The USS Pueblo, 1968

The USS Pueblo, 1968

The Pueblo was a U.S. Navy vessel sent on an intelligence mission off the coast of North Korea. On January 23, 1968, the Pueblo was attacked by North Korean naval vessels and MiG jets. One man was killed and several were wounded. The 82 surviving crew members were captured and held prisoner for 11 months.

A famous steganographic episode occurred when, in the 1960s, a photograph of several members of the crew of the Pueblo was released by their captors in order to demonstrate their cooperation. The seemingly ordinary photograph contained a steganographic message: The hand positions of the crew members spelled the word "snow job" in sign language. In colloquial American English, a snow job means to figuratively cover up or blind someone to prevent them from seeing the truth.