A Captain's Duty: The true story that inspired the major film, Captain Phillips
Sep 2013 · Random House
4.5star
160 reviewsreport
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320
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About this ebook
'This riveting account spares none of the detail and paints fascinating portraits of the desperate young pirates.' Daily Mail
An extraordinary true story of piracy, heroism and survival on the high seas . . .
8th April 2009 was just an ordinary day for 53 -year-old Richard Phillips, captain of the United States-registered cargo vessel, the Maersk Alabama, as it headed towards the port of Mombasa. Ordinary that is until, two hundred or so miles off the east coast of Africa, armed Somali pirates attacked and boarded the freighter as it headed towards the port of Mombasa. It was the first time an American cargo ship had been hijacked in over two-hundred years.
What the pirates didn’t expect was that the crew would fight back, nor did they expect Captain Phillips to offer himself as a hostage in exchange for the safety of his crew. And so began a nail-bitingly tense five-day stand-off, which ended in a daring high-seas rescue by U.S. Navy SEALs.
In A Captain's Duty, Richard Phillips tells his own extraordinary story - that of an ordinary man who did what he saw as his duty and in so doing became a hero. It is a thrilling true tale of adventure and courage in the face of deprivation, death threats and mock executions and also a compulsively readable first-hand account of the terrors of high-seas hostage-taking.
An extraordinary true story of piracy, heroism and survival on the high seas . . .
8th April 2009 was just an ordinary day for 53 -year-old Richard Phillips, captain of the United States-registered cargo vessel, the Maersk Alabama, as it headed towards the port of Mombasa. Ordinary that is until, two hundred or so miles off the east coast of Africa, armed Somali pirates attacked and boarded the freighter as it headed towards the port of Mombasa. It was the first time an American cargo ship had been hijacked in over two-hundred years.
What the pirates didn’t expect was that the crew would fight back, nor did they expect Captain Phillips to offer himself as a hostage in exchange for the safety of his crew. And so began a nail-bitingly tense five-day stand-off, which ended in a daring high-seas rescue by U.S. Navy SEALs.
In A Captain's Duty, Richard Phillips tells his own extraordinary story - that of an ordinary man who did what he saw as his duty and in so doing became a hero. It is a thrilling true tale of adventure and courage in the face of deprivation, death threats and mock executions and also a compulsively readable first-hand account of the terrors of high-seas hostage-taking.
Ratings and reviews
4.5
160 reviews
Chris Simmons
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November 8, 2013
I don't really read a lot , it's takes a really good book to keep me hooked. I couldnt put this down. Interesting, funny, moving and a lesson on how to survive. You've got to read it! The movie is next for me
2 people found this review helpful
Linda Rankin
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January 31, 2014
I read this book in one go not wanting to put it down until I had finished, it is heart warming and heart breaking at points, Captain Phillips is a true inspiration.
Richard Wise
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January 23, 2014
A page turner to the end. An incredible testament to human character. A tragedy that the young Somalian's have come to this. Roll on better days for all the Somalian people.
3 people found this review helpful
About the author
Born in 1955, Richard Phillips is a graduate of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. He became captain of the MV Maersk Alabama in 2009 and is still a serving officer in the United States' merchant marine. His account of the seizure of the Maersk Alabama and his experiences as a hostage of Somali pirates - A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea - was first published in the USA in 2010. He and his wife have two children and live on a farm in Vermont.
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