Crew in hijacking to return to US tomorrow

By Peter Schworm and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

Captain Richard Phillips and the 19-member crew of the Maersk-Alabama will return to the United States tomorrow on a chartered flight from Kenya to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, the shipping line said today.

The crew is expected to visit the White House as early as Thursday, the father of one member said.

The group left its cargo ship this morning for a hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, celebrating their skipper's freedom as they await a reunion with the Vermont sea captain who helped secure theirs. The exact time of arrival at Andrews will be announced once the aircraft leaves Kenya.

Phillips and the crew will be reunited with their relatives in a private reception, Maersk Line said.

Phillips is on board a Navy vessel in the region, where he has received a medical exam and is reportedly resting comfortably.

The wife of Shane Murphy, the Alabama's chief officer, who lives in Seekonk, told reporters today that the crisis has been draining for her and her two young sons.

“Overwhelming, I think, is the best word,” Serena Murphy said. “But I have children, and they’re young, so I have to make sure and keep them happy. … It has been very difficult being alone as a mother."

Shane Murphy's father, Joseph Murphy said today that the his son and the other Alabama crew members are scheduled to visit the White House Thursday morning.

He said he welcomed his son's return to the United States and was thrilled at the honorary invitation.

"He deserves it,'' Murphy said. "We are absolutely, positively proud of him. We are just happy that he is safe and he is home.''

Murphy, recalling his son's impassioned plea Monday that President Obama take agressive action against the pirates, added that he hoped his son "remembers the manners he's been taught and he thanks everybody when he gets there.''

Shane Murphy voted for Obama in November, Murphy noted.

Murphy also said that staffers for US Senators John F. Kerry and US Representative William Delahunt have indicated the Massachusetts lawmakers intend to hold congressional hearings on protecting American sailors from pirates and ending the scourge.

Murphy, a professor at Massachusetts Maritime Academy after a lengthy career as a sailor, said he believes that improving the domestic political and economic situation in Somalia is the only effective, long-term solution to piracy.

"The gun is definitely not the solution," he said. "It's the expedient means. But it's not the optimal solution.''

Heather Giardinelli, the fiancee of John Cronan, an engineer on the Alabama from Merion, Pa., said on "Good Morning America" that the crew never relinquished the ship.

"They never surrendered. They never gave up," she said. "I know that’s important to the crew that people know that."

Giardinelli said she experienced "terror like I've never known before" when she learned the Alabama had come under attack.

"I couldn’t breathe. I think I scared the heck out of the kids," she said.

A new crew is unloading the Alabama, which was carrying emergency food assistance to Africa when it was attacked by a heavily armed band of pirates last week.

After the crew thwarted the hijacking attempt, the pirates took Phillips hostage on an enclosed lifeboat for five days. On Sunday, Navy sharpshooters shot the three captors in single simultaneous shots.

US Navy Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, praised the operation to rescue Phillips.

“It was exceptionally well-done,” he said on "Good Morning America" this morning. "It was a team effort."

With Somali pirates vowing retaliation for those deaths and seizing another four ships, taking 60 crew members hostage, Mullen said he had called for a comprehensive review of the nation’s antipiracy efforts.

"There’s a lot of work to do," he said. "It’s a very big challenge."

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