April 12, 2009 Crew: 'Tell the president to get these guys' Play video

(NECN: Mombasa, Kenya) - The crew of the Maersk Alabama spoke with the media after news broke that Captain Richard Phillips had been rescued from the Somali pirates that attempted to overtake the cargo ship. From aboard the Maersk Alabama, the crew answered questions and issued details on what went down between the crew and the pirates.

"We want to clarify something right now," Second-In-Command Shane Murphy said. "We never lose control of this ship. We never took it back from them. They never had this ship. They had Captain Phillips, but they never had this ship. This is our ship."

"We've been under attack for a week before they got on this ship," Murphy said. "Tell the president to get these guys. Tell him to get the Navy down there. It shouldn't get to that."

Captain Phillips had been held hostage on a lifeboat by four Somali pirates, three of which were killed in the rescue. The U.S. Navy said that Phillips was freed at 7:19 p.m. Local time, at which time he was taken aboard the Norfolk, Virginia-based USS Bainbridge. He was then flown to the San Diego-based USS Boxer for a medical exam.

"This is one of the bravest men I've ever met," Murphy said of the ship's chief engineer. "This man is a hero -- a national hero. Everybody on this ship owes their life to this man right here."

The chief engineer told reporters that when Captain Phillips announced to the crew that the bridge had been taken, he took control and the pirates

never gained the entire ship. Murphy did not want to get into the details of how the pirates' attempt was thwarted.

"I don't want to get into the details of it, because it could compromise future crews that get attacked by these (explitive) from Somalia, taking over these ships." Murphy said. Now we know how to beat them -- words out."