Born in 1955, Richard Phillips is a graduate of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. He became captain of the MV Maersk Alabama in 2009 and is still a serving officer in the United States' merchant marine. His account of the seizure of the Maersk Alabama and his experiences as a hostage of Somali pirates - A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea - was first published in the USA in 2010. He and his wife have two children and live on a farm in Vermont. Less