Maersk Alabama hijacking now a big screen movie

The film, Captain Phillips, starring Oscar-winner Tom Hanks in the lead role, is expected to be released worldwide on October 11 this year. It is based on the true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the US-flagged Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years. Phillips, the leader of the cargo ship Maersk Alabama, gave himself up as a hostage to Somali pirates to keep his crew from having to leave the ship with them. After three days alone with the armed pirates in a small lifeboat, Phillips was saved by Navy SEALS who staged a raid that left three captors dead and another in custody. The movie is based on Phillips' memoirs A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea.