Captain's Book Details How He Foiled and Infuriated Somali Pirates
Chief mate faked radio conversation with U.S. Navy to scare pirates off ship.
April 6, 2010— -- When pirates attacked Capt. Richard Phillips' ship last April, he tried to fend them off by firing warning flares at them, popping up between bursts of fire from AK-47s to zing a fiery flare at them.
Phillips was hoping for a lucky shot that would ignite something in their skiff, but he kept aiming flares at the four pirates even after they were aboard the Maersk Alabama and were spraying the captain's bridge with gunfire.
He says that was his first mistake -- taking too long to retreat to a safe room where he could lock himself in and the pirates would be unable to maneuver the ship and would have no bargaining chips.
In his new book "A Captain's Duty" Phillips recounts the harrowing ordeal at the hands four Somali pirates last April, and details for the first time what happened aboard the cargo ship and how he and his crew frustrated and fooled the pirates.
Phillips' account comes as pirate activity in the Indian Ocean appears to be escalating along with more attempts to fight off the pirates. Just this week, a South Korean warship is pursuing a supertanker grabbed by pirates that is loaded with $160 million worth of crude oil.
And Danish marines in a helicopter strafed a hijacked cargo ship Monday and then rappelled down lines to capture 10 pirates and reclaim the ship.
The hijacking of the Maersk Alabama on April 8, 2009, however, focused attention on the growing war with pirates for the way the largely American crew foiled their attempts to take control of the ship, and the pirates' failure to honor a prisoner swap by taking Phillips hostage in the ship's lifeboat.
The standoff ended four days later when Navy marksmen killed three of the pirates. That ending came as tensions in the little boat were heightening and the pirates taunted Phillips by telling him he was going to die and repeatedly aiming their unloaded weapons at him and pulling the trigger.
Phillips says he never knew when that "click" would turn to "boom."
The worst moment came after his failed bid to escape the lifeboat, jumping into the ocean at night and trying to swim to the USS Bainbridge a half a mile away. The pirates quickly came after him in the boat, but couldn't find him because he was now hanging on to the undersides of the boat and would duck under the water whenever he heard footsteps coming his way.
