
Instead, he sent one of the crew members down to search the ship with one unarmed Somali pirate. Phillips also never led the pirates below deck to his crew's hiding place. In reality, the trap of broken glass never happened.

The injury forces the pirate to turn back, allowing the crew to overtake the other pirate with a knife and keep him as a hostage. In the movie, the crew lays down broken glass inside the entrance to the engine room so that one of the pirates will step on it, injuring his bare feet. ĭid the crew lay down broken glass as a trap for one of the pirates? However, after the Navy shot the three Somalian pirates and boarded the lifeboat to rescue Captain Phillips, they found no trace of the $30,000. The pirates still took the money and had it with them when they fled the ship in the lifeboat. Like in the movie, the real Captain Richard Phillips and several crew members did try to offer the Somalian pirates $30,000 from the ship's safe, but they wanted much more.

However, the pirates eventually still managed to throw up a ladder and board the ship, taking the bridge. Captain Phillips fired flares at the pirates and the ship was steered so that it would sway back and forth. Like in the movie, the crew of the Maersk Alabama activated the ship's fire hoses. the movie, it was confirmed that four Somali pirates were involved in the hijacking of the Maersk Alabama, the same number shown in the movie.ĭid they really use fire hoses in an effort to repel the pirates? When pitting the Captain Phillips true story vs. How many Somali pirates were involved in the hijacking?
#CAPTAIN PHILLIPS MOVIE#
It worked and the pirate mothership and two of its accompanying speedboats turned back (in the movie there is one less speedboat), leaving only one pirate speedboat in pursuit of the Alabama. He disguised his voice to play the role of the Navy responder, hoping that the incoming pirates would overhear the communication and believe that assistance was on the way. After observing the pirate boats headed his way, the real Captain Phillips used his radio to fake a call to the U.S. New York Postĭid Captain Phillips really fake a call to the Navy to deter the pirate ships? We didn't know the exact situation." Certain members of the crew disagree, stating that they believe that the pirates were closer than seven miles and that the crew should have been going to their pirate stations.

" They were seven miles away," says Phillips. Knowing that the pirates were approaching by boat, Captain Phillips ordered that the yearly fire drill be completed anyway. They asked him if he wanted beer, thinking that all Americans loved beer.Not exactly. (Though Phillips says he just darted past him, rather than pretending to go to the bathroom himself.) After that, Phillips says the pirates beat him, started playing mind games with him (he was becoming paranoid), and performed mock executions. But the real hijackers might not have been quite so isolated: According to the Associated Press, officials said they were communicating with other pirate boats via satellite phone.Īs in the movie, things got much worse after Phillips tried to escape, while one of the pirates was urinating off the boat. (Phillips says he really did have to suggest that they remove their clips before using a gun to break the window.) Phillips also describes how the pirates “claimed they were former fishermen who’d been forced into banditry when their livelihoods disappeared,” just as they do in the movie.
#CAPTAIN PHILLIPS WINDOWS#
Over those five days, the extreme heat raised tensions, and the pirates broke the boat’s windows to let in some air. In the movie, Phillips says things like, “If you want to shoot someone, shoot me!” But Phillips says that he never meant to sacrifice himself for the crew. Though he was made a hero by ensuing media reports, Phillips doesn’t call himself a hero for these actions. But after Phillips went down to the lifeboat to help the pirates get it started, the hijackers kept Phillips and reneged on the deal. This shifted the balance of power, and the crew was eventually able to negotiate an exchange of Muse for Phillips. (According to the book, they all had sandals.)Īs in the movie, it was chief engineer Mike Perry that scuffled with Muse in the dark of the engine room and, after badly cutting Muse’s hand, used the knife to take him hostage. The book, for example, never describes a barefoot pirate stumbling on a field of broken glass, left by the crew as a booby trap.

The crew’s efforts to take the ship back are also largely accurate, though some details seem to be invented. They really did offer the pirates the $30,000 from Phillips’ safe, but the hijackers wanted much more. He pretended he didn’t understand them, that the ship was “broken,” and he surreptitiously turned on his radio to sneak news to his crew. Business or not, Phillips tried to slow their progress any way he could.
