Captain Phillips shares lessons from Somali pirate attack

The American sea captain held captive by Somali pirates for several days in the spring of 2009 says that ordeal yields three key lessons for business and for life.

“You are much stronger than you know,” Richard Phillips told about 400 people gathered Saturday night at the Independence Chamber of Commerce annual dinner. Also, he stressed the effectiveness of a well-motivated and motivated team – such as the Navy Seals who rescued him – and added, “Nothing is over until you choose to give up.”

As he described events, his story on the Alabama Maersk was one keeping options open but remaining focused on a goal and not giving up. The ordeal was the subject of the 2013 Tom Hanks movie “Captain Phillips.”

“Yes, it is surreal. ... Having Tom Hanks play you is nice thing. He's a nice guy,” Phillips said.

Phillips was the captain of the Alabama Maersk, a huge cargo ship, in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia in April 2009. Piracy happens in those waters, and he said he when he came aboard he determined that security wasn't what it should have been. He ordered a drill, despite the grumbling of sailors with regular work to do.

That paid off when four pirates in a small boat approached days later and, despite efforts on the ship such as spraying water at the skiff and firing parachute flares, were able to get aboard. It was the first American-flagged vessel taken by pirates in two centuries. Phillips and two others got to the bridge, and the rest of the 29-person crew got to secure hiding places.

“Because of the drill we had a few days earlier, the doors that should have been locked were locked,” Phillips said.

But the pirates' skiff, banging against the Alabama Maersk, sank, meaning the pirates couldn't get back to their mother ship.

“I believe this had made them more desperate,” he said.

He said he had one goal – get the pirates off his ship – but looked at different ways to try to make that happen.

“As a captain, I believe it's important to be imaginative in these situations,” he said.

The drills and preparation paid off in other ways. The crew shut down the ship's engines, leaving it adrift, and that couldn't be fixed from the bridge. The pirates got to Phillips and the other two “though they never got control of my ship. My crew saw to that,” he said.

“We were dead in the water,” he said.

Where's the crew, the pirates demanded? Phillips got on the radio – but didn't used the “non-duress code word,” meaning the crew did not to come out.

Except one, who came to the bridge.

“I said come on, Cliff, you're dead,” Phillips said.

This went on for hours, as Phillips said he used “cigarettes and sodas” to try to build a rapport with the attackers, while maintaining his focus on getting them off the ship.

But one pirate looking for the crew belowdecks was himself captured by the crew.

A deal came together. Phillips and the pirates – including the captured one – would get into the ship's lifeboat, Phillips would power it up for them, and they would circle back and put him back aboard the Alabama Maersk.

“It was my action plan,” he said. “It was my duty.”

But the pirates never swung back to keep their end of the deal.

“It's another lesson I learned: Never trust a pirate,” he said.

He was in a desperate situation, but the Maersk Alabama crew brought her back to life and started bearing down on the lifeboat. And the U.S. Navy was on the way.

Phillips made a determination: If I give up, I'm just a hostage. He responded to their mind games with mind games of his own. They staged several mock executions. One went on so long that he said, look, just do it already.

Meanwhile, two Navy ships arrived, and fruitless negotiations started.

Finally, he saw his chance. Two pirates were asleep, one was driving the lifeboat and one was at the stern relieving himself – and had set down his AK-47. Phillips knocked that man into the water and jumped in, swimming under water to get away.

It didn't work. The bright moon revealed his position, and he and the pirate in the water struggled.

“They took me back aboard, and they were not happy,” he said.

Still, he said, he knew this: Don't quit.

“Sooner or later, something will happen to make your situation better,” he said.

Sometime after the fourth excruciating mock execution, he asked God for help.

“I truly believe if you're still in the game, you still have a chance,” he said.

It went on for days.

“At times they would give me water. At times they wouldn't,” he said. “At times, they would give me food. At times, they wouldn't.

On April 12, five days into the ordeal, Navy SEAL marksmen killed three of the pirates, and Phillips was rescued. His determination had paid off.

“I vowed I would not give up,” he said.