TLDR: Captain chose to sail where 6 other ships had been hijacked that week in the same area, then when shit hit the fan he put on his yellow pants and chose pacifism despite outnumbering the niggers 6 to 1. The shipping company knowingly sent their ship through pirate infested waters without arming the staff or providing an armed escort. Phillips knowingly sided with the company, and received multiple daily reports of pirate attacks in the area, was told to stay more than 600 miles from the coast, but was sailing 250 miles away at the time of hijacking. The company and Phillips's attorneys fought to seal the evidence as they had settled out of court. Chief Engineer Mike Perry hid in a dark engine room with a knife and captured the ringleader of the pirates, so they could do a hostage exchange for Phillips, but the deal went "awry" and they released the pirate, but didn't get Phillips in return. While that's the official story, the testimony of the crew is that he was a coward, surrendered to the pirates, despite there only being about 4 "kids" (all 4 of the pirates were 15-18 years old), and the crew having small arms training. I imagine there was some kind of weapons locker onboard somewhere. While it's been over a decade now, I do recall someone saying that the hostage swap was fucked because Phillips wouldn't leave the bridge where the pirates were holding him.