A few months later, we have reason to celebrate another American Captain - Richard Philips. A selfless and heroic soul. Here is the scoop from the Early Show:Appearing on CBS' The Early Show, Captain James Staples, a friend and former classmate of Richard Phillips at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, said the willingness of the captain of the Maersk Alabama to risk his own life to protect his crew did not surprise him at all.> Read more about what happened here.
"It's an amazing feeling to know that Richard's now safe. I can't even explain how happy I was when I heard this great news," Staples said.
In a move that surprised the pirates, crew members of the U.S.-flagged ship had put up a fight Wednesday when pirates boarded the cargo vessel. Somali pirates had become used to encountering no resistance when hijacking vessels in search of million-dollar ransoms.
The ship had been carrying food aid bound for Rwanda, Somalia and Uganda when the ordeal began Wednesday hundreds of miles off Somalia's eastern coast. As the pirates clambered aboard and shot in the air, Phillips told his crew to lock themselves in a cabin and surrendered himself to safeguard his men.
At the beginning of the tense standoff, the Maersk's crew actually held one of the pirates hostage, hoping to exchange him for their captive captain. But Phillips opted to be taken away by the bandits so that his crew would be freed.
Early Show anchor Harry Smith asked Staples about their experience and training at the Merchant Marine Academy and how it prepared Phillips for the hazardous region around the Horn of Africa.
"Well, surely he was taking all the precautions that he's been trained to do to keep the ship out of harm's way," Staples said. "It's just that every day at sea is a different day. And it just was probably a situation he was under and he just handled it marvelously."
Staples called his friend "Captain Courageous." [emphasis mine]
Watch a video recap:
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There is a Hero inside each one of us, waiting to come out.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
Giovanna Garcia
Impefect Action is better than No Action