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Capt. Richard Phillips
Associated Press - May 20, 2009 3:05 AM ET
BOURNE, Mass. (AP) - The captain of a U.S. cargo ship who surrendered himself to Somali pirates to spare his crew will be recognized as the 2009 Mariner of the Year by his alma mater.
Capt. Richard Phillips of Underhill, Vt., will receive the award Wednesday at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, where he graduated from in 1979.
The ceremony will mark Phillips' first return to the campus since four Somali pirates seized the Maersk Alabama in April. Phillips offered himself as a hostage and was held for five days in one of his ship's lifeboats.
He was freed when U.S. Navy snipers shot and killed three of his teenage captors. A fourth was flown to New York and indicted Tuesday on piracy and other charges.
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