Vessels like the Maersk Alabama are also essential to getting United Nations’ World Food Programme shipments to countries devastated by famine and war. “Through our jobs during peacetime we safely and cheaply carry the world’s goods from manufacturer to consumer and keep the food and products stocked in our stores at home.” “We are the ones who allow international trade to flourish and grow,” he says. Phillips hopes that the film, based on his life, will lead to greater public understanding of the role played in today’s global supply chain by the 5, 700 members of his own union, as well as 50, 000 others in the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association and Seafarers International Union. Bill, nothing like that…no one ever remembers us.” “hen the boys from the cargo ships went home, there were no ticker-tape parades, no G.I. Merchant Marine is under attack.”Īs Captain Phillips recounts in his book, civilian sailors - who remain heavily unionized – have a long history of “invisible service” and unarmed valiance, including a casualty rate in World War II that was proportionately greater than any branch of the armed forces. “It’s highly ironic,” he says, “that Captain Phillips and the rest of the crew of Maersk Alabama are being celebrated again for their courage and dedication to duty - while the lifeblood of the U.S. Without action by a currently deadlocked Congress, these cuts in the MSP “would devastate the pool of trained merchant mariners available for sea-going service and cripple the industrial capacity of the merchant marine,” explains MM &P president Don Marcus. Maritime Administration (MARAD) to warn ship owners that one-third of the vessels in this fleet, including the now-famous Maersk Alabama, face elimination from the program. But a projected budget shortfall, ranging from $ 25 million to $ 30 million. At a cost to taxpayers of $ 186 million annually, the MSP subsidizes a fleet of 60 commercially owned and operated ships. Even before this month’s federal government shutdown, sequester-driven budget cuts were scheduled to reduce funding next year for the Maritime Security Program (MSP). Utilizing similar teamwork, the real-life Phillips and members of his AFL-CIO-affiliated union, the Masters, Mates & Pilots (MM &P), are now rallying against a threat to their livelihood more serious than Somali pirates. On the 17, 000-ton Maersk Alabama, he notes, “the crew and I were ready for each crisis” because “we’d drilled for exactly those kinds of situations.” A Captain’s Duty, provides a vivid account of the teamwork and discipline required to survive at sea, amid the occupational hazards created by hurricanes, shipboard fires, container accidents, collisions, and, yes, armed assaults by would-be hijackers. Indeed, in his book and film-related interviews, the Massachusetts Maritime Academy graduate emphasizes the collective nature of freighter work, both on a day-to-day basis and in moments of danger on the high seas. “There was a ship with 19 crew members that this story is about, not just me … They acted bravely and acted properly … It would be a different story without their actions.” “I do not like the movie named after me, as it makes it out to be just me out there,” he told Destination Vermont, a travel magazine. Phillips himself has been exceedingly modest about his role in the Maersk Alabama drama. In Captain Phillips, it’s a toss-up who should get the hero’s garland - the film’s eponymous captain, his well-trained and fast-acting crew, or the Navy SEALs who rescued Phillips after the pirates took him hostage and tried to escape in a small boat. On October 11, Captain Phillips will get his second 15 minutes of international acclaim when Sony Pictures unveils a big-budget film based on his book. Four years after his near-death experience off the coast of Africa, America’s most famous maritime union member has had to settle for Tom Hanks instead.
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