with the “Ooops! Did I do that?”
Yes, Captain Phillips, it looks like you did.
Richard Phillips, the ship captain toasted as a hero after he was taken captive by Somali pirates, ignored repeated warnings last spring to keep his freighter at least 600 miles off the African coast because of the heightened risk of attack, some members of his crew now allege.
Records obtained by The Associated Press show that maritime safety groups issued at least seven such warnings in the days before outlaws boarded the Maersk Alabama about 380 miles off the shore of Somalia.
A piracy expert and the captain’s second-in-command say Phillips had the prerogative to heed the warnings or not. But some crew members — including the chief engineer, the helmsman and the navigator — say he was negligent not to change course after learning of the pirate activity.
“If you go to the grocery store and eight people get mugged on that street, wouldn’t you go a different way?” said the ship’s navigator, Ken Quinn, of Tampa, Fla.
Sailing beyond the 600-mile threshold would have added more than a day to the Alabama’s voyage to Mombasa, Kenya, and used extra fuel, according to the ship’s previous captain, who said Phillips had years of experience sailing in those dangerous waters.
Four of the 20 crew members told the AP that they blame Phillips for the hijacking.
“He caused this, and we all know it,” said chief engineer Mike Perry of Riverview, Fla. “All the Alabama crew knows about it.”
RTWT.
From what I’ve heard, Captain Phillips does speaking engagements now. Maybe he should stick with that.
You’re a hypocrite if you’re condeming Captain Phillips but also believe in Washington’s stand your ground law. You’ve got a right to be where you have a right to be. There is no duty to retreat.
But yeah, I’ll agree that it was still pretty stupid. I’d have had a .50 gunner on deck at all times with night vision at least 🙂
This has absolutely nothing at all to do with a “stand your ground” law.
He has no “right to be where he wants to be” when he is pushing other people’s property and has command over other people’s lives.
His actions put the ship and its cargo in peril of capture and ransom and the lives of 20 other people in peril of death.
If the above allegations are true, Captain Phillips is both an asshole and a fool and deserves to have his title stripped from him.
Point taken. Fired:yes. Criminal:no.
“He caused this, and we all know it,†said chief engineer Mike Perry of Riverview, Fla. “All the Alabama crew knows about it.â€
No, Mr. Perry, the fucking pirates caused it. While i do agree it was no the smartest move if he had been warned, the fact remains that the fucking pirates were the cause of the situation.