Norfolk's Maersk hosts preview of "Captain Phillips"

NORFOLK

Hollywood came to town Tuesday.

There was even a red carpet. And roaming floodlights.

Norfolk-based Maersk Line Ltd. played host to about 350 people who were invited to Nauticus for a private, early-evening screening of "Captain Phillips," set to open nationwide Friday.

It was a feel-good moment for the company, the owner of the container ship Maersk Alabama, the target of a pirate attack in April 2009 off the coast of Somalia that ended with the precision-shot rescue of its captain - Richard Phillips - by Navy SEALs.

"We think it's important to tell the story of the American Merchant Marine, of which Capt. Phillips is a member - the nation depends on them - and also the bravery of our U.S. Navy and the SEALs," said John Reinhart, president and CEO of Maersk Line Ltd., in remarks before the showing of the film.

Neither Tom Hanks, who plays Phillips in the new film, nor the captain himself attended.

But the captain's wife, Andrea Phillips, his son, Dan, 24, and daughter, Mariah, 23, were there, along with Capt. Frank Castellano, the commanding officer of the Norfolk-based destroyer Bainbridge during the rescue.

"In the beginning, I tell people, I said, 'I jumped twice and cried at the end,'" said Andrea Phillips, who already had seen the film twice.

For the most part, however, there weren't a lot of surprises.

"Richard shared his story with me," she said, adding that she thought the movie portrayed it well.

Dan Phillips said it was "kind of weird, surreal" to see his father depicted in a movie.

"It's very cool, though, it was Tom Hanks," his sister said, adding that they both had been voting for Danny DeVito.

If the film's release has made them - and Maersk Line Ltd., to some extent - celebrities, it's done the same for Brian Beckcom, a Houston-based attorney representing nearly half of Phillips' crew, who are telling a different story.

Nine of the crew members aboard the Maersk Alabama during the pirate attack are moving forward with a lawsuit in Mobile, Ala., alleging negligence and other charges against Maersk Line Ltd. and Alabama-based Waterman Steamship Corp., which operated and crewed the vessel under a charter.

"The basic premise is, the captain and the company were told to stay out of that area," said Beckcom, who recently appeared on "Good Morning America" to talk about the case and has been sought after by media outlets all over the world.

"They had multiple warnings not to go as close as they went, and they ignored them and did it anyway."

Phillips wound up offering himself as a hostage to the pirates in exchange for the freedom of his crew and ship.

The ordeal, which unfolded over five days, ended when SEALs positioned on the Bainbridge killed three of Phillips' captors in a volley of rifle fire.

A fourth pirate already had surrendered to the Navy.

The suit alleges that the two companies, through Phillips' actions, put the plaintiffs in grave danger and led to "injuries to their limbs, back and body generally, together with severe emotional distress and mental anguish, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and sleep disorders," among other things.

Days before the hijacking, both companies had received warnings to sail at least 600 miles off the coast of Somalia "because pirates were in the region and taking hostage ships and their crews," the suit states.

Despite the warnings, the two companies, "through their officers, employees, and/or agents," decided to bring the Maersk Alabama within about 250 miles of the coast, "primarily for financial gain," according to the lawsuit.

"I think it's important to let the legal process go through," Reinhart said when asked about the case.

"Everyone has the right to seek recourse in the courts. My personal opinion is that the lawsuit is meritless, and I think Capt. Phillips presented himself as a brave man at sea."

The Mobile lawsuit isn't the first filed against Maersk Line Ltd. and Waterman Steamship Corp.

Eight cases are now before the Texas Court of Appeals, Beckcom said.

Eleven crew members also filed lawsuits in Norfolk Circuit Court last year, seeking nearly $50 million in damages.

The local cases, identical to those filed in Mobile, later were dropped to resolve a jurisdictional dispute, said Deborah C. Waters, a Norfolk attorney.

Two of the 11 cases have been settled, Beckcom said.

The Mobile lawsuit is expected to go to trial Dec. 1; the plaintiffs seek "whatever the jury thinks is fair," he said.

Maersk Line Ltd., a U.S. company that is a unit of A.P. Moller-Maersk Group in Copenhagen, Denmark, provides U.S. flag transportation, ship management and maritime-technical services to government and commercial firms.

Sony Pictures gave the company access to the film as a kind of thank-you for its assistance in making the movie, in which the company has no financial stake, said Kevin Speers, a Maersk Line Ltd. spokesman.

"We helped them identify and charter a ship," he said, adding that the vessel used in the film, the Alexander Maersk, is identical to the Maersk Alabama and was chartered on commercial terms.

The company also provided some consulting about what life at sea is like and how ocean-going vessels and their crews operate.

Joining Castellano at Tuesday's screening were about 30 members of the Bainbridge crew that saved Phillips.

Asked how confident he was of a successful outcome, Castellano was blunt.

"We were in the moment," he said. "I honestly can tell you, it could have gone either way. It could have been a bad situation. But we had teamwork and time on our side and what I call tactical patience."

Robert McCabe, 757-446-2327, robert.mccabe@pilotonline.com