Description
The Maersk Alabama was becoming famous due to the hijacking led to a series of maritime events that began on 8 April 2009, when four pirates in the Indian Ocean seized the cargo ship Maersk Alabama at a distance of 240 nautical miles (440 km; 280 mi) southeast of Eyl, Somalia. The siege ended after a rescue effort by the United States Navy on 12 April.
It was the first successful pirate seizure of a ship registered under the American flag since the early 19th century. Many news reports cited the last pirate seizure as being during the Second Barbary War in 1815, although other incidents had occurred as late as 1822. It was the sixth vessel in a week to be attacked by pirates who had previously extorted ransoms in the tens of millions of dollars.
At the time of the hijacking, Maersk Alabama was owned by the Danish shipping company Maersk Line. The ship has since been acquired by Element Shipmanagement SA and has been renamed MV Tygra. As of 2020, the ship is still in active service. The story of the incident was reported by Captain Richard Phillips, who had been master of the vessel at the time of the incident, in the 2010 book A Captain’s Duty which he co-wrote with Stephan Talty; said book was later adapted into the 2013 film Captain Phillips starring Tom Hanks.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.