American captain Richard Phillips taken hostage freed from Somali pirates

BY Helen Kennedy
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Updated Sunday, April 12th 2009, 4:37 PM

US Navy

Capt. Richard Phillips shakes the hand of Cmdr. Frank Castellano (l.), commanding officer of USS Bainbridge, after being rescued by U.S Naval Forces off the coast of Somalia.

US Navy Seals freed hero Capt. Richard Phillips today and killed the pirates holding him hostage in a dramatic end to the five-day high seas standoff that riveted the world.

One of the four buccaneers, a 16-year-old, gave himself up before the shooting started and may face the first US piracy trial in two centuries.

The other three Somali pirates were picked off by Navy sharpshooters when they stuck their heads up in the wave-tossed 18-foot lifeboat in which they were holding Phillips bound and at gunpoint.

Navy Vice Admiral William Gortney said talks with the pirates were "getting heated," sea conditions were worsening and Phillips was deemed in imminent mortal danger from the pirate leveling an AK 47 at his back.

Snipers on the fantail of the destroyer USS Bainbridge, which was towing the lifeboat with a 100-foot line, opened fire when they "observed the pirates with their heads and shoulders exposed," Gortney said.

The captain, widely hailed for giving himself up as a hostage to save his crew and for his valiant escape attempt Friday, was unhurt and safely aboard the USS Boxer.

He told his boss, John Reinhart, head of the Maersk Line shipping company, that he wasn't comfortable with the hero label.

"'The heroes are the Navy, the Seals, and those that have brought me home.' That was his quote," Reinhart said.

President Obama, who ordered the operation, praised the Navy rescuers and the captain's selfless concern for his crew. "His courage is a model for all Americans," Obama said.

Phillips' wife, Andrea, said she wanted to thank everyone who hoped and prayed for her husband as he drifted with his captors for five days.

"This is truly a very happy Easter for the Phillips family," said family spokeswoman Alison McColl.

The crew of the 17,000-ton relief cargo vessel Maersk Alabama, which continued on to Kenya without their captain, set off a flare, hoisted an American flag and jumped on the decks for joy at the news.

"Our prayers have been answered on this Easter Sunday," said Capt. Joseph Murphy, a professor at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy and father of Phillips' first mate.
"My son and our family will forever be indebted to Capt. Phillips for his bravery."

The Justice Department said it was researching how to prosecute the first piracy case since the early 19th century, when Barbary pirates raided ships off "the shores of Tripoli," as the Marines Hymn puts it.

Admiral Rick Gurnon, head of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, called it "a great day for mariners around the world" but urged people to remember the 200 international mariners still held hostage in Somalia.

Gurnon praised Phillips in biblical terms.

"He's like the Good Shepherd who exchanged his life for the lives of his flock," he said.

Phillips, 53, offered himself as a hostage to save his 19-man crew when the heavily armed pirates took his ship Wednesday.

He and the pirates had been drifting in an out-of-gas lifeboat, surrounded by massive US warships who could do little but keep pirate reinforcements from reaching the lifeboat.

The audacious pirates even opened fire Saturday on a small Navy vessel sent from the Bainbridge to reconnoiter.

Phillips made a dramatic escape leap into the waves from his 18-foot floating prison on Friday but was recaptured by the pirates who opened fire near the fleeing skipper.

The Maersk Alabama, along with the 19 crewmen, landed in Kenya Saturday.

"He saved our lives!" shouted second mate Ken Quinn of Bradenton, Fla. to reporters waiting on the dock in Mombasa. "He's a hero!"

Crew members said the pirates swarmed onto their vessel from out of nowhere.

"They came from the stern of the ship and came on with hooks and ropes and were firing in the air when they got onboard," said ATM Reza, of Hartford.

Phillips told his crew to lock themselves in a safe room and offered himself as a hostage.

Then, somehow, the unarmed crew took their ship back.

Reza said he stabbed a pirate in the hand with an ice pick and tied him up. The crew tried to trade the captured pirate for Phillips, but the Somalis instead whisked the captain onto a lifeboat and fled.

Quinn described the wild experience of battling with pirates as "terrifying and exciting at the same time."

Crewman William Rios, a New Yorker, said he would make a special trip to St. John the Baptist Church to give thanks.

hkennedy@nydailynews.com

With News Wire Services