Richard Phillips is an American merchant mariner and author, who served as captain of the MV
Maersk Alabama during its hijacking by Somali pirates in April 2009.
Early life and education Phillips was born in Winchester, Massachusetts;
and graduated from Winchester High School in 1973. Phillips enrolled at the University
of Massachusetts Amherst and planned to study international law, but later transferred to
the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, where he graduated in 1979. During his schooling,
Phillips worked as a taxi driver in Boston. Career
Maersk Alabama hijacking
On April 7, 2009, the U.S. Maritime Administration, following NATO advisories, released a Somalia
Gulf of Aden "advisory to mariners" recommending ships to stay at least 600 nautical miles
off Somalia's coast. With these advisories well in effect, on April 8, 2009, four Somali
pirates boarded the Maersk Alabama when it was located 240 nmi southeast of the Somalian
port city of Eyl. With a crew of 20, the ship departed from Salalah, Oman en route to Mombasa,
Kenya. The ship was carrying 17,000 metric tons of cargo, of which 5,000 metric tons
were relief supplies bound for Kenya, Somalia, and Uganda. "In that area of the world, any
blip on your radar is of concern," said Phillips, "I always told my crew it was a matter of
when, not if."
According to Chief Engineer Mike Perry, the crew sank the pirate speedboat shortly after
the boarding by continuously swinging the rudder of the Maersk Alabama, thus swamping
the smaller boat. As the pirates were boarding the ship, the crew members locked themselves
in the engine room. The crew later overpowered one of the pirates. The crew attempted to
exchange the captured pirate, whom they had kept tied up for twelve hours, for Phillips.
According to a crew member, Phillips and the pirates got into a man-overboard boat, but
it would not start, so the crew dropped a lifeboat and met the pirates to switch prisoners
and boats. The captured pirate was released, but the pirates refused to release Phillips.
The pirates left with Phillips in the lifeboat which carried ten days of food rations, water
and basic survival supplies. On April 8, the destroyer USS Bainbridge
and the frigate USS Halyburton were dispatched to the Gulf of Aden in response to the hostage
situation, and reached Maersk Alabama early on April 9. Maersk Alabama then departed from
the area with an armed escort, towards its original destination of the port of Mombasa.
On Saturday, April 11, Maersk Alabama arrived in Mombasa, still under U.S. military escort.
Captain Larry Aasheim then assumed command. Aasheim had previously been captain of the
Maersk Alabama until Richard Phillips relieved him eight days prior to the pirate attack.
An 18-man marine security team was on board. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation secured
the ship as a crime scene.
On April 9, a standoff began between the Bainbridge and the pirates in the Maersk Alabama's lifeboat,
where they continued to hold Phillips hostage. Three days later, on Sunday, April 12, U.S.
Navy marksmen from DEVGRU opened fire and killed the three pirates on the lifeboat,
and Phillips was rescued in good condition. The Bainbridge captain Commander Frank Castellano
ordered the action after determining that Phillips' life was in immediate danger, based
on reports that a pirate was pointing an AK-47 automatic rifle at his back. Navy SEAL snipers
on Bainbridge's fantail opened fire, killing the three pirates with bullets to the head;
one of the pirates was named Ali Aden Elmi, another's last name was Hamac, and the third
remains unidentified. A fourth pirate, Abduwali Muse, aboard the Bainbridge and speaking with
military negotiators while being treated for an injury sustained in the takeover of Maersk
Alabama, surrendered and was taken into custody. Muse's parents asked that he be pardoned because
he was either 16 or 17 years old at the time of the incident, but at court, it was ruled
that he was not a juvenile and would be tried as an adult. He later pleaded guilty to hijacking,
kidnapping and hostage-taking charges and was sentenced to over 33 years in prison.
At the trial, he also admitted to being 18 years old.
Aftermath
Following the hijacking, Phillips published a book titled A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates,
Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea. Columbia Pictures optioned the book and acquired the
film rights in spring 2010. In March 2011, it was announced that Tom Hanks would star
as Phillips, Barkhad Abdi as Abduwali Muse and Faysal Ahmed as Najee in a Sony Pictures
film based on the hijacking and Phillips' book, scripted by Billy Ray, and produced
by the team behind The Social Network. The film, entitled Captain Phillips, was released
on October 11, 2013 and had its premiere showing at the 2013 New York Film Festival. In an
interview on the set of Captain Phillips for New York Daily News, Phillips describes his
devotion to his crew, his feeling of success as a captain and his eagerness to get back
to sea. "My crew were now safe, because the pirates lost their ladder and boat when they
boarded the Maersk Alabama, so they couldn't get back onboard," says Phillips. "For me
it was really a relief—my crew and ship were safe." Phillips also added, "I never
lost hope for myself, but I didn't see a good ending coming out of it." Phillips commented
in his interview that the rendition of the events is accurate, adding, "When I met him
[Tom Hanks] I told him if he's going to play me he's going to have to put on a little weight
and get a little better-looking and he did neither."
Since the release of Captain Phillips, there has been controversy over its portrayal of
Phillips, with several crew members claiming that he was not the hero presented in the
film. Phillips said to CNN's Drew Griffin in 2010
and in a court deposition in 2013 that he ignored the numerous warnings that urged him
to go farther out to sea. When asked in 2013 why he decided not to take the ship farther
offshore, Phillips testified, "I don't believe 600 miles would make you safe. I didn't believe
1,200 miles would make you safe. As I told the crew, it would be a matter of when, not
if ... We were always in this area." Phillips returned to sea fourteen months after
the pirate attack. Bibliography
Richard Phillips; Stephan Talty. A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous
Days at Sea. Hyperion. ISBN 978-1-4013-9511-7. Phillips, Richard. "My story, by the REAL
Captain Phillips". Mail Online. The Daily Mail. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
References
External links