The Rio de Janeiro Affair refers to a series of incidents during the Brazilian Naval Revolt in January 1894. Following three attacks on American merchant ships in the harbour of Rio de Janeiro, a bloodless naval engagement occurred between a United States Navy warship and an ironclad of Rear Admiral Saldanha da Gama's rebel fleet. Ultimately the Americans completed their objective, and the Brazilians rebels offered to surrender their ships.
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The Rio de Janeiro Affair refers to a series of incidents during the Brazilian Naval Revolt in January 1894. Following three attacks on American merchant ships in the harbour of Rio de Janeiro, a bloodless naval engagement occurred between a United States Navy warship and an ironclad of Rear Admiral Saldanha da Gama's rebel fleet. Ultimately the Americans completed their objective, and the Brazilians rebels offered to surrender their ships.
The incidents which led to the short engagement began on January 21 of 1894, when the 586 ton American bark SS Julia Rollins was fired on with rifles from a fort on Cobras Island, while heading to Gamboa. Brazilian fire was heavy though nobody was harmed; the American crewmen were forced to take cover and maneuver their ship out of the fort's range, where they laid anchor. The Brazilians then opened fire again, but this time with the guns of the ironclad cruisers Trajano and Guanabara. Julia Rollins moved once more until finding a safe anchorage,...
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