A Captain's Duty - The Extraordinary True Story of Piracy, Heroism and Survival on the High Seas

Some shelf wear and touch of foxing to page edges.

Phillips knew of the dangers. He'd said as much in an email to his wife. And yet 8 April 2009 began as just another ordinary day for the 53-year-old captain of the Maersk Alabama, the US-flagged cargo ship carrying food and agricultlural materials for the World Food Programme. Ordinary that is until - some 200 miles off the Horn of Africa - Somali pirates, armed with AK47s, attacked and boarded the freighter. But the pirates didn't expect the crew to fight back. And they didn't plan on the captain offering himself as a hostage in place of his ship and crew. And ultimately they didn't bargain on the plain-talking, tough-as-nails officer they took as their prisoner. What followed was a tense 5-day stand-off and an escalating battle of wills that would end in a daring and deadly high-seas rescue...