Captain Richard Phillips, a merchant mariner who was held hostage by Somali pirates in 2009, does not consider himself a hero.
He was captured and held prisoner for five days, putting himself at risk in order to ensure the safety of his ship and crew. His story was was made into a Columbia Pictures film earlier this year. Phillips told his story to a crowd of roughly 200 students in Page Auditorium, addressing both the experience and the lessons he learned from it.
“You are much stronger than you realize, the only time all is lost is when you choose to give up and a dedicated professional team can overcome any obstacle,” Phillips said.
He focused on the fact that his team had been prepared for the April 7, 2009 hijack—the crew had performed an emergency safety drill the day before the attack. He noted that pirate attacks have been very common off the Somalian coast, where they were traveling, over the past several years.
“I always told my crew it was a matter of when, not if,” Phillips said. “Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.”
Although Phillips said that he did not consider himself a hero, he did take his role as captain of the ship very seriously, saying that he believed it was fully his responsibility to get the pirates off of the ship once they had boarded. For that reason, he risked his own life by entering into the ship’s lifeboat with the pirates. Phillips was then taken hostage for five days, during which time a team of Navy SEALs were dispatched to rescue him.
Phillips noted that the hostage situation was very strange and that he developed relationships with the pirates that were difficult to understand outside of the hostage context. He said that the pirates threatened him and played mind-games with him, such as forcing him to tie and untie a rope indefinitely and telling him that his family wouldn’t miss him when—not if—he died.
“There are times that we laughed, there were times that they said they had met me before,” Phillips said. “One pirate told me that when we got to Somalia, we’d go to the movies and he’d introduce me to his girlfriend’s mom.”
Phillips said he became interested in the Merchant Marines while working as a taxi driver in Massachusetts, putting pressure on his family life by joining.
“I would work 90 days on a ship and then spend 90 days at home,” Phillips said. “I would leave my wife with a ‘honey-do’ list, and when I got home she’d hand me an even longer one.”
Phillips related his experience to the audience by emphasizing the importance of leadership and teamwork, without which he said he probably would not have survived. He also noted that there are many challenges associated with leadership, including flexibility and staying calm, that he had to deal with during the attack.
“We’re all riding on ever-shifting waves,” Phillips said. “You’re better to face that with a committed crew. If you unite with your colleagues, you can overcome every obstacle you face.”
Phillips ended his lecture with a poem, “See It Through” by Edgar Guest, and then allowed audience members to ask questions. The event was hosted by the Duke University Union series Speakers and Stage.
"We wanted to bring an event that would resonate with students and that the community would enjoy as a whole," said DUU Speakers and Stage Chair Jack Reidy, a senior. "We thought that Captain Phillips would be a good speaker, not just because of the quality of his speech but because of its relevancy to the film that just came out and the current problems with piracy in the Middle East."
Reidy declined to comment on how much it cost DUU to bring Phillips to the University.
Sophomore Zohaib Shaikh said that the lecture completed his perception of the story after having watched the film.
"I saw the movie over Fall Break and I thought it was a very inspiring story," Shaikh said. "The movie was really true to the story that he gave us, and it was interesting to see him talk about it from his perspective—it added a dimension of reality."
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