It's factually based on a true story about a real Captain Phillips back in 2009 who's vessel was hijacked by pirates off the Somali coast and he himself was subsequently taken hostage. I watched this last night! Being a big Tom Hanks fan also, this movie ticked all the boxes! Kinda poignant too as I've sailed the route close to Djibouti, through the Gulf of Aiden and round the horn of Africa (Somalia). The Telex system always used to go crazy with pirate warnings around there. I was lucky never to encounter them.

 

Anyone seen this yet? The screenplay, acting and camera work were all first-rate and capture atmosphere very very well. Seldom seen really in modern films with all their CGI and dreary plot-lines.

 

I was working for Maersk when the Alabama was hijacked and all this took place.

 

The fallout from it was immense.

Really must get around to seeing this, but I'm always weary of ship related movies as it'll piss me off if things aren't accurate.

I was working for Maersk when the Alabama was hijacked and all this took place.

 

The fallout from it was immense.

Really must get around to seeing this, but I'm always weary of ship related movies as it'll piss me off if things aren't accurate.

 

I've worked in the shipping industry and sailed round the world on container ship, the ONLY thing that pissed me off about it that I found inaccurate was the fact that Captain Phillips sailed out of Djibouti with NO pilot. He slipped the moorings and did everything himself. In reality, he'd have had a pilot on board. But this was very small in comparison. I've seen some terrible Hollywood screenplays involving ships or maritime related things and generally, as you say, they're very inaccurate. This really was quite accurate I felt.

9 years on containerships for Maersk from Cadet through to Chief Officer.

Had the misfortune of visiting Djibouti on a few occasions. Hateful port. (I never got ashore, so can't comment on the country/city as a whole.

 

But yeah, things like not representing the true role of a pilot annoys the hell out of me. It is vaguely possible that he had a pilot exemption I suppose, but highly unlikely. The ship wasn't visiting regularly enough for him to get a PEC.

Fortunately, I never visited Djibouti or Mogadishu. Port Bin Qasim in Pakistan wasn't too nice though!

 

Exactly on the having pilot exemption. As you know, it's mainly Captains on short-sea and ferry routes that get their exemptions. I was quite surprised at how small the Maersk Alabama actually was.

I've sailed on 3 of her sister ships - Maersk Avon, Arun, and Ahram. Though these 3 were not fitted with cranes.

155m long, and with 1099 TEU capacity. Just little feeder ships. Hence the coastal runs they were on.

 

Bin Qasim is a hellhole. My experience is somewhat tainted by the shitstorm when a stevadore fell from a hatch coaming into the hold.

Our C/O did that, but he fell onto the cross-walk. Fortunately we were in Hamburg. I expect that stevadore was probably killed! Hell, even if a twistlock landed on them, it would kill them. They wear nothing but long white (but filthy) shirts and flip flips. No hard hats, no work boots/gloves. NOTHING!

Aye, killed instantly - it was a mostly empty hold.

Who had to mop that up then? O/S?

Shoreside.

 

Local cops removed the body and took statments and pics etc. Agent arranged for a couple of local boys to come in and clean up the mess as best as possible.

I had Filipino crew, and they refused to do it, hence the local boys.

I like the Filipinos better than most other nationalities on board. They were generally always really happy and jolly. When I was agent, I made good friends with a number of the Captains and was always asked to go and visit. Wonder if any of them or their families got caught up in that typhoon.....

Me and some friends I was at Maersk with who still keep in touch were talking yesterday about it.

Thoughts are with all them and their families and hope they all came through it ok.

Sour grapes ??

 

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/oct/14/captain-phillips-tom-hanks-real-life-no-hero

 

Alan..........