Viewing page 11 of 22

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

Transcription: [00:23:24]
Here two stately plantations still stand dating from the colonial days. They contrast sharply with the thatched roofed roofed huts of the few people still living in the sparsely populated kunuku.

[00:23:36]
The majority of the island's hundred and twenty-nine thousand people live in Willemstad.

[00:23:43]
Folk customs and dances are usually better preserved in the rural areas than towns and this group's enjoying themselves in a typical Curacaoan dance of a most abandoned, congenial nature. Did I say congenial? [[music plays]]

[00:24:18]
There are varied styles of dancing brought to the island by the many seafarers of the past. [[drums playing]]

[00:24:39]
Well, after that dance, a well-earned rest before heading down the road back to town where they often perform at the hotel. That one's really putting his heart into it.

[00:24:53]
The hotel is situated right at the entrance to the waterway. And because the ships pass by so close to it, you can almost reach out and touch them. It's the only hotel possessing collusion insurance.

[00:25:07]
It's ingeniously built within the remaining walls of an old fort. Passengers from the cruise ships come to see this unique hotel and also to see the dancers who've come in to perform for them. [[music plays]]

[00:25:45]
Fort Naussau, the oldest fort, is built high upon a hilltop. It's now used as a signal tower for the ships as it can be so easily seen from its vantage point.

[00:25:55]
The harbor pilots down below watch for the various signals, each having their own meaning. And when the black ball is up, accompanied by a red flag, it means that the bridge is open and a ship is about to leave.

[00:26:07]
And what a famous ship it is. The Portuguese Santa Maria, and Johan is the pilot to take her out.

[00:26:14]
It was the same time of day in January 1961 that an amazing story was enacted. Right here in Willemstad, a group of Portuguese men peacefully boarded, but a little outside of the port, they hijacked the ship in a rebellion against their government.

[00:26:29]
They were the first pirates of contemporary times, and the plight of the Santa Maria became world headlines.

[00:26:36]
Then, as now, this same captain, Captain Maia, was in command and he was forced at gunpoint to surrender the Santa Maria to the rebel leader, Galvao.

[00:26:46]
Somehow Galvao managed to keep this twenty-thousand ton luxury liner hidden at sea.

[00:26:52]
And as many of its 600 passengers were American, even the United States Navy joined in the search.

[00:26:59]
Finally, thirteen days later, Galvao was forced to surrender the Santa Maria at the Brazilian port of Recife. Since then, many articles and books have been written about this daring, unforgettable incident.