It’s more mutiny on the Maersk.
Several former crew of the Maersk Alabama, which was attacked by Somali pirates off the coast of Africa last year, are ripping a new book penned by ex-Capt. Richard Phillips, saying he is continuing to twist the truth to make himself look good.
In “A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea,” released early this month, Phillip’s recounts his heroic actions after his ship was invaded by pirates.
The only problem is, much of its is not true, said Maersk crew members, who told The Post that in his book Phillips makes up stories, glosses over his own errors and insults the men who stood beside him.
One flat out lie, they say, is that he volunteered as a hostage to ensure the group’s safety.
“He was told to go at gunpoint. He didn’t put himself out there, he was taken,” said lawyer Michael Forbes, who represented 16 of the 20 crew men after the hijacking. Their stories were consistent and are contradicted in Phillip’s book, he said.
When reporters asked Phillips whether he volunteer as a hostage last June, he said no, yet the whopper still appears in the book.
Phillips describes himself as a courageous leader, who took every step to keep a mostly bumbling crew safe. Couldn’t be further from the truth, said crew.
“He’s made up whole parts, taken credit for everything. This is a work of fiction,” said able seaman Abu Thair Mohd Zahid Reza, known as ATM Reza, who first spotted the approaching pirates.
In the book, when Reza tells the captain of a suspicious skiff that might be pirates, Phillip’s springs to action. Didn’t happen, said crew.
“When I pointed out the pirate vessel, the captain laughed at me and walked away. He said it could be a fishing boat,” said Reza.
Although Phillips mentions Reza at least 33 times in his book, he refers to him as “ATM Mohammed” of Pakistan. He’s ATM Reza of Bangladesh.
“All he had to do was call me but he didn’t care,” Reza said. Furthering the insult, the captain leaves out Reza’s role in helping capture one of the pirates, which gave the crew leverage to negotiate with the invaders.
Chief engineer Mike Perry, one of only two crew the captain praises, said Phillips is a careless leader who disregarded the crew’s safety and invented stories to cover it up.
In the book Perry suggests a saferoom and Phillip responds, “Goodpoint, let’s make it happen.”
But, really, Perry asked about a saferoom three times, said crew, and Phillip’s said it was unnecessary.
When pirates took over the ship, the crew hid in a 130 degree unventilated space for 10 hours. The room had no basic supplies like food or water and some feared they’d die of heatstroke.
“We were in a steal box getting baked by the sun, stripped down to our underwear and sweating like pigs because the captain rejected a saferoom,” said John Cronan, third engineer.
Pirates were able to board the ship as quickly as they did – within five minutes – because Phillips failed to lock the bridge doors, his self-assigned security duty, said crew.
Even worse, Phillips ignored at least seven warnings to stay 600 miles off the African coast because of a heightened risk of pirate attacks, according to the Associated Press. And Phillips was aware of 39 pirate attacks in East Africa in the week prior to the hijacking.
“He endangered our lives, he’s not a hero, he’s a villain,” Perry said.
“He never called nobody to say thanks, how’s everybody doing, is everyone alright after everything we all went through,” said Richard Hick, chief steward. “He acted like it was all a one-man show.”
“All these people risked their lives,” added Perry, “and in my opinion he threw them under the bus.”
Phillips couldn’t be reached for comment.