Phillips' real-life crew member says his captain was just 235 miles off the coast, though Phillips says he was 300 miles off. "It is just horrendous, and they're angry."Īccording to the Post's report, ships in the area were warned to stay at least 600 miles off the Somali coast because 16 container ships had been attacked by pirates during the prior three weeks in the same region. "It is galling for them to see Captain Phillips set up as a hero," she added. He told them he wouldn't let pirates scare him or force him to sail away from the coast. The sailors' lawyer, Deborah Waters, told the Post: "The crew had begged Captain Phillips not to go so close to the Somali coast. Phillips has denied being aware of such a plan. "He didn't want anything to do with it, because it wasn't his plan," said the crew member. The crew member said Phillips, who went on to meet Barack Obama and write a memoir, refused to cut power and lock himself and the crew below deck in line with anti-pirate protocol. "No one wants to sail with him," he told the Post. "Phillips wasn't the big leader like he is in the movie," said one crew member who worked closely with the captain, speaking anonymously for legal reasons. The sailors, who are suing their employers Maersk Line and the Waterman Steamship Corp for $50m, said Richard Phillips was a sullen, self-righteous man: their suit claims the captain's wilful disregard for his crew's safety contributed to the attack. Crew members of the Maersk Alabama, which suffered the raid off the coast of lawless Somalia in April 2009, told the New York Post the titular hero played by Tom Hanks in Paul Greengrass's critically acclaimed film was far from heroic.
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