Maersk crew blames capt. for pirate attack

[unhappycamper]

Maersk crew blames capt. for pirate attack
By John Curran - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Dec 2, 2009 19:13:54 EST

MONTPELIER, Vt. — Richard Phillips, the ship captain toasted as a hero after he was taken captive by Somali pirates, ignored repeated warnings last spring to keep his freighter at least 600 miles off the African coast because of the heightened risk of attack, some members of his crew now allege.

Records obtained by The Associated Press show that maritime safety groups issued at least seven such warnings in the days before outlaws boarded the Maersk Alabama in the Gulf of Aden, about 380 miles offshore.

A piracy expert and the captain’s second-in-command say Phillips had the prerogative to heed the warnings or not. But some crew members — including the chief engineer, the helmsman and the navigator — say he was negligent not to change course after learning of the pirate activity.

“If you go to the grocery store and eight people get mugged on that street, wouldn’t you go a different way?” asked the ship’s navigator, Ken Quinn, of Tampa, Fla.

Sailing beyond the 600-mile threshold would have added more than a day to the Alabama’s voyage to Mombasa, Kenya, and used extra fuel, according to the ship’s previous captain, who said Phillips had years of experience sailing in those dangerous waters.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/12/ap_maersk_piracy_warnings_120209w/