Chronology 1893-1969

1893-1969 1970-1979 1980-1989 1990-1999 2000-2009 2010-2021

January 26 – The first known descent to Algar do Carvão, made by Cândido Corvelo, from Terra-chã, owner of those pastures, José Luís Sequeira and others. The account of the descent was published in the periodical “Cartão de Visita” on January 31, 1893. Later “Uncle” Cândido ordered the cutting of the cedar where the enthusiasts tied the rope, where they descended and ascended, in order to cool their spirits, according to the talk given to Rádio Clube de Angra by Lt. Col. José Agostinho (http://siaram.azores.gov.pt/naturalistas/jose-agostinho/audio/1966-41.html). There are only records of new descents in October 1934 and then in the early 1960s, when Algar do Carvão was finally fully explored and its secrets discovered.

December 30 – Eovaldo Moniz (a member of the Montanheiros) and Carlos Paiva held a painting exhibition at the Montanheiros’ headquarters, at Rua de São João No. 108.

October 7 – Descent of Mr. Guilherme Ramalho, leader of Angra do Heroísmo’s branch of the Escoteiros de Portugal (lit. Scouts of Portugal), to Algar do Carvão. He was hung on a rope with several people holding on the outside, which made the climb extremely difficult. He returned with stones that at the time were thought to be of limestone nature that were exposed at the Loja dos Panos in Angra.

outubro 14 – A week after Mr. Guilherme Ramalho’s descent, 5 more people went to Algar do Carvão and made the descent, according to instructions they had received from him. For the first time the lagoon was reached, which apparently had a lot of water. The account of the descent is in the newspaper “A União” from October 17, 1934.

Agosto 27 – Second descent and exploration of Algar do Carvão by Agrupamento CXI of the Escuteiros da Base Aérea 4. Participating members: Manuel Humberto Figueiredo, Vítor Hugo Fragueiro, Sergeant Abel, Ilídio Gomes, Gualdino Ormonde, Eduardo Monteiro. They went down to the lagoon.

August 18 – First descent to Algar do Carvão by the Montanheiros. Although the group had not yet been founded, many of the participants in this descent founded in December of that year “Os Montanheiros”. 37 people went to Pico do Carvão, and 17 descended. Rock samples were collected, photographs were taken and sketches of the interior of the cavity were made. Numerous animal bones were found inside, especially dogs and goats. Mr. Manuel Alves was the only one in the group to go down to the lagoon. He filled a carboy with water, which unfortunately broke on the way down. The account of the descent was published in the newspaper “O Irresponsável” on August 31.

December 1 – The idea of founding Os Montanheiros appeared in 1963, during a visit to Mata da Esperança where a group of friends decided to have lunch. Américo Luiz remembered to form a partnership. They began to think about buying the necessary material for exploring volcanic caves and pits, and about a headquarters where they could meet. On December 1 they met at the new headquarters at Rua de São João 127 (above Tomás Borba’s store) and founded “Os Montanheiros – Organização de Campismo Terceirense”. The statutes were approved, but only ratified by the Civil Government in 1967, after several corrections.

March 15 – Os Montanheiros established the connection between the Gruta do Madre Deus and the Algar da Madre Deus, when they discovered a bottle left by explorers 24 years earlier. The passage is of extreme difficulty, but allows one to walk through the cave without having to make the vertical descent.

March 22 – On this day Os Montanheiros went down into Algar do Carvão for the second time. Unlike the August 1963 descent, the “cadeira” system was not used, but the safer and faster breeches buoy system.

April 9 – On this day the Montanheiros sent a letter to the Director General of Sports and to the national Minister of Education asking for the approval of the statutes that had been waiting for approval since December 1963. This only happened in 1967.

June 10 – Descent to Algar do Carvão, and topographic survey in the exterior by topographer Garcia Pedro, guided by Mr. Fernando Codorniz Fagundes, and in the interior by Ulisses Bettencourt, technical agent of Engineering and draftsman Péricles Ortins.

August 8 – Exploration of the Galeria da Queimada in Terceira island.

December 1 – On this day was commemorated the 1st anniversary of Os Montanheiros in the headquarters at Rua de São João. During the first year Os Montanheiros realized 15 excursions, including one to Graciosa island, 21 study expeditions, 14 family evenings, 6 filmings and 20 cave explorations. For the anniversary an exhibition was set up with photos and geological samples. This exhibition lasted 13 days and was visited by more than 1000 people.

October 23 – Os Montanheiros thank the President of the General Council of Angra, for the aid granted by him, through Public Works and the Agricultural Station and for the opening of the access tunnel to Algar do Carvão.

February 28 – By charter number 12/67 of February 28, the statutes of the association were finally approved, with the name “Montanheiros – Sociedade de Exploração Espeleológica”, by the Civil Governor of the Autonomous District of Angra do Heroísmo, acquiring the Montanheiros legal personality. More than 4 years elapsed between their writing and approval.

March 22 – Lecture given by Prof. Vítor Hugo Forjaz, at the Montanheiros’ headquarters, in which several color slides of recent oceanographic studies in the Atlantic and of the activity of the Capelinhos volcano were presented and commented.

June 9~11 – The first expedition, with overnight stay, to Balconies Cave took place between June 9 and 11. Group formed by: Américo Luís, Eovaldo Moniz, José Manuel, Manuel Aguiar da Silveira and Jorge Gonçalo. They spent 50 hours inside. They entered at 21:00 of Friday (day 9) and communicated with the outside every half hour. They left around 11pm on Sunday (11th). They couldn’t explore the whole cave.

September5 – Expedition of Américo Luiz, Rafael Azevedo and Paulo Alberto Martins to Pico Island, where they visited the Gruta do Henrique Maciel and Furna do Frei Matias (Furna is an aquatic volcanic cave).

February 7 – Beginning of the construction of the access road to Algar do Carvão, in an initiative of Os Montanheiros and with the collaboration, in a first phase only of the associates’ labor and later of the Ministry of Public Works and the collaboration of the People to Peopleprogram, from Base Aérea Nº4 das Lajes.

August 5 – Lecture at Os Montanheiros’ headquarters given by Prof. Georges Zbyszewsky, with the theme “Contribution to the Geology of Terceira island”.

November 17 – The construction of the wooden staircase inside the Algar do Carvão begins.

December 1 – In the celebrations of the 5th Anniversary, the road was inaugurated with about 800 meters, the tunnel with about 50 meters and the wooden staircase with 161 steps arranged in 7 flights, temporary, built for the purpose to the platform above the pond, lighting was placed and they invited the population to visit the Algar do Carvão, having 2,500 people visited. The District Governor was present, along with the Commander of the United States Air Force (through the People to People program, engineering section, in the opening of the road), who was publicly thanked for the contributions received. There was also the public thanks to Mr. José da Câmara for giving up the Algar and the land of the road to Os Montanheiros.

September 22 – The 2nd phase began, construction of the fence walls of the access path to Algar do Carvão. For later it was planned to pave this path in bituminous.

November 2 – A group of 7 Montanheiros (Davide Rendeiro, Fernando Ávila, José Silva, José Gabriel, Manuel Aguiar, Manuel Corvelo and Rogério Silva) went to the Salga area in order to locate a cave that was being talked about. They went down the coast and found the entrance to a cave near the sea. They entered and walked through it to its end, which was blocked by earth. It was called Gruta das Agulhas (Needles Cave) because in a certain place on the ceiling there was a “carpet” of pointed stalactites, a few centimeters long.

November 16 – Topographic study of the Gruta of Natal. It was at this time that it was finally concluded that the cave did not pass under the Lagoa do Negro as was previously thought.

November 30 – In the association’s 6th anniversary celebrations, Os Montanheiros invited the population to visit the Gruta das Agulhas cave in Porto Judeu. For this purpose a wooden staircase was built to allow easier access to the entrance of the cave. For two days (November 30th and December 1st) the cave was open to the public and was visited by thousands of people.

December 25 – 1st Christmas Mass in the Gruta do Natal, at 12 noon, by the venerable Archbishop of Goa and Patriarch of the East Indies Mr. D. José Vieira Alvernaz, welcomed by the Reverend Messrs. Canon Jeremias Machado da Rocha Simões and Dr. Vasco Parreira. This was the first time that this cave, known as the Gruta do Cavalo (Cave of the Horse) was open to the public. With this mass, in which about 500 people participated, the name was changed to “Gruta do Natal” (Christmas Cave). The preparations involved the arrangement of the access road, parking for cars, construction of the access staircase and lighting of the pond and inside the cave. A wooden staircase was built, with 43 steps and in two flights, thus overcoming the 10-meter unevenness. The altar and a stone cross were also built. Several entities were invited to attend the mass.