolina Pinto Rebouças. Lawyer, member of Parliament (representing the Brazilian state of Bahia) and an adviser to Pedro II of Brazil, his father was the son of a manumitted slave and a Portuguese tailor. His brothers Antônio Pereira Rebouças Filho and José Rebouças were also engineers.

André Pinto Rebouças
André Rebouças, c.1862
Born	13 January 1838 Cachoeira, Bahia, Empire of Brazil
Died	9 April 1898(1898-04-09) (aged 60) Funchal, Madeira, Kingdom of Portugal
Nationality	Brazilian
Engineering career
Discipline	Civil

Mulatto father

Despite racial prejudice, his father, a mulatto, was an important and prestigious man at the time. Self-taught to read and write, he had been granted the right to practice law throughout the country, represented Bahia in the Chamber of Deputies on a range of legislatures, was secretary of the Provincial Governorship of Sergipe, advisor to the emperor, and had received the title of Knight of the Imperial Order of the Southern Cross in 1823.

Improving the water supply of Rio de Janeiro

Rebouças became famous in Rio de Janeiro, at the time capital of the Empire of Brazil, solving the trouble of water supply, bringing it from fountain-heads outside the town.

Creation of a torpedo for the Paraguayan War

Serving as a military engineer during the Paraguayan War in Paraguay, Rebouças successfully developed a torpedo.^[1][2]

Abolitionism

Alongside Machado de Assis and Olavo Bilac, Rebouças was a very important middle class representative with African descent, he also was one of the most important voices for the abolition of slavery in Brazil.

In the 1880s, Rebouças began to participate actively in the abolitionist cause, he helped to create the Brazilian Anti-Slavery Society, alongside Joaquim Nabuco, José do Patrocínio and others.

Patronage

He encouraged the career of Antônio Carlos Gomes, author of the opera O Guarani.

Exile and employment by The Times

After the Republican coup d'État, Rebouças went into exile with Pedro II to Europe. For two years he stayed exiled in Lisbon, as a correspondent for The Times of London. In 1892, facing financial problems, Rebouças went to Luanda and after that, Funchal, in Madeira.

Suicide by falling down a cliff

According to Gaspar, in 1898 Rebouças' body was found at the shoreline at the base of a 60-meter-high cliff near the hotel where he lived.^{[clarification needed]} He supposedly committed suicide.^{[citation needed]}

Oil tanker named after Rebouças

In 2015, the Brazilian company Estaleiro Atlantico Sul built a crude oil tanker which shares the name André Rebouças. The ship currently sails under the Brazilian flag.^[3]