# Captain Richard Phillips - Mass Maritime Alumni Held By Pirates **URL:** \ **Category:** Mass Maritime\ **Created:** [April 8, 2009, 7:58am UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/captain-richard-phillips-mass-maritime-alumni-held-by-pirates/1411 "2009-04-08T07:58:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![admin1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bbce88/32.png) [@admin1](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/admin1)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2009, 7:58am UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/captain-richard-phillips-mass-maritime-alumni-held-by-pirates/1411/1 "2009-04-08T07:58:50Z")
> Richard Phillips, the ship’s captain and the pirate’s apparent hostage, is a veteran sailor who also graduated from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in 1979. > > “He’s a pretty easy-going guy, a good story teller,” says Lea Coggio, his sister –in-law. “He’s serious about his job, he loves his job. He’s been all over the world.” Mr. Phillips’s wife was “a little bit overwhelmed” and couldn’t talk, Ms. Coggio said. > > Serena Murphy said her husband, Shane Murphy, the ship’s second-in-command, called her at about 10 a.m. Eastern time, apparently a few hours before the crew had regained control of the ship. > > “He called me to tell me that he was alive,” Ms. Murphy said by telephone from Seekonk, Mass. She said it was a very short call from a cell phone her husband carries to contact her. Ms. Murphy said she heard loud voices and noise on the line. > > “I said ‘are you safe?’” Ms. Murphy recalled. “And he said, ‘Not yet, but I will be.’” > > Ms. Murphy said her husband told her the crew “had taken down” one of the pirates. “I love my husband very much, and I hope they return home safely. I’m watching the news and taking care of my children.” > > Capt. Murphy is a 2001 graduate of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. His father, Joseph, teaches at the school, including a course about maritime security. > **[U.S. Crew Regains Control of Maersk Ship, but Pirates Seize Capt. Phillips as...](https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123918590857500753)** > > Crew Regains Control in Drama off Coast of Somalia; Captain Held by Hijackers