Captain’s Account Of Pirate Invasion Is Untrue, Says Crew :
http://www.wbur.org/2010/04/27/pirate-flap-2
1) Nearly all the crew members of the cargo ship overtaken by Somali pirates last April are speaking out against their captain and his version of the events that took place off the coast of Africa.
In a book out earlier this month, Massachusetts native Capt. Richard Phillips recounts the invasion of the ship and the five days he spent as the pirates’ hostage. He says he voluntarily gave himself up to the pirates in exchange for the safety of his crew.
But 16 members of Phillips’ 19-man crew say much of their captain’s story is untrue. They even blame him for much of what went wrong.
Michael Perry, the ship’s chief engineer at the time, told WBUR that Phillips didn’t volunteer himself as a hostage to the pirates. Perry says the captain was taken against his will.
“He was the first person captured within minutes of the pirates boarding the ship,” Perry said.“How could he possibly give himself up to save the crew?”
2) Perry also said it was Phillips’ negligence that got the Maersk Alabama into trouble in the first place. He alleges that Phillips failed to heed warnings of pirate attacks on their customary path and refused to reroute their ship.
“The pirates had targeted that route, messages were telling all the captains to go out 600 miles,” Perry said.“Almost every officer on that ship at different times came to me and said,‘Chief, it’s almost like the captain wanted this to happen.’"
3) It’s something that Perry said is a source of continued struggle for the crew of the ship.
“The crew performed honorably, heroically,” Perry said,“and Phillips has come home and allowed himself to be portrayed as the captain that gave himself up for the crew and then proceeded to pretty much throw us all under the bus.”
When the crew learned that Phillips was slated to return to the ship last August, Perry said crew members came to him and asked that he push for an investigation into Phillips’ conduct.
