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Maersk Alabama hijacking The Maersk Alabama hijacking was a series
of maritime events that began with four pirates in the Indian Ocean seizing the cargo ship
MV Maersk Alabama 240 nautical miles southeast of the port city of Eyl, Somalia. The siege
ended after a rescue effort by the U.S. Navy on 12 April 2009. It was the first successful
pirate seizure of a ship registered under the American flag since the early 19th century.
It was the sixth vessel in a week to be attacked by pirates who had previously extorted ransoms
in the tens of millions of dollars. The story of the incident was reported in
the book A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea (2010)
by Stephan Talty and Captain Richard Phillips, who had been master of the vessel at the time
of the incident. The hijacking also inspired the 2013 film Captain Phillips, with Tom Hanks
playing Richard Phillips in the title role, Barkhad Abdi playing Abduwali Muse and Faysal
Ahmed playing Najee. Timeline of events
Hijacking The ship, with a crew of 20, loaded with 17,000
metric tons of cargo, was bound for Mombasa, Kenya. On 8 April 2009, four pirates based
on the FV Win Far 161 attacked the ship. All four of the pirates were between 17 and 19
years old, according to U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.
The crew members of the Maersk Alabama had received anti-piracy training from union training
schools, and had drilled aboard the ship a day previously. Their training included the
use of small arms, anti-terror, basic safety, first aid, and other security-related courses.
When the pirate alarm sounded early on Wednesday, 8 April, Chief Engineer Mike Perry brought
14 members of the crew into a "secure room" that the engineers had been in the process
of fortifying for just such a purpose. As the pirates approached, the remaining crew
fired flares; in addition, Perry and 1st A/E Matt Fisher swung the ship's rudder, which
swamped the pirate skiff. Nonetheless, the ship was boarded. Perry had
initially taken main engine control away from the bridge and 1st A/E Matt Fisher had taken
control of the steering gear. Perry then shut down all ship systems and the entire vessel
"went black." The pirates captured Captain Richard Phillips and several other crew members
minutes after boarding, but soon found that they could not control the ship.
Perry remained outside the secure room lying in wait, knife in hand, for a visit from the
pirates who were trying to locate the missing crew members in order to gain control of the
ship and presumably sail it to Somalia. Perry tackled the ringleader of the pirates and
took him prisoner after a cat-and-mouse chase in a darkened engine room. The *** on watch
at the time stabbed one pirate in the hand. The crew attempted to exchange the pirate
they had captured for the captain, but the exchange went awry and after the crew released
their captive, the pirates refused to honor the agreement. Captain Phillips escorted the
pirates to a lifeboat to show them how to operate it, but then the pirates fled with
the Captain. On 8 April 2009, the destroyer USS Bainbridge
was dispatched to the Gulf of Aden in response to the hostage situation, and reached the
Maersk Alabama early on 9 April. The Maersk Alabama was then escorted from
the scene under armed guard towards its original destination of Mombasa where Captain Larry
D. Aasheim retook command of the ship. Phillips had relieved Aasheim nine days earlier. CNN
and Fox News quoted sources stating that the pirates' strategy was to await the arrival
of additional hijacked vessels carrying more pirates and additional hostages to use as
human shields. Rescue
A stand-off ensued between the USS Bainbridge, the frigate USS Halyburton, and the pirates'
lifeboat from the Maersk Alabama from 9 April 2009, where they held Captain Richard Phillips
hostage. The lifeboat itself was covered and contained plenty of food and water but lacked
basic comforts, including a toilet or ventilation. The Bainbridge was equipped with a ScanEagle
drone and RHIB boats. The Halyburton held two SH-60B helicopters on board. Both vessels
stayed several hundred yards away, out of the pirates' range of fire. A P-3 Orion surveillance
aircraft secured aerial footage and reconnaissance. Radio communication between the two ships
was established. Four foreign vessels held by pirates headed towards the lifeboat. A
total of 54 hostages were on two of the ships, citizens of China, Germany, Russia, the Philippines,
Tuvalu, Indonesia, and Taiwan. On 10 April 2009, Phillips attempted to escape
from the lifeboat but was recaptured after the captors fired shots. The pirates then
threw a phone – and a two-way radio dropped to them by the U.S. Navy – into the ocean,
fearing the Americans were somehow using the equipment to give instructions to the captain.
The U.S. dispatched another warship, amphibious assault ship USS Boxer, to the site off the
Horn of Africa. The pirates' strategy was to link up with their comrades, who were holding
various other hostages, and to get Phillips to Somalia where they could hide him and make
a rescue more difficult for the Americans. Anchoring near shore would allow them to land
quickly if attacked. Negotiations were ongoing between the pirates and the captain of the
Bainbridge, who was under the direction of FBI hostage negotiators. The captors were
also communicating with other pirate vessels by satellite phone.
However, negotiations broke down hours after the pirates fired on the Halyburton not long
after sunrise on Saturday, 11 April 2009. The American frigate did not return fire and
"did not want to escalate the situation". No crew members of the Halyburton were injured
from the gunfire, as the shots were fired haphazardly by a pirate from the front hatch
of the lifeboat. "We are safe and we are not afraid of the
Americans. We will defend ourselves if attacked", one of the pirates told Reuters by satellite
phone. Phillips' family had gathered at his farmhouse in Vermont awaiting a resolution
to the situation. On Saturday, 11 April 2009, the Maersk Alabama
arrived in the port of Mombasa, Kenya under U.S. military escort. An 18-man security team
was on board. The FBI then secured the ship as a crime scene.
Commander Frank Castellano, the commanding officer of the Bainbridge, stated that as
the winds picked up, tensions rose among the pirates and "we calmed them" and persuaded
the pirates to be towed by the destroyer. On Sunday, April 12, Navy SEAL marksmen opened
fire and killed the three pirates on the lifeboat; Phillips was rescued in good condition. Commander
Castellano, with prior authorization from higher authority, ordered the action after
determining Phillips' life was in immediate danger, citing reports that a pirate was pointing
an AK-47 rifle at Phillips' back. Navy SEAL snipers, from "Seal Team Six", opened fire
nearly simultaneously from Bainbridge's fantail, killing the three pirates with bullets to
the head. The SEALs had arrived Friday afternoon after being parachuted into the water near
the Halyburton, which later joined with the Bainbridge. At the time, the Bainbridge had
the lifeboat under tow, approximately 25 to 30 yards astern. One of the pirates killed
was named Ali Aden Elmi, the last name of another was Hamac, and the third has not been
identified in English-language press reports. A fourth pirate, Abduwali Muse, aboard the
Bainbridge and negotiating for Phillips' release while being treated for an injury sustained
in the takeover of Maersk Alabama, surrendered and was taken into custody.
The bodies of the three dead pirates were turned over by the U.S. Navy to unidentified
recipients in Somalia in the last week of April 2009.
Trial The surviving pirate, Abduwali Muse, was held
on the USS Boxer and was eventually flown to the U.S. for trial. In a federal courtroom
in New York City, prosecutors brought charges that included piracy, conspiracy to seize
a ship by force, and conspiracy to commit hostage-taking. Muse's lawyers asked that
he be tried as a juvenile, alleging he was either 15 or 16 years old at the time of the
hostage taking, but the court ruled Muse was not a juvenile and would be tried as an adult.
He later admitted he was 18 years old. and pleaded guilty to piracy charges and was handed
a prison sentence of 33 years and nine months. Lawsuit
On 27 April 2009, Maersk Alabama crew member Richard E. Hicks filed a lawsuit against his
employer, Waterman Steamship Corporation and Maersk Line, Ltd., for knowingly sending him
into pirate-infested waters near Somalia. Houston attorney Brian Beckcom, who is representing
Richard Hicks and eight other members of the crew, said that Captain Phillips knowingly
and willingly put the crew in danger by ignoring reports of recent pirate attacks and disregarding
warnings to remain at least 600 miles from the coast of Somalia. In August 2011, the
Court of Appeals of Texas dismissed Waterman Steamship Corporation from the litigation.
UDT-SEAL museum The owners of U.S. Maersk Alabama donated
the bullet-marked 5-ton fiberglass lifeboat upon which the pirates held Captain Phillips
hostage to the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce, Florida, in August 2009. The
lifeboat had recently been on loan to National Geographic for its "Real Pirates" exhibition
at the Nauticus marine science museum in Norfolk, Virginia. The producers of the Captain Phillips
film visited the Museum in the process of re-creating the lifeboat and interiors for
the set. An example of the Boeing Insitu ScanEagle used to monitor the crisis is also on display,
as is the Mark 11 Mod 0 (SR-25) sniper rifle of the type used by the U.S. Navy SEALS to
kill the pirates and free Phillips.