Maersk Alabama Captain writes book

Mar 31, 2010 0 Comments by nathan

Captain Richard Phillips, the Master aboard the Maersk Alabama during the hostage drama that played out on the high seas off Somalia in 2009 has written a book on the ordeal. The 286-page hardcover, titled “A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS and Dangerous Days at Sea,” hits bookstores Tuesday. Capt. Phillips says he learned [...]

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U.S. Navy Seals shoot and kill 3, Capt. Phillips released

Apr 12, 2009 0 Comments by nathan

The news is streaming across all parts of the media now, so I figured I’d close the loop here at the Maritime as well.  CNN has reported that Capt. Phillips is free, and on board a U.S. Navy warship.  Apparently he jumped into the water, while a Navy Seal team shot and killed 3 of [...]

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Life on board a hijacked ship

Apr 12, 2009 0 Comments by nathan

This came my way from Wired Magazine, in an article about the Somali pirates homemade hijacking videos. It is an interesting glimpse into life on board a hijacked ship sitting just off the coast of Somalia. A lot of waiting, quiet, and still. There is an odd sense of a kid in a candy store [...]

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Captain still a hostage, latest from Maersk

Apr 09, 2009 0 Comments

UPDATE V: Maersk Alabama attacked by pirates Maersk Alabama Situation: 1700 EDT Update http://www.maersklinelimited.com We want to respond to inquiries with the most recent information in a consistent manner. First of all, we would like to extend to the families of the crew and the captain of the Maersk Alabama our thoughts and prayers. As [...]

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Bring back the Q ships?

Apr 09, 2009 0 Comments

I saw a comment post on gcaptain that sparked my interest. It said “Time to bring back the Q ships”. While the entire world now engages in discussing how to stop piracy, I took a moment to research this, as I did not recall what exactly the Q ships were. Q ships where heavily armed merchant ships used in WWI and WWII with concealed weaponry that were designed to lure enemy subs into engaging them in a surface attack. Essentially decoy ships.

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