Home >
1961 hijacking of the ocean liner Santa Maria...
1961 hijacking of the ocean liner Santa Maria...
Item # 723376
January 24, 1961
THE DETROIT FREE PRESS, Jan. 24, 1961
* Portuguese ocean liner Santa Maria
* Operation Dulcineia hijacking - hijacked
The front page has a banner headline: "MUTINEERS SEIZE BIG LINER IN CARIBBEAN; 600 ABOARD" with subheads, photo and related map. (see images) Nice for display.
Complete with 32 pages, small library stamp slightly affects the headline, some small binding holes along the spine, generally i very nice condition.
AI notes: The 1961 hijacking of the Portuguese ocean liner Santa Maria—officially known as Operation Dulcinea—occurred on January 22, 1961, when a group of 24 political dissidents led by Henrique Galvão, a former Portuguese naval officer, seized the luxury passenger ship in the Atlantic to draw international attention to the authoritarian regimes of António de Oliveira Salazar in Portugal and Francisco Franco in Spain. During the takeover, a brief struggle resulted in the death of one ship’s officer, after which the rebels took control and renamed the vessel Santa Liberdade (“Holy Freedom”), broadcasting their political aims to the world. The hijacking quickly became a global media sensation and prompted a multinational naval search involving the United States, Britain, and others, though Galvão skillfully used radio communications to frame the action as a symbolic act of anti-dictatorial resistance rather than piracy. After nearly two weeks at sea, Galvão negotiated safe passage with U.S. authorities and sailed the Santa Maria to Recife, Brazil, where President Jânio Quadros granted the hijackers political asylum. The incident embarrassed the Salazar regime, highlighted Cold War tensions over authoritarianism in Iberia, and marked one of the first modern, highly publicized acts of politically motivated ship hijacking.
Category: The 20th Century
Available Now
$52.00
