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. 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 April 9, a standoff began between the Bainbridge and the pirates in the Maersk Alabama lifeboat, where they continued to hold Phillips hostage. Phillips was held captive in the lifeboat by Somali pirates for five days. Federal Bureau of Investigation secured the ship as a crime scene. An 18-man marine security team was on board. Aasheim had previously been captain of the Maersk Alabama until Richard Phillips relieved him eight days prior to the pirate attack. Captain Larry Aasheim then assumed command. On Saturday, April 11, Maersk Alabama arrived in Mombasa, still under U.S. Maersk Alabama then departed from the area with an armed escort, towards its original destination of the port of Mombasa. 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. The lifeboat was carrying ten days of food rations, water, and basic survival supplies. "We returned him, but they didn't return the captain," said second mate Ken Quinn. 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. The crew attempted to exchange the captured Muse for Phillips.Īccording 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. 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. As the pirates were boarding the ship, the crew members locked themselves in the engine room.
"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." The 28-foot lifeboat where Phillips and the four Somali pirates were held up as seen from a US Navy Boeing ScanEagle UAV.Īccording 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.
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. With a crew of 20, the ship had departed from Salalah, Oman en route to Mombasa, Kenya. 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. 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.
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