During the drill, the captain notices that the vessel is being followed by Somali pirates in two skiffs, and Phillips calls for help. Wary of pirate activity off the coast of the Horn of Africa, he and First Officer Shane Murphy order strict security precautions on the vessel and carry out a practice drill. Richard Phillips takes command of MV Maersk Alabama, an unarmed container vessel from the Port of Salalah in Oman, with orders to sail through the Guardafui Channel to Mombasa, Kenya.

Captain Phillips received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Abdi. The film emerged as a critical and commercial success, receiving positive reviews from critics and grossing $220 million against a budget of $55 million. It premiered at the 2013 New York Film Festival, and was theatrically released on October 11, 2013. Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca served as producers on the project. The screenplay by Billy Ray is based on Phillips's 2010 book A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea, which Phillips co-wrote with Stephan Talty. It stars Tom Hanks as Phillips, alongside Barkhad Abdi as pirate leader Abduwali Muse. Based on the 2009 Maersk Alabama hijacking, the film tells the story of the eponymous Captain Richard Phillips, an American merchant mariner who was taken hostage by Somali pirates. Captain Phillips is a 2013 American biographical action thriller film directed by Paul Greengrass.

Empire of Blue Water by Stephan Talty