‘My husband was kidnapped by pirates’

...and how your men saved him.

by Josie Cellone


Andrea Phillips never questioned whether her husband would come home from sea.

Capt. Richard Phillips had built a career in shipping and his trip on the Maersk Alabama to the coast of Africa sounded like a routine assignment.

But on April 8, armed Somali pirates boarded the U.S.-flagged container ship and the family found themselves at the center of an international high-seas drama.

THE PHONE CALL
“A friend of ours called me up and said, ‘What’s the name of Richard’s ship?’ I know if someone’s calling to ask the name of your husband’s ship, something is going on,” Phillips said.

In an instant, Phillips entered a 24/7 media frenzy. With news vans parked on her lawn in Underhill, Vt., she suddenly felt like a hostage too – in her own home.

She was on the phone with the Department of Defense and the governor of Vermont. Even Sen. Ted Kennedy called to comfort her.
The officials reassured Phillips they had a “visual,” proof of life. He looks good, they told her. He sounds good, he’s getting food. In an effort to free his crew, Capt. Phillips had offered himself up as a hostage and became the center of intense ransom negotiations.

THE MESSAGE
Andrea, an emergency room nurse who has her own experience with life-and-death situations, said parts of her kept thinking there’s no way out for the pirates, they have to surrender.

But in those predawn moments – when she was by herself and had time to reflect – she faced a hard reality.

“I thought, I get it. The crew is safe, the ship is safe, it’s the sacrifice of one man for the better of all. And I understood I may lose my husband,” she said.

After two decades of marriage, Phillips was used to her husband being away for months at a time, and before e-mail made communication instant, there would be weeks between letters and postcards. The Phillips had developed an intimate code that they shared and that comforted her now: we’re both under the same moon.

The night after Capt. Phillips’ capture, there was a full moon.

THE MORALE
Many people in the community rallied. One morning Phillips awoke to an entire street lined with yellow ribbons. Neighbors brought milk. Boy Scouts raked the lawn. Letters of support poured in from as far away as Finland and Australia.

“Those little sentiments and the well wishes were quite moving to us, it was just amazing,” said Phillips, who weathered the dizzying news with their two children, Mariah, 19, and Daniel, 20. “It is a great country we live in. It was nice to see the good that’s still out there.”

THE RESCUE
The rescue of Capt. Phillips may be more gripping than the capture itself. After a five-day standoff, and believing the captain was in imminent danger, three Navy SEAL snipers using night-vision scopes each had one shot at the captors. When the pirates popped their head out of the lifeboat’s hatch for a moment of fresh air, it would be their last breath.

“My husband happened to be caught by pirates, and by the grace of God and some military people, he was able to get out of it,” Phillips said. “I know that this is what the SEALs are trained to do and this is what they live for, but I don’t think the words ‘thank you’ say enough for the gratitude I feel.”

THE HERO
Since the rescue, the Phillips have traveled to the White House to meet the president. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, who safely landed a US Airways plane on the Hudson River in January, called Capt. Phillips a “hero of the highest order” in a TIME magazine essay. In July, they attended a Navy SEAL reunion in Virginia Beach.

“I had an opportunity to meet some of these military wives, and even though they were saying they admired me and how I kept myself together, I was almost brought to tears feeling for them,” Phillips said. “Certainly their lives and what they go through is more uncertain than mine.”

THE HUMAN SPIRIT
Some days, the whole ordeal seems like a lifetime ago.

“He still tells me I haven’t heard it all, I don’t know if I want to hear it all,” Phillips said of her husband, who served in the Navy Reserve after he graduated from Massachusetts Maritime Academy. “I do believe people find something within themselves, a way to get through whatever curveball they’re thrown. I do believe that somehow the human spirit can gather itself and get through that crisis.”