JAKARTA - On April 12, 2009, a ship captain named Richard Phillips was rescued from captivity. Phillips has been held hostage in a lifeboat in the Indian Ocean since April 8, 2009. He was rescued unscathed. But the incident undermined the power of the U.S.-flagged ship.
Navy Vice Admiral Bill Gortney explains captain Richard Phillips' maersk Alabama was overrun by pirates off the coast in Somalia on Wednesday, April 8, 2009. After being rescued, Phillips immediately contacted his family and explained he was fine.
"The captain is in good health. He showered and wore clean clothes," Gortney said in a telephone press conference from Naval Central Command in Bahrain.
U.S. forces moved to rescue Phillips after seeing him in imminent danger on the lifeboat, Gortney said. It was then seen the pirates negotiating Phillips' fate aboard the nearby USS Bainbridge.
"During tonight's negotiation process, the commander at the scene from Bainbridge made the decision that the captain's life was in danger. And three pirates were killed," Gortney said. "Pirates who surrendered earlier today are treated humanely; his comrades who continued to fight were paid with their lives."
Quoting Britannica, Phillips' hostage-taking originated on an Alabama Maersk ship sailing from Ṣalālah, Oman to Mombasa, Kenya. There were 21 U.S. people on it, including Phillips.
On April 7, the ship was several hundred miles off the coast of Somalia. The area is notorious for pirate attacks, and Phillips has received warnings but has not changed course.
By late afternoon, the ship was approached by several pirate ships that eventually turned around without incident. On April 8 morning, a small speedboat carrying four pirates armed with AK-47s was seen.
The unarmed crew attempted to fend off the attack, firing flares and spraying fire hoses. However, two Somali pirates were able to board the ship.
The incident marked the first time in about two hundred years that pirates set foot on a ship sailing under the U.S. flag. The hijackers managed to take down the Alabama Ship and largely retreated to the fortified rudder room.
However, Phillips and several others were arrested on the bridge. Around that time, the remaining two pirates also boarded the ship. A prisoner was ordered below deck to retrieve his comrades. But he didn't come back.
One of the pirates then accompanied the rest of the crew to search for them. However, during the search, the hijacker was taken hostage by the crew of the ship in hiding. After negotiating the hostage exchange they were willing to release the captives.
But the hijackers took Captain Phillips hostage. With their own boat previously overturned, the hijackers forced Kpaten Phillpis to move to a sealed lifeboat and demanded a ransom of 2 million U.S. dollars.
Drama saves PhillipsRescue teams then began following them by boat at an altitude of 5.5 meters. Indeed, previously a crew member had sent an emergency call.
On April 9, the USS Bainbridge made its way to Maersk Alabama. Maersk Alabama was ordered to continue sailing to Kenya and moved immediately after being given security details by a team of armed sailors.
On April 10, Phillips jumped into the sea. But he was quickly recaptured. As negotiations with the pirates stalled, Navy SEAL Team 6 was dispatched from Virginia and arrived at Bainbridge on April 11.
Later that day, pirates allowed a U.S. ship to attach a crane to a lifeboat that ran out of fuel. The ship's journey was slowly shortened until the lifeboat was at close range with a Navy SEAL sniper aboard Fantail Bainbridge.
Considered a failure
Phillips is widely portrayed as a hero. But maersk Alabama's crew instead accused Phillips of failing.
Phillips was judged not to have heeded the warnings and instead set the ship in a direction that endangered them. The crew then sued the owner of the Danish cargo ship Maersk Line.
The lawsuit was later settled with an undisclosed amount of money. After the hijacking, many cargo ships began hiring security and the number of pirate attacks in Somali waters decreased.
Phillips tells his story in a book called A Captain's Duty. The book, which was released in 2010, was co-authored with Stephan Talty.
Subsequently, the book was adapted into a Captain Phillips film in 2013. Captain Phillips' film is played by megastar Tom Hanks.
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