Richard Phillips | |
|---|---|
 Phillips in 2010 | |
| Born | May 16, 1955 |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Massachusetts Maritime Academy |
| Occupation | Merchant mariner |
| Spouse | Andrea Phillips |
| Children | 2 |
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. [1]
Of Irish descent, Phillips was born in Massachusetts [2] and graduated from Winchester High School in 1973. [3] His father, James Austin Phillips, was a teacher, head basketball coach, and assistant football coach at the high school. [4]
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. [5] During his schooling, Phillips worked as a taxi driver in Boston. [6]
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 nautical miles (1,100 km; 690 mi) 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 (440 km) southeast of the Somalian port city of Eyl. [7] 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." [8] [9] [10]
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. [11] As the pirates were boarding the ship, the crew members locked themselves in the engine room. [12] 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. [12] The crew attempted to exchange the captured Muse [13] 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. [11] Muse was handed over to his fellow pirates, but the four Somalis then reneged on the exchange and left in the lifeboat, taking Phillips [14] 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. [14]
On April 8, the destroyer USS Bainbridge and the frigate USS Halyburton were dispatched to the Gulf of Aden in response to the hostage situation, and reached Maersk Alabama early on April 9. [15] 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. [15] The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation secured the ship as a crime scene. [16]
On April 9, a standoff began between the Bainbridge and the pirates in the Maersk Alabama lifeboat, where they continued to hold Phillips hostage. [17] [18] 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 at his back. [19] [20] [21]
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. [22] [23] [24] One of the pirates was named Ali Aden Elmi, another's last name was Hamac, and the third remains unidentified. [25] Muse was taken into custody aboard the Bainbridge. [22] [23] He later pleaded guilty to hijacking, kidnapping and hostage-taking charges and was sentenced to over 33 years in federal prison. [25] [26]
Phillips returned to sea fourteen months after the pirate attack, [27] sailing as Master of the vehicle carrier M/V Green Bay until his retirement was announced by the International Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots in October 2014.[ citation needed ]
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. [28]
American publisher Hyperion Books optioned the rights for Phillips' memoir in May 2009. [28] On April 6, 2010, A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea , was released. [29] [30] [31]
Columbia Pictures acquired the film rights in May 2009 also. [32] 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 film based on the hijacking and Phillips' book. [33] It would be scripted by Billy Ray, and produced by the team behind The Social Network . [32]
The film, titled Captain Phillips , was released on October 11, 2013 [34] [35] and had its premiere showing at the 2013 New York Film Festival. [36] It was praised for its direction, screenplay, production values, cinematography, and for the performances of Tom Hanks and Barkhad Abdi, [37] [38] [39] with Abdi in particular winning a Bafta award for Best Supporting Actor. [40] Captain Phillips grossed $107.1 million in North America and $111.7 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $218.8 million, against its budget of $55 million. [41]
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." Phillips commented in his interview that the rendition of the events is accurate, adding, "When I met [Tom Hanks], I told him if he's going to play me, he's going to have to put on a little weight and get a little better-looking and he did neither." [42]
Since the release of Captain Phillips , there has been controversy over its portrayal of Phillips, with several crew members claiming that he was not the hero presented in the film, according to lawsuits filed by more than half of the crew of the Maersk Alabama. The crew members claim Phillips was at least partly at fault for an "insistence on being fast and making money ... [getting] the Alabama within 250 miles of the Somali coast..." [43] [44] The lawsuit was reportedly settled before it went to trial. [45]
Phillips told CNN's Drew Griffin in 2010 and in a court deposition in 2013 that he ignored the numerous warnings that urged him to go farther out to sea. When asked in 2013 why he decided not to take the ship farther offshore, Phillips testified, "I don't believe 600 miles would make you safe. I didn't believe 1,200 miles would make you safe. As I told the crew, it would be a matter of when, not if ... We were always in this area." [43] Between 2009 and 2011, pirates from Somalia had attacked ships as far away as 1,000 and even 1,300 nautical miles, although majority of attacks were within 200 nautical miles. [26]
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.
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.
MV Liberty Sun is a ship unsuccessfully attacked by Somali pirates on 14 April 2009. After unloading food aid at Port Sudan, she was proceeding to Mombasa with humanitarian aid, when she was attacked by pirates armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades. After successfully avoiding being boarded, she was assisted by USS Bainbridge. The French frigate Nivôse captured 11 of the pirates who had attacked Liberty Sun. Bainbridge had on board Captain Richard Phillips of the Maersk Alabama hijacking, shortly after he had been freed in an operation which left three pirates dead and one captured. One of the pirates, Abdi Garad, told AFP news agency that they had intended to destroy the ship and its crew. "The aim of this attack was totally different. We were not after a ransom. We also assigned a team with special equipment to chase and destroy any ship flying the American flag in retaliation for the brutal killing of our friends."
Rear Admiral Richard Gurnon is a retired college administrator who served as president of Massachusetts Maritime Academy from 2005 to 2015.
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.
"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 on the coast of Somalia 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.
Win Far 161 is a Taiwanese fishing vessel captured by Somali pirates on 6 April 2009 near the Seychelles. The ship was released on 11 February 2010 after a ransom was paid, and after the ship had been used as a mother ship in the Maersk Alabama hijacking. Two of the 30 crew had died during their time held hostage, due to malnutrition and neglect by their Somali captors. The ship was likely captured by Abduwali Muse.
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. It was written with Stephan Talty and published by Hyperion on April 6, 2010. It was adapted in a 2013 film, Captain Phillips.
The SY Quest incident occurred in February 2011 when Somali pirates seized the American yacht SY Quest and four United States citizens. The United States Navy ordered the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise and three other ships to free the hostages. All four hostages were shot by their captors.
A Hijacking is a 2012 Danish thriller film written and directed by Tobias Lindholm about a ship hijacking. Pilou Asbæk and Søren Malling star as a cook taken hostage and the CEO that attempts to negotiate for his release, respectively. It premiered at the 69th Venice International Film Festival.
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.
Barkhad Abdi is a Somali–American actor. He made his acting debut as the pirate Abduwali Muse in the biographical drama film Captain Phillips (2013), which earned him a British Academy Film Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, along with Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations.
The following lists events that happened in 2009 in Somalia.
According to second mate Ken Quinn, the crew managed to capture one of the pirates and keep him tied up for 12 hours
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
