Capt. Richard Phillips

Of Irish descent, Phillips was born in Massachusetts, and graduated from Winchester High School in 1973. Phillips enrolled at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and planned to study international law but transferred to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, from which he graduated in 1979. During his schooling, Phillips worked as a taxi driver in Boston.
On April 6, 2009, the U.S. Maritime Administration, following NATO advisories, released a Somalia Gulf of Aden "advisory to mariners" recommending ships to stay at least 600 nautical miles (1,100 km; 690 mi) off Somalia's coast of east Africa. With these advisories in effect, on April 8, 2009, four Somali pirates boarded the Maersk Alabama when it was located around 240 nmi (440 km) southeast of the Somalian port city of Eyl. With a crew of 20, the ship had departed from Salalah, Oman en route to Mombasa, Kenya. The ship was carrying 1…