Captain Phillips Talks Pirates, Captives at Insurance Conference

Never give up, work with your team and, if you have a chance, learn to operate an AK-47 before gun-toting pirates kidnap you on the high seas.

That was the lesson Captain Richard Phillips delivered last Thursday to about 1,000 people at the Vermont Captive Insurance Association's annual conference at the Sheraton in South Burlington.

While the crowd had assembled to network about the self-insurance market known as "captives," Phillips talked about a very different kind of captivity - the type where U.S. Navy SEALs come to the rescue instead of accountants and lawyers.

Dressed in a blue blazer and buttondown shirt, Phillips almost could have passed for one of the many bankers, CPAs, lawyers and insurance gurus there. His story, though, was way more exciting than the patter about reinsurance, asset allocation and risk management.

In 2009, the Underhill resident and merchant marine captain was navigating the Maersk Alabama along the east coast of Africa, when Somali pirates attempted to hijack his ship - and Phillips wound up getting kidnapped. The story made international headlines and inspired a movie starring Tom Hanks.

Phillips recalled how he wound up for several days with pirates in a lifeboat. At one point he grabbed an AK-47 - but didn't know how to work the weapon. ("I do now," he said.) At another point, he tried to swim away. The pirates beat and bound him.

Navy SEAL snipers shot three of the pirates and rescued him. Phillips recalled the feeling: "I'm alive. I made it. I'm outta here."

Phillips retired from the high seas last year. These days, he gives talks and autographs copies of his book, A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs and Dangerous Days at Sea. The broader lesson from his experience is to persist, he told the crowd. "When you vow you won't quit" he said, "something will happen to make your situation better."

MOLLY WALSH