"Vessels should consider maintaining a distance of more than 600 nautical miles from the Somali coastline," one of the Securewest messages advised. naval authorities and urged the Alabama to stay clear of the shipping lanes where Phillips was heading. Most of the e-mail warnings were sent by a private maritime security agency called Securewest International and were directed at all ships in the area, though one was specifically sent to Phillips.Įach e-mail was based on information from British and U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, the Alabama was attacked about 380 miles off the Somali coast. Maersk has no comment on the lawsuit, the company told CNN.Īccording to the U.S. Their complaint is with the company, so it's not my place." "So I can't really talk about what their complaint is. "We live in a litigious society," Phillips said. So far, six former crew members, not including Perry, have filed suit, claiming the company "knowingly sent their employees into pirate-infested waters, rather than taking safer routes." He said the crew's version of events is linked to a suit filed against the Danish shipping line Maersk, which owns the Alabama. "Stay on course, make our ETA, stay on the same course," Cronan quoted Phillips as saying.įor his part, Phillips said his preparations went beyond the industry standard for safety. Perry said he sailed on the Alabama after the pirate incident and retrieved e-mail warnings - seven in all - that urged the Alabama and other ships in the area to stay clear of the Somali coast and sail 600 miles away if necessary to avoid pirate attacks.Īnother former crew member, third engineer John Cronan, told CNN that Phillips "was advised to change course by competent deck officers and he overruled them." "I just want an investigation, for this to be looked at properly before that man winds up going back to sea on another ship and endangering somebody," Perry said. He told CNN Correspondent Drew Griffin that Phillips' decision "certainly warrants an investigation." Navy, was the chief engineer aboard the Alabama as it sailed from Oman, in the Persian Gulf, to Mombasa, Kenya, with a cargo of relief supplies. The 16 crew members have been far less public about the events, even as Phillips toured the country this spring to promote his book, "A Captain's Duty." But now they are telling a different version of what took place in the waters off the Somali coast in early April 2009. Navy SEAL commandos, Phillips was lauded as a hero, and the publisher of his new book promoted him as a sea captain who risked his life by offering himself as a hostage "in exchange for the safety of the crew." Richard Phillips spent four days as a hostage after the attempted seizure of the Maersk Alabama. "It's almost like he wanted to be captured," the ship's chief engineer, Mike Perry, told CNN in an interview to air on tonight's "AC360."Ĭapt. RIVERVIEW, Florida (CNN) - The captain of the container ship Maersk Alabama ignored explicit warnings to stay well off the coast of Somalia before his capture by pirates in 2009, according to 16 of its 19 crew members. See why the crew of the Maersk Alabama says their captain may have put the ship in harm's way off the Somalia coast on tonight's "AC360" 10 p.m.
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