Richard Phillips

Richard Phillips (born May 16, 1955) 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.

Of Irish descent, Phillips was born in Massachusetts, and graduated from Winchester High School in 1973.

Phillips enrolled at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and planned to study international law but transferred to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, from which he graduated in 1979.

During his schooling, Phillips worked as a taxi driver in Boston.

On April 6, 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 nmi off Somalia's coast of east Africa.

With these advisories in effect, on April 8, 2009, four Somali pirates boarded the Maersk Alabama when it was located around 240 nmi southeast of the Somalian port city of Eyl.

With a crew of 20, the ship had 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, swamping the smaller boat.

As the pirates were boarding the ship, the crew members locked themselves in the engine room.

The crew later successfully lured one of the pirates, Abduwali Muse, into the engine room and overpowered him, stabbing him in the hand in the process and keeping him tied up for some 12 hours.

The crew attempted to exchange the captured Muse for Phillips.

According to a crew member, the pirates got into the ship's rescue boat with the captive Phillips, but it would not start, so the crew dropped a lifeboat and met the pirates to trade prisoners and switch boats.

Muse was handed over to his fellow pirates, but the four Somalis then reneged on the exchange and left in the lifeboat, taking Phillips with them.

"We returned him, but they didn't return the captain," said second mate Ken Quinn.

The lifeboat was carrying ten days of food rations, water, and basic survival supplies.

On April 8, the destroyer USS Bainbridge (DDG-96) and the frigate USS Halyburton (FFG-40) 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 lifeboat, where they continued to hold Phillips hostage.

Muse agreed to leave the lifeboat to negotiate with Navy officials on board the Bainbridge, leaving his three fellow pirates on the lifeboat with Phillips.

On Sunday, April 12, Bainbridge captain Commander Frank Castellano concluded that Phillips' life was in immediate danger, based on reports that a pirate was pointing an AK-47 automatic rifle at his back.

On Castellano's order, U.S. Navy marksmen from DEVGRU, commonly known as SEAL Team Six, deployed on Bainbridge's fantail, opened fire and killed the three pirates with bullets to the head.

Phillips was rescued.

One of the pirates was named Ali Aden Elmi, another's last name was Hamac, and the third remains unidentified.

Muse was taken into custody aboard the Bainbridge.

He later pleaded guilty to hijacking, kidnapping and hostage-taking charges and was sentenced to over 33 years in federal prison.

Following the hijacking, Phillips published 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, titled 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."