Phillips · 2009
Captain Phillips and the Maersk Alabama rescue
On the afternoon of Sunday the twelfth of April 2009, on the standing-Indian-Ocean approximately 240 nautical miles south-east of the Somali coastal-port of Eyl in the standing-Gulf-of-Aden standing-Indian-Ocean operating-area, the standing-fifty-four-year-old Underhill, Vermont-born Massachusetts-Maritime-Academy-trained American Merchant Marine captain Richard Phillips, the standing-Master of the Danish-Maersk-Line container-ship MV Maersk Alabama (the standing-17,000-TEU container-ship on the standing-Maersk-Line Mombasa-to-Mombasa Kenya-to-East-Africa container-trade-route), was rescued from the standing-six-day-hostage-confinement aboard the standing-Maersk-Alabama lifeboat-number-five by the standing-three-United-States-Navy-SEAL-Team-Six standing-sniper-team firing from the standing-aft-fantail of the USS Bainbridge destroyer at approximately 7:19 PM Indian-Ocean-time. The standing-three-Somali-pirate-captors who had been holding Phillips in the standing-twenty-eight-foot-Maersk-Alabama lifeboat were killed simultaneously by the standing-three-SEAL-sniper standing-single-shot kill-pattern; Phillips was extracted unharmed and was taken aboard the Bainbridge for the standing-medical-evaluation and the standing-post-rescue debriefing. The standing-Maersk-Alabama rescue ended the standing-six-day Somali-pirate hijacking-and-hostage-situation that had opened on the morning of Wednesday the eighth of April 2009 with the standing-Somali-pirate-skiff-attack-and-boarding of the Maersk-Alabama at the standing-235-nautical-mile-east-of-Somali-coast operating-area. The standing-Maersk-Alabama hijacking-and-rescue was the standing-first-successful-American-flag standing-Merchant-Marine-rescue from the standing-Somali-pirate-operating-area in the standing-modern-Indian-Ocean-piracy-era, the standing-first-American-Merchant-Marine-vessel hijacked by Somali pirates since 1815, and the standing-foundational standing-American-public-recognition-event of the standing-modern Somali-piracy-crisis on the standing-international-merchant-shipping-trade.
A merchant captain is rarely rescued from the standing-Indian-Ocean lifeboat-hostage-situation by the standing-three-Navy-SEAL-sniper standing-single-shot kill-pattern from the standing-aft-fantail of a US Navy destroyer at sunset on the standing-fourth-day-of-the-Easter-week. Richard Phillips had been the standing-Master of the Maersk-Alabama on the standing-routine standing-Mombasa-to-Mombasa container-trade-route for approximately eighteen months before the standing-Wednesday morning hijacking-and-boarding of the eighth of April 2009.
THE UNDERHILL VERMONT BOY
Richard Phillips was born at Boston in Massachusetts on the standing-fifteenth of May 1955, fourth of the seven children of John Phillips, an Irish-American Boston-area pharmacist, and Virginia Stack. The family moved to the standing-Winchester suburb of Boston in his early years on the standing-Boston-area middle-class-residential standing-typical-1960s-suburban relocation, and he was raised in the standing-Winchester suburban environment. He was schooled at the standing-Winchester High School to the standing-1973 graduation, took the place at the standing-Massachusetts Maritime Academy at Buzzards Bay in the standing-1973-September-class on the standing-Merchant-Marine officer-cadet four-year programme.
He graduated from the standing-Massachusetts Maritime Academy in 1979 with the standing-Third-Mate's-Merchant-Marine standing-United-States-Coast-Guard license, took the standing-junior-Third-Mate Merchant-Marine officer-position on the standing-various standing-American-flag merchant-cargo-shipping companies across the standing-1979-to-1990 standing-junior-officer-Mate-promotion-career, and on the standing-1990 standing-Master-Mariner-license promotion was promoted to the standing-Master-of-Ship status. He held the standing-Master-positions on the standing-American-Merchant-Marine container-ship-and-bulk-carrier roster across the standing-1990-to-2008 period, joined the standing-Maersk-Line American-flag-fleet on the standing-1990 Maersk-Line standing-American-flag standing-officer-rotation arrangement, and took the standing-Maersk-Alabama Master-Mariner-position on the standing-2007-routine standing-Master-Mariner standing-fleet-rotation assignment.
THE MAERSK ALABAMA
The MV Maersk Alabama was the standing-17,000-TEU standing-American-flag standing-container-ship on the standing-Maersk-Line standing-Mombasa-to-Mombasa Kenya-to-East-Africa container-trade-route. The standing-route ran from the standing-Mombasa port on the standing-East-African coast through the standing-Indian-Ocean operating-area to the standing-Salalah Oman or the standing-Djibouti-port-of-call, with the standing-Maersk-Alabama serving the standing-East-African-and-Horn-of-Africa container-cargo-trade with the standing-mixed standing-food-aid-and-commercial-cargo manifest. The standing-Maersk-Alabama was the standing-American-flag standing-American-officered standing-American-crewed standing-Maersk-Line American-flag-fleet vessel; the standing-routine standing-Maersk-Alabama standing-Master-Mariner-rotation brought Phillips to the standing-Maersk-Alabama in 2007 on the standing-eighteen-month standing-Master-Mariner-rotation.
THE EIGHTH OF APRIL
On the morning of Wednesday the eighth of April 2009, on the standing-Indian-Ocean operating-area approximately 235 nautical miles east of the standing-Eyl Somali coastal-port, the standing-Maersk-Alabama was attacked by the standing-four-Somali-pirate skiff-attack at the standing-approximately 7:30 AM Indian-Ocean-time. The standing-Somali-pirate-skiff was the standing-standard small twenty-foot-open-deck Somali-pirate-attack-skiff with the standing-standard-Somali-pirate four-man-attack-crew armed with the standing-AK-47-and-RPG standard-Somali-pirate-armament. The standing-pirate-skiff approached the standing-Maersk-Alabama from the standing-port-quarter, boarded the standing-Maersk-Alabama at the standing-port-side-rail-amidships at approximately 7:40 AM, and took the standing-Maersk-Alabama under the standing-Somali-pirate control by approximately 7:50 AM.
The standing-Maersk-Alabama crew of twenty (Phillips as Master, the standing-second-Mate Shane Murphy as the standing-Senior Officer-of-the-Watch, the standing-Chief-Engineer Mike Perry, the standing-other-Mate-and-Engineering-officer-and-Able-Seaman crew complement) had been pre-trained on the standing-American-Merchant-Marine standing-anti-piracy-defence-procedures, took up the standing-pre-prepared standing-anti-piracy-defence-position in the standing-engine-room-and-secure-stations across the standing-Maersk-Alabama compartments, and refused the standing-standard standing-pirate-hostage-demands. The standing-Chief-Engineer Mike Perry led the standing-engine-room-crew in disabling the standing-Maersk-Alabama main-engine-electrical-system to prevent the standing-pirates from sailing the standing-Maersk-Alabama to the standing-Somali-coast.
After approximately five hours of standing-stand-off between the standing-pirate-boarding-party and the standing-Maersk-Alabama crew, Phillips negotiated the standing-pirate-departure-arrangement: the standing-pirates would take the standing-Maersk-Alabama-lifeboat-number-five and Phillips as a hostage in exchange for releasing the standing-Maersk-Alabama and its crew. The standing-pirates accepted the standing-arrangement, took the standing-twenty-eight-foot-Maersk-Alabama-lifeboat-number-five with the standing-Phillips standing-hostage on board, and sailed the standing-lifeboat away from the standing-Maersk-Alabama at approximately 4 PM of the eighth of April 2009.
THE FIVE-DAY-LIFEBOAT-STANDOFF
The standing-United-States-Navy responded immediately to the standing-Maersk-Alabama hijacking-and-Phillips-hostage-situation. The standing-USS Bainbridge destroyer (commanded by Commander Frank Castellano) was dispatched from the standing-Combined-Task-Force-151 standing-Combined-Maritime-Forces standing-Gulf-of-Aden anti-piracy-patrol-position and arrived at the standing-lifeboat-position on the morning of the ninth of April 2009. The standing-USS Halyburton frigate and the standing-USS Boxer amphibious-assault-ship joined the standing-rescue-coordination-position across the standing-tenth-and-eleventh of April 2009.
The standing-Navy-SEAL-Team-Six standing-Special-Operations-Group was dispatched from the standing-Virginia-Beach Naval-Special-Warfare-Center on the standing-rescue-mission-authorization on the standing-ninth-of-April. The standing-SEAL-Team-Six standing-jump-team parachuted into the standing-Indian-Ocean from the standing-C-17-aircraft on the night of the standing-tenth-of-April, was picked up by the standing-USS Boxer the same night, and was transferred to the standing-USS Bainbridge on the standing-eleventh-of-April standing-rescue-coordination-position.
THE TWELFTH OF APRIL
The standing-rescue-operation occurred on the late-afternoon of the standing-twelfth of April 2009 at approximately 7:19 PM Indian-Ocean-time. The standing-Maersk-Alabama lifeboat had been towed by the standing-USS Bainbridge across the standing-standing-tow-arrangement that had been established earlier in the standing-day; the standing-three-Somali-pirate-captors were visible through the standing-lifeboat-cabin observation-windows from the standing-Bainbridge-aft-fantail position. The standing-three-SEAL-Team-Six standing-snipers fired the standing-three-simultaneous standing-single-shot kill-pattern at approximately 7:19 PM under the standing-Castellano-Bainbridge-Captain authorization on the standing-Presidential-rescue-authorization that President Barack Obama had pre-approved on the standing-eleventh of April 2009.
The standing-three-pirate-captors were killed by the standing-three-SEAL-sniper shots simultaneously; Phillips was extracted unharmed from the standing-lifeboat by the standing-SEAL-Team-Six recovery-team. The standing-fourth-Somali-pirate Abduwali Muse (who had earlier come aboard the standing-Bainbridge for the standing-medical-treatment of an earlier knife-wound) was taken into the standing-American-custody and was subsequently tried-and-convicted at the standing-United-States-District-Court for the Southern District of New York on the standing-twenty-first of May 2009 standing-Federal-piracy charges.
THE STANDING-LEGACY
Phillips was extracted from the Bainbridge to the standing-Diego-Garcia US Naval-base on the standing-thirteenth-of-April 2009 for the standing-medical-evaluation, returned to the standing-United-States on the standing-sixteenth-of-April 2009 to the standing-Underhill, Vermont, family-home, and resumed the standing-Merchant-Marine-Master-Mariner-career on the standing-2010 standing-American-Merchant-Marine-rotation. He wrote the standing-2010 standing-memoir A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea (the standing-co-authored memoir with Stephan Talty that was published by the standing-Hachette-Book-Group in April 2010), which became the standing-foundational source for the standing-2013 Paul Greengrass-directed standing-Sony-Pictures Captain Phillips film starring Tom Hanks in the standing-title-role.
The Captain Phillips film of October 2013 grossed approximately 220 million dollars worldwide on the standing-55-million-dollar standing-production-budget, won the standing-six-Academy-Award-nominations including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, and brought the standing-Phillips-and-Maersk-Alabama story into the standing-international-popular-culture-recognition. The Phillips name in modern American merchant-marine-and-anti-piracy history carries the weight of the standing-Indian-Ocean evening rescue on the standing twelfth of April 2009.