There are plenty of things to worry about when working at sea deadly waves
terrifying animals the constant threat of catching hypothermia but there's one
fear that tops the list of anyone working on ships that is the threat of being hijacked
by somali pirates somali pirates have turned east africa seas into the world's most dangerous waters
the most feared somali pirate of all time is a man named abduwali muse but to understand why
abdulwali is so feared we have to go back to 2009. on april 9 2009 the cargo ship mursk alabama was
sailing through the pirate infested indian ocean they were 275 miles off the coast of somalia
they were carrying 17 000 tons of cargo to mombasa kenya but that's when the ship's captain richard
phillips sees something that sends a chill down his spine there is an alarming blip on the ship's
radar and it's fast approaching the maersk alabama captain phillips and his crew grab binoculars
and that's when they see it there are four pirates in a speedboat and they're approaching first
an alarm is sounded on the ship and everyone knows that an attack is imminent the pirates
zoom past the merse alabama and then double back to match the ship's speed the inevitability sinks
into the crew and they realize that their biggest fear is about to come true their ship is going to
be hijacked for ransom by somali pirates the pirates throw a grappling hook onto the ship
in just five minutes pirates are climbing aboard the merse alabama the pirates range from ages 18
to 15 years old despite them being much younger than the ship's crew this does not matter the
ship's crew is unarmed but the somali pirates all have ak-47s captain phillips plays a final message
over the ship's pa system the 23 crew members can do nothing but listen as captain richard phillips
says pirates have boarded the ship i repeat pirates have boarded the ship two pirates board
the main deck they spray bullets into the air while the other two pirates stay on the speedboat
the ship's third mate colin wright quickly calls an anti-piracy command center it's basically
colin 911 the man on the phone that the ship has been boarded by pirates all the
phone operator replies with is oh the pirates enter the control area where captain phillips is
they hold lots of the crew hostage with ak-47s the pirates forced captain phillips to slow
the ship down so the other two pirates can climb aboard of course captain phillips has
no choice but to oblige the pirates ask the crew where they're from and that's when the
crew says they are a us vessel as soon as the pirates find out they've hijacked a u.s
ship they begin to celebrate they're expecting a big payday that's because u.s companies and the
us government often pays hijackers a lot of money and us dollars are worth a lot of money in somalia
the pirates then tell captain phillips to tell everyone to come to the ship's bridge
so he gets on the pa system and does this he tells all crew to come to the bridge but
the crew don't appear they know captain phillips is simply stalling that's because
captain phillips never gives the all-clear password the pirates have now been waiting
five minutes and there's still no sign of the crew they begin to get agitated but that's when
the entire ship goes dark the ship's power has gone out that's because deep in the belly of the
ship is engineer mike perry mike perry has taken command of the ship and turned off all of the
electronics on board one of the pirates realizes that the cruise engineers are down in the ship's
belly so one of the pirates tells a crew member to guide him down into the ship's belly he wants to
get the other crew members onto the ship's bridge that way the pirates have all of their hostages in
one place the crew member obliges with the pirate bert convinces him to leave his ak-47 before going
into the ship's belly he says the crew won't come out if they know you're armed reluctantly
the pirate agrees he goes into the ship's belly with the crew member unarmed he has no idea that
waiting down below is engineer mike perry and mike perry has a large knife the pirate and the
crew member go down into the ship's belly with flashlights engineer mike perry soon hears them
coming so he lays in weight in order to ambush the pirate the pirate walks by and mike perry grabs
him because the pirate is unarmed mike perry can jump on him he holds his knife in hand but
does not have to use it mike perry and the other engineers then tie up the pirate what they didn't
realize was this pirate was the ringleader of all of the pirates his name was abduwali muse and he
was known in the country for being one of the most ruthless pirates in the world by this time the us
navy has been notified of the hijacking and they immediately began planning on what they can do
the military decides to deploy their secret weapon the navy seals the navy seals are trained for very
intense situations just like this one but it will be a while before the navy get there as
they're 300 miles away back on the mayursk alabama the ship crew are still terrified one
of the pirates have been captured by the crew but three remain on board the ship with ak-47s in hand
chief engineer mike perry is still hiding out in the engine room over the radio he is listening
into what's happening on the ship's bridge he can hear the other three pirates getting increasingly
angry at captain phillips they're also asking where their leader abdulwali muse is not knowing
that he's with the crew in the engine room the crew now have a hostage of their own and it's the
pirate's leader the crew are so angry they want to take abduwali muse's life but they realize they
can use him as a bargaining chip soon the pirates learn that muse has been captured by the crew
they tell captain phillips this that's when captain phillips has a very brave and selfless
idea he makes the pirates on offer they can take him as a hostage on a lifeboat and leave the ship
and in exchange the crew will give back muse the pirates take the deal mews and the pirates reunite
and get on a lifeboat but they take their only remaining hostage captain phillips with them
captain richard phillips life is now in the pirates hands as the pirates leave the ship
chief mate shane murphy snaps three incredible photos of the pirates these are the only known
photos of the pirates who are not muse ever taken the four pirates including muse now have captain
phillips at gunpoint and they're on a lifeboat the pirates now plan to take captain phillips onto the
mainland from there they can still demand a hefty ransom the crew is in total panic they're on the
maersk alabama but their ship's captain is on a lifeboat with four pirates heading to somalia
inside the lifeboat the pirate's leader muse is badly injured his hand was cut by engineer mike
perry when he was ambushed and the cut on muse's hand is beginning to get infected then for the men
on the maersk alabama a welcome sight is seen the uss bainbridge is approaching them rapidly the uss
bainbridge is a u.s navy missile destroyer it's there to rescue the crew aboard the bainbridge
are the highest trained u.s navy seals the navy seals knew that the hard part starts now they
had to somehow rescue captain phillips from the lifeboat the only problem was on the lifeboat were
four pirates armed with ak-47s i've obtained real footage from the us navy of their rescue mission
this is the lifeboat as it heads to the somali coast if the pirates got captain phillips ashore
then they could take him anywhere that's when captain phillips sees an opportunity to make
a break for it he jumps off the lifeboat into the ocean but it's no use the uss bainbridge
is more than a half mile away and he is quickly recaptured by the pirates and taken back on board
the lifeboat the navy don't want the lifeboat to get to the somali coast so the navy does something
unorthodox they begin to use fire hoses to push the ship away from the coast they then use a navy
helicopter and fly it over the lifeboat this creates hurricane force winds and it means the
lifeboat can't move around but this is merely a stalling tactic and it does nothing to rescue
captain phillips the pirates and captain phillips have now been on the lifeboat for 83 hours the
pirates are beginning to get desperate they send a message to the navy they're asking for food and
water and also medical attention for their leader abduwali muse the wound on his hand is getting
worse and worse this is the exact thing the navy's hostage negotiators have been waiting for the navy
seals say they will give them food and water in exchange for mews coming aboard their ship
muse knows this means he will be arrested by us authorities but he realizes that if he doesn't do
this then the wound on his hand will get infected and he will soon not be alive now mews is aboard
the u.s spain bridge but the three other pirates and captain phillips are still aboard the lifeboat
the us navy realizes there's no other way the seal team calls three snipers into place one sniper per
pirate on the lifeboat the seal team will have to snipe all of the pirates simultaneously but
not hit captain phillips luckily captain phillips was being smart for the entire 86 hours he stayed
in the same spot on the lifeboat two of these seal team snipers lock on to two of the pirates
but the third sniper does not know the position of the third pirate luckily that's when the pirate's
lifeboat runs out of fuel the lifeboat is now moving around erratically because of the waves
that's when the third pirate gets seasick and sticks his head out of the window the three seal
snipers must coordinate three simultaneous shirts they also need to make sure they're headshots
they don't want a situation where a pirate is injured and can still pull the trigger on their
ak-47 ending captain philip's life as soon as the third pirate puts his head out of the window to be
seasick the third seal communicates he says two words to the other seal snipers target acquired
like clockwork the three snipers shoot their shirts and the three pirates go down captain
phillips can now be rescued from the lifeboat captain phillips is brought home to the usa and
abduwali muse is also brought to the usa for trial he is escorted by two navy seals with their faces
blurred out by the military the military have never identified these navy seals that's because
they could be in danger if people knew the nature of their job it just shows how dangerous a person
abduwali muse really is abduwali muse is taken to new york at the time he was only 18 years old on
may 19 2009 a grand jury convicts muse he is found guilty of hijacking kidnapping and hostage taking
the charges of piracy and possession of a machine gun are dropped in exchange for a guilty play
muse is sentenced to 35 years in federal prison but as he leaves court a shocking sight is seen
muse appears to be laughing at the fbi he shows absolutely no remorse and no fear and this cements
him as one of the most feared somali pirates to ever live muse is currently being held at a
maximum security prison in indiana it's believed he will be released in 2038. you have to hand
it to captain phillips for his amazing bravery he was able to get his crew members out of harm's way
while sacrificing his own safety but in the end no crew members of the immersed alabama were injured
none of the navy seals were injured either out of the four hijackers three were sniped by us
navy seals and their ringleader was arrested and taken to prison leave me your thoughts in
the comments section about what captain phillips did do you think he was being smart and brave or
was he being reckless if you've made it this far then thank you for watching i've been charlie and
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