![]() Hardcover edition | |
Author | Richard Phillips with Stephan Talty |
---|---|
Language | English |
Subject | Piracy |
Genre | Nonfiction |
Publisher | Hyperion Books |
Publication date | April 6, 2010 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Hardcover |
Pages | 304 pp. |
ISBN | 978-1-4013-2380-6 |
OCLC | 674694313 |
A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea is a book by Captain Richard Phillips, the captain of the container ship MV Maersk Alabama when it was hijacked in 2009. [1] [2] [3] [4] It was written with Stephan Talty and published by Hyperion on April 6, 2010 (and on audio by Tantor). It was adapted in a 2013 film, Captain Phillips .
The book tells the story of Phillips' capture and hostage-taking by Somali pirates in April 2009. It alternates between his five-day ordeal and the plight of his family in Vermont, watching the drama unfold on cable news. ABC News reported that the publication of his book coincided with a rise in concern about piracy. [4]
Phillips was a mariner of 30 years' experience when his ship was taken. He took extensive security precautions to keep his crew safe and hidden, leaving himself as the only possible hostage. This led to an ordeal of several days in a lifeboat in the hands of pirates, whom Phillips portrays as alternately conciliatory, vicious, and unfocused.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy assembled a large task force, and tensions steadily rose, as did Phillips’ fear for his life. The book details Phillips' attempted escape and eventual rescue by U.S. Navy SEALs, and portrays Phillips' wife Andrea as loyal and strong-willed.
Just weeks after his rescue from the Somali pirates, the American talent agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) signed Phillips, and auctioned off his life rights to the publishing and film industries in the spring of 2009. American publisher Hyperion Books optioned the rights for Phillips' memoir in May 2009. [5]
On April 6, 2010, A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea, was released. [6] [2] [3]
Publishers Weekly review stated, "Phillips has a sailor's penchant for the dramatic, which he puts to good use alternating between his own five-day ordeal-replete with Navy SEALs and a daring escape attempt-and the plight of his family in Vermont, watching the drama unfold on cable news. Despite his harrowing experience, Phillips stays afloat with steadfast faith and an unfailing sense of humor that are, ultimately, rewarded. Phillips's story is not just riveting and timely, but also an informative, heartening look at perhaps the least-celebrated branch of the U.S. military, the Merchant Marines." [7] The United States Merchant Marine is not one of the six branches of the U.S. military.
A reviewer of Penguin website wrote, "In A Captain's Duty, Richard Phillips tells his own extraordinary story – that of an ordinary man who did what he saw as his duty and in so doing became a hero. It is a thrilling true tale of adventure and courage in the face of deprivation, death threats and mock executions and also a compulsively readable first-hand account of the terrors of high-seas hostage-taking." [8]
Columbia Pictures optioned the book and acquired the life rights to Phillips in spring 2009. [9] Barkhad Abdi starred as the lead Somali pirate, Tom Hanks starred as Phillips and Faysal Ahmed as Najee in a Columbia film based on the hijacking and Phillips's book, scripted by Billy Ray, and produced by the team behind The Social Network . [9] The film, entitled Captain Phillips , was released on October 11, 2013, to widespread critical acclaim.[ citation needed ]
USS Halyburton (FFG-40), an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate, is a ship of the United States Navy named for Pharmacist's Mate Second Class William D. Halyburton, Jr. (1924–1945). Halyburton was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism while serving with the 5th Marines, during the Battle of Okinawa in 1945.
USS Bainbridge (DDG-96) is an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer in the United States Navy. She is the fifth ship to carry that name, and the 46th destroyer of a planned 75-ship class. Bainbridge is named in honor of Commodore William Bainbridge, who as commander of the frigate USS Constitution distinguished himself in the War of 1812 when he and his crew captured HMS Java, a 38-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.
Piracy off the coast of Somalia occurs in the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel, and Somali Sea, in Somali territorial waters and other surrounding places and has a long troubled history with different perspectives from different communities. It was initially a threat to international fishing vessels during the early 2000s, only to rapidly escalate and expand to international shipping during the War in Somalia (2006–2009).
Combined Task Force 151 (CTF-151) is a multinational naval task force, set up in 2009 as a response to piracy attacks in the Gulf of Aden and off the eastern coast of Somalia. Its mission is to disrupt piracy and armed robbery at sea and to engage with regional and other partners to build capacity and improve relevant capabilities in order to protect global maritime commerce and secure freedom of navigation. It operates in conjunction with the EU's Operation Atalanta and NATO's Operation Ocean Shield.
MV Tygra is a container ship currently operated by the Waterman Steamship Corporation and owned by Element Shipmanagement SA of Piraeus, Greece. She was previously owned by the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group and operated by Maersk Line and Maersk Line Limited.
The Maersk Alabamahijacking began on 8 April 2009, when four pirates in the Somali Basin seized the Danish/U.S. cargo ship Maersk Alabama at a distance of 240 nautical miles southeast of Eyl, Somalia. The siege ended after a rescue effort by the United States Navy on April 12th.
The April 2009 raid off Somalia was a military operation conducted by France and Germany to retake the French yacht Tanit on 9 April 2009, a yacht which had been captured by Somali pirates on 4 April 2009. It occurred during Operation Atalanta, a European Union mission in Somali waters. The pirates had attempted to extract a ransom by holding the yacht's occupants hostage, but were ultimately defeated when the French Navy assaulted them.
Francis Xavier Castellano is a United States Navy captain currently assigned as the commanding officer of Center for Surface Combat Systems. He was the commander of the guided missile destroyer USS Bainbridge during the hijacking of MV Maersk Alabama.
Abduwali Abdulkadir Museعبدالولي موسى is a Somali convicted pirate. He is the sole survivor of four pirates who hijacked the MV Maersk Alabama in April 2009 and then held Captain Richard Phillips for ransom. On 16 February 2011, Muse was sentenced to 33 years and 9 months in U.S. federal prison.
Richard Phillips 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.
"Fatbeard" is the seventh episode of the thirteenth season of the American animated television series South Park. The 188th overall episode of the series, it originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on April 22, 2009. It was the mid-season finale, marking the final South Park episode for six months. In the episode, Cartman misinterprets news reports about piracy in the Indian Ocean to mean the return of the classic era of swashbuckling pirates, and misleads a handful of South Park boys to voyage to Mogadishu to start a pirate crew.
The Republic of Korea Navy Somali Sea Escort Task Group, also known as Cheonghae Unit was established by the Republic of Korea Navy to protect civilian ships near the coast of Somalia under Combined Task Force 151. The naval task force is named after the historical 9th-century Korean military base Cheonghaejin.
On 5 May 2010, Somali pirates hijacked MV Moscow University, a Liberian-flagged Russian tanker, in the Gulf of Aden. Her crew was freed by the Russian Navy destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov the following day.
Operation Dawn of Gulf of Aden was a naval operation by the Republic of Korea Navy against Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea. The operation was spurred by the pirates' seizure of the South Korean chemical tanker Samho Jewelry. In response, the South Korean government sent a destroyer and 30 naval commandos to retake the ship and rescue its crew. After trailing the tanker for several days and fighting a preliminary engagement that neutralized four of the pirates, the South Korean forces retook the ship by force on January 21, 2011, in a successful boarding action that resulted in the deaths of eight and the capture of five out of thirteen pirates.
On January 25, 2012, a team of United States Navy SEALs raided a compound 12 miles north of the Somali city of Adado, killing nine Somali pirates and freeing their hostages, American Jessica Buchanan and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted.
Captain Phillips is a 2013 American biographical action-thriller film directed by Paul Greengrass. Based on the 2009 Maersk Alabama hijacking, the film tells the story of Captain Richard Phillips, an American merchant mariner who was taken hostage by Somali pirates. It stars Tom Hanks as Phillips, alongside Barkhad Abdi as pirate leader Abduwali Muse.
Michael Scott Moore is an American journalist and novelist. He is the author of Sweetness and Blood (2010), about the history of surfing, and The Desert and the Sea (2018), a memoir about his captivity in Somalia.
Stephan Talty is an Irish American journalist and author born in Buffalo, New York (state) to parents from County Clare. He is famous for creating the character of Abbie Kearney, a fictional female detective who pursues serial killers in Buffalo, New York. He also co‑wrote A Captain's Duty, about the 2009 hijacking of a ship by Somali 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.