Training, Quick Thinking by Union Crew Saved Boarded Ship, New Look Reveals

by Mike Hall, Jul 6, 2009

Discovery Channel reenactment shows pirate takeover of the Maersk Alabama.

For several days in April, the nation waited for the latest news from a U.S. merchant ship off the coast of Somalia, where the captain of the Maersk Alabama was being held hostage in a small lifeboat by Somali pirates.

The bare-bones news reports said pirates armed with AK-47s boarded the ship—which was carrying food relief supplies to Kenya—capturing Capt. Richard Phillips and several other crew members. The rest of the crew managed to evade the pirates and eventually capture one.

We learned Phillips brokered a deal allowing himself to be taken hostage April 8 in exchange for the pirates leaving the ship. On April 11, Navy Seal sharpshooters killed the trio of pirates holding Phillips and rescued the captain.

Now, thanks to an in-depth look at the drama’s first day—from pirate sightings to the launch of the hostage lifeboat—we get the firsthand story from the 20-man union crew.

In the latest edition of the  “Marine Journal” published by the Marine Engineers (MEBA), members of MEBA, the Masters, Mates and Pilots (MM&P) and Seafarers (SIU) unions tell their story.

In the storty headlined “Don’t Give Up the Ship: Quick Thinking and a Boatload of Know-How Saves the Maersk Alabama,” the crew members say security training at union schools, plus Phillips’ emphasis on shipboard security drills, helped prepare them for the real thing.

When the pirates were first sighted, Chief Engineer Mike Perry set in motion plans to route the ship’s steering and power controls away from the bridge that pirates normally target to capture a ship. The crew also began to fortify a secure location on the ship.

When it was clear the next day that the pirates were still intent on capturing the Maersk Alabama, the 500-foot ship, with a top speed of 17 knots, began evasive maneuvers.  But, eventually, thanks to a calm sea and a faster vessel, the pirates were able to get close enough to use grappling hooks to scramble aboard.

The pirates quickly captured the bridge where Phillips and three other crew members were taken prisoner. But by then the ship’s controls had been rerouted, much of the crew was safely hidden, and Perry and First Mate Shane Murphy were quietly tracking the pirates’ moves around the ship.

Click here to read this absolutely riveting account of the union crew’s quick thinking, bravery, capture of one of the pirates and, by the end the day, having full control of the ship.

Says Third Assistant Engineer John Cronan:

We maintained our discipline and we stuck together. We didn’t have to retake the ship, because we never surrendered it. We’re American seamen. We’re union members. We stuck together, we did our job.

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