This is a brief first hand account from one of the engineers who was
on the Maersk Alabama. He tells what the crews actions were when the
pirates tried to take the ship over. Fascinating and instructive. Not
anything I've heard reported by the media in any detail. This was
sent before the captain was rescued.



Hey G_ _ _,



Everyone on here is okay. We're on our way to Mombasa with

Navy protection on board. Captain Phillips is still hostage in the

lifeboat with the 4 pirates. I hear they're flying out reliefs for everyone,

but I'm not sure what all's going to happen once we get to Mombasa .

Supposedly the FBI is coming out to investigate the crime. Maybe
we'll be on the

next CSI Somalia.



I wanted to let you know some of the lessons we learned so you guys can better

prepare yourselves for something similar. The only guys actually
captured by the

pirates were on the bridge: Capt, 3/M, and 2 AB's. I don't really
know why they

stayed on the bridge until the pirates got up there. Then they had
keys to everything

and were able to unlock everyone's rooms.



The pirates got up to the bridge very quickly once they

were onboard. We had a locked cage door over the ladder well from

main deck, but it only took a second for them to shoot it off. They then got

to the bridge up the outside ladders. By that time we had taken control of

the engine and steering down below.



Mike stayed in the ECR and the C/M was out

on deck tracking the pirates' movement. We kept swinging the rudder

side to side. The pirates' boat capsized, though I'm not sure exactly when or

what caused it. After about 20 minutes the engine was killed, I don't know

by whom. At that point I shut off the air bottles and Mike killed power. He

was also able to get outside and trip the fuel shutoff for the EDG. I

think this was critical. The pirates were very reluctant to go into the dark.

We will be looking at a way to shut off the EDG from the ECR in the future.



All the crew had been mustered and secured in the steering gear. Our

pirates didn't have any grenades, so they would have never been able to break

in there. The previous day we had welded a padeye on the inside of the

hatch to the fantail so it was secured from the inside. The only problem

with the steering gear was the heat and the shortage of water. In the

future we will store food and water in various spots for emergency usage. I

think we will also run a fresh water line into the steering gear.

We were able to make a run from the steering gear to the E/R water
fountain and fill up

some empty oil sample bottles we had back there. The C/M was also able to

get some fruit and sodas from the galley and drop them down the line

standpipe.



The pirates sent the 3/M unescorted to go look for crewmembers, so

he was able to get away. One of the pirates then went with an AB down to

the E/R to look for people. Mike was able to jump him in the dark and we

took him prisoner in the steering gear. No one else came down into the

E/R.



As the day went on the pirates became desperate to get out of there.

There boat was sunk, and they couldn't get our ship moving. The Captain

talked them into taking the MOB boat. The three remaining pirates went down

in the MOB boat with Phillips. We were then able to negotiate with them

over the radio. We dropped some food, water and diesel to them. We

started getting the plant back on line. Unfortunately, the MOB boat wouldn't

start. A couple of guys got in the lifeboat and dropped it. They motored

over and traded the lifeboat for the MOB boat. We were supposed to

exchange their guy for the Captain, but they ended up keeping him. They

motored off in the lifeboat. They had no way of getting back aboard, so we

followed them. The Navy showed up a few hours later. We stayed close
by for some

time, but then the Navy asked us to head out. I heard that several other

pirate vessels were heading our way and the Navy wanted us out of the

way. That's about it. I'll give you all the details some other time.



Just to reiterate the most important points:

Have a well fortified location with food and water supply. Kill all the lights.

Leave the alarms going, the noise helped cover our movements through the

house. Flashlights and radios are very handy, as well as the

sound-powered phone. Anyway, it was a pretty stressful situation. I
have to say I am

impressed with how the entire crew responded. We didn't have anybody who

wanted to give up. I'm pretty confident that Phillips will end up ok.

They have to know that if they kill him they'll be done. I assume the

company will be forced into taking some kind of action to assure our security

from now on. Hope everything is going well there. I'll talk to you later.



M_ _ _