The ''Santa Maria'' hijacking was carried out on 22 January 1961 when

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

political rebels seized control of a Portuguese

passenger ship A passenger ship is a merchant ship whose primary function is to carry passengers on the sea. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freig ...

, aiming to force political change in Portugal. The action was also known as Operation Dulcinea, the code name given by its chief architect and leader, Portuguese military officer, writer and politician

Henrique Galvão Henrique Carlos da Mata Galvão (4 February 1895 – 25 June 1970) was a Portuguese military officer, writer and politician. He was initially a supporter but later become one of the strongest opponents of the Portuguese Estado Novo under Antóni ...

, who had been exiled in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

since 1959. After United States naval intervention, the ship arrived in Brazil, and the hijacking ended on 2 February when the rebels were given political asylum there.

The ship

Owned by the

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

-based Companhia Colonial de Navegação, the 20,900-ton ship was the second largest ship in the Portuguese merchant navy at the time, and along with her

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

, ''Vera Cruz'' was among the most luxurious Portuguese-flag liners. The ship was primarily used for colonial trade to the Portuguese overseas provinces of

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

and

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

, in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, and migrant transportation to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. The ship's mid-

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

service was also viewed as rather out of the ordinary: Lisbon to

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

, to

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

, to

La Guaira La Guaira () is the capital city of the Venezuelan state of the same name (formerly named Vargas) and the country's main port. It was founded in 1577 as an outlet for Caracas, to the southeast. The town and the port were badly damaged during ...

, to

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...

, to

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

(later

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to: Places Argentina * San Juan Province, Argentina * San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province * San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province * San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...

), and lastly

Port Everglades Port Everglades is a seaport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, located in Broward County. Port Everglades is one of South Florida's foremost economic engines, as it is the gateway for both international trade and cruise vacations. In 2019, Port Eve ...

. The average trade for this gray-hulled ship was mostly migrants to

and the general passenger traffic.

Hijacking

On 22 January 1961, the ship had 600 passengers and 300 crew members. Among the passengers were men, women, children, and 24 Iberian leftists led by Henrique Galvão. Henrique Galvão was a Portuguese military officer and political opponent of Portuguese

dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in times ...

António de Oliveira Salazar António de Oliveira Salazar (, , ; 28 April 1889 – 27 July 1970) was a Portuguese dictator who served as President of the Council of Ministers from 1932 to 1968. Having come to power under the ("National Dictatorship"), he reframed the re ...

, the head of the Estado Novo regime. Galvão had carefully planned the hijacking in

with the intention of waging war until Salazar was overthrown in Portugal and the overseas territories were subsequently offered independence. He planned on using the hijacking as a way to bring attention to the Estado Novo in Portugal and the related

fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

regime in

Francoist Spain Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

. The rebels had boarded the ship in

(

) and in

Willemstad Willemstad ( , ; ; en, William I of the Netherlands, William Town, italic=yes) is the capital city of Curaçao, an island in the southern Caribbean Sea that forms a Countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, constituent country of the Kingdo ...

(

), disguised as passengers, bringing aboard suitcases that had secret compartments to hide their weapons. In the early hours of 22 January, rebels, along with Henrique Galvao, seized the ship and shut down all communication. One officer (3rd Pilot Nascimento Costa) was killed and several others wounded in the process of taking control of the ship. The rebels forced Captain Mário Simões Maia and his crew to divert the ship eastwards. The next day they called at

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindian ...

, then a British possession, to drop off Costa's body and some injured crewmen in a launch; but, speaking only

, the sailors were unable to successfully communicate what had happened to their ship until after it had left. The whereabouts of the ship then remained unknown for several days, until an extensive air and sea search by the Americans, British, and Dutch discovered her and established communication in mid-Atlantic. Subsequently, a United States Navy fleet, including four

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

s and , which carried a detachment of Marines from "G" Company, 2nd Battalion of the 6th Marine Regiment from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina) under the overall command of Rear Admiral Allen E. Smith. The force cut short Galvão's plans, when they surrounded ''Santa Maria'' some off

Recife That it may shine on all ( Matthew 5:15) , image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg , mapsize = 250px , map_caption = Location in the state of Pernambuco , pushpin_map = Brazil#South A ...

. The following day, Admiral Smith left his

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

, , and proceeded via launch to ''Santa Maria'' to begin negotiations with Galvão. Because of an anticipated change of presidency in Brazil (the incoming President

Jânio Quadros Jânio da Silva Quadros (; January 25, 1917 – February 16, 1992) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd president of Brazil The president of Brazil ( pt, Presidente do Brasil), officially the president of the Fe ...

being more sympathetic to Galvão's political interests), it was not until the next day that ''Santa Maria'', surrounded by United States naval vessels, entered the harbor of Recife. There, on 2 February, Galvão and his 24 activists surrendered ''Santa Maria'', 600 passengers and crew of 300 to Brazilian authorities in exchange for

political asylum The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another enti ...

. Galvão later announced that his intention had been to sail to Angola, to set up a rebel Portuguese government in opposition to Salazar.

Legacy

Henrique Galvão wrote his account of the hijacking as ''A Minha Cruzada Pró-Portugal. Santa Maria'' (São Paulo, Livraria Martins, 1961), translated as ''Santa Maria: my crusade for Portugal'' (Cleveland OH, World Publishing/London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1961). The story of the hijacking was told in the 2010 Portuguese feature film ''Assalto ao Santa Maria''.

References

*Menefee, Samuel Pyeatt, "Terrorism at Sea: The Historical Development of an International Legal Response" in E. Ellen (ed.), ''Violence at Sea: An International Workshop in Maritime Terrorism'' (1987). *Shapiro, Peter
Issue: ''A Journal of Opinion''
Vol. 2, No. 3. (Autumn, 1972), pp. 37–40. *Pereira, Anthony W.
"The Neglected Tragedy: The Return to War in Angola"
''The Journal of Modern African Studies'', Vol. 32, No. 1. (March 1994), pp. 1–28. * New York, N.Y.: Jan 24, 1961. p. 1 (2 pages) *Szulc, Tad, "Tugs Carry Out Debarkation at Retire"; ''The New York Times''.

External links

Portugal's Santa Maria
* ttp://solantamity.com/Media/Documents/AdminReportGearingB.pdf Admiral Smith designating Galvão's actions as "piracy" {{DISPLAYTITLE:''Santa Maria'' hijacking 1961 in Portugal Acts of piracy Maritime incidents in 1961 Terrorist incidents in Europe in 1961 Estado Novo (Portugal) Terrorist incidents in Portugal 1961 crimes in Portugal

The ship

Hijacking

Legacy

References

Further reading

External links