Word: marias
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Salazar government spluttered denunciations of the "wicked act committed by this gang of pirates," and likened it to "the barbarian practices that made the Caribbean Sea an area of dishonor, which took centuries to clean up." Panic-stricken that a similar fate might be in store for the Santa Maria's sister ship, the Vera Cruz, which was en route to Brazil, Lisbon rushed ten secret servicemen by plane to Rio de Janeiro with orders to allow no visitors aboard when the Vera Cruz docked. The Portuguese government appealed to the U.S. and Britain to recapture the Santa Maria...
Lost Sight. A British frigate glimpsed the Santa Maria sailing in the general direction of Africa, but then, surprisingly, lost sight of it. Four U.S. destroyers, two tankers, a nuclear sub and 18 planes combed the area, but found nothing. The pirated liner seemed to have vanished from the map until a Danish freighter, chugging along a normal shipping lane, radioed that it had passed the Santa Maria and exchanged greetings. At the Pentagon press room in Washington, someone put up an ironical sign reading: "Sleep soundly tonight. The Danish merchant marine is watching over...
Neither Washington nor London had much appetite for putting a shot across the Santa Maria's bow and sending aboard a party of marines. Part of the difficulty was to decide just what crime had been committed. The 1958 Geneva treaty on Rules of the High Seas, specifically states that piracy involves the action of one ship against another, and therefore could not apply to the Santa Maria. Though Portugal is a NATO member and a centuries-old ally of Britain, Washington and London shrank from the worldwide clamor that would ensue if these particular rebels were handed over...
...Potato. U.S. Admiral Robert L. Dennison, commander in chief of the Atlantic Fleet, radioed an offer of "safe-conduct" to Galvão and his ship. Concerned for the Santa Maria's passengers, Dennison promised not to interfere should Galvão enter a harbor to let them land. Galvão replied that he was willing to negotiate with U.S. authorities aboard the Santa Maria or at a neutral port. So saying, he ordered a radical change in course, veered toward the coast of Brazil...
Brazil reacted as if it had been handed a hot potato. U.S. planes, which had been refueling at Belém and Recife while keeping an eye on the Santa Maria, were suddenly ordered grounded. Trying to keep on the right side of everyone, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry announced that if the Santa Maria entered Brazilian waters she would be returned to her Portuguese owners, but that Galvão and his 70 men could have political asylum...