In an instant, one man's ordeal at sea ended

Vice Admiral William E. Gortney, providing vivid new details about Sunday's dramatic evening rescue, said the snipers were ordered to fire after a pirate was seen holding an assault rifle to the back of Richard Phillips, a 53-year-old from Underhill, Vt., who had been held hostage for five days in a lifeboat in the pirate-infested waters off Somalia.

From Phillips's hometown to his alma mater on Cape Cod, supporters held up the veteran sea captain - who surrendered to the attackers to safeguard his crew on the Maersk Alabama - as a symbol of sacrifice, and they made plans to celebrate his safe return.

But his wife, Andrea, said Phillips believed that the military rescuers are the "real heroes." Andrea Phillips, in a statement read by a family spokeswoman because she was suffering from laryngitis, called the past five days "extremely difficult." The hardest part, she said, was not knowing what her husband was enduring.

In Kenya, Shane Murphy, the chief officer of the Maersk Alabama, made an emotional appeal to President Obama to take aggressive action against the growing threat of piracy.

"America has to be at the forefront of this," Murphy, who lives in Seekonk, said during a brief news conference in Mombasa. "It's time for us to step up and put an end to this crisis. It's a crisis, wake up."

Murphy, who along with Phillips is a graduate of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Bourne, said that while the 20-member crew was fortunate to survive the hijacking, "We won't be that lucky again."

Murphy's wife and two young sons flew yesterday to New York City, where he and the other Alabama crew members could arrive today, said Chris Ryan, an academy spokesman.

Last week's attack marked the first time a US-flagged vessel had been hijacked in recent memory, underscoring the escalating risk that merchant ships face in the volatile, heavily traveled waters off the Horn of Africa.

The commander of the USS Bainbridge, a naval destroyer that first responded to the kidnapping, believed Phillips was in "imminent danger" when he ordered the shooting, Gortney said yesterday in a conference call from Bahrain. In a split-second decision, the snipers were given the go-ahead to open fire when two other hostage-takers were spotted "with their heads and shoulders exposed," said Gortney, commander of US Naval Forces Central Command.

"The captain's life was in immediate danger," he said. Phillips, whose hands were bound at the time of the rescue, was unharmed when Navy SEALS reached the lifeboat and freed him, Gortney said.

The military had received "very clear guidance and authority" from the White House to use deadly force if they believed Phillips's life was in danger, he said.

Shortly before the rescue, the pirates had fired a tracer bullet at the destroyer, and they had become increasingly agitated by the rough waters and protracted crisis.

A fourth pirate had surrendered earlier Sunday and is in US custody. A spokesman for the Justice Department said prosecutors would review the evidence to determine whether the pirate will face charges in the United States. The pirate, who had been wounded in the hijacking attempt and required medical attention, surrendered by jumping into a small craft bringing food and water to the lifeboat. Early reports yesterday that he was negotiating on behalf of the other pirates were apparently incorrect.

The Navy SEALs who shot the pirates were picked up by the Bainbridge after parachuting from an aircraft into the sea. The attackers had agreed to let the Navy vessel attach a 82-foot towline to bring the out-of-fuel lifeboat to calmer waters. The lifeboat, some 300 miles from shore at the outset, had drifted within 20 miles of land at the time of the rescue, the Navy said.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, speaking at the Marine Corps War College yesterday, called the rescue operation "textbook."

"They were patient. They got the right people and the right equipment in place, and then did what they do," he said.

In a statement, Obama said, "I share the country's admiration for the bravery of Captain Phillips and his selfless concern for his crew. His courage is a model for all Americans."

But Somali pirates vowed to retaliate for the killings.

"From now on, if we capture foreign ships and their respective countries try to attack us, we will kill them [the hostages]," Jamac Habeb told the Associated Press from Eyl, one of Somalia's piracy hubs. "US forces have become our number one enemy."

Highlighting the lawlessness in Somalia, assailants fired mortars at an airplane carrying US Representative Donald Payne of New Jersey as it took off from the Mogadishu International Airport. The plane took off safely.

The hijacking crisis began Wednesday when the pirates, firing their guns into the air, clambered aboard the Maersk Alabama, a 508-foot long ship delivering food assistance to several African nations. But the unarmed crew locked themselves in a cabin as Phillips surrendered.

Two crew members later jumped one pirate and in the ensuing scuffle stabbed him in the hand with an ice pick. They regained control of the vessel and attempted to exchange their hostage for Phillips, but the pirates refused to turn him over and fled in a lifeboat.

US warships arrived and shadowed the lifeboat, which ran out of gas.

In Bourne, cadets and friends of Phillips expressed deep joy at his rescue. "He's Captain Courageous," said James Staples, a classmate and friend of Phillips, who graduated from Mass. Maritime in 1979. "To put himself in harm's way with four people . . . unbelievable."

Peter Stalkus, a captain who has worked with Phillips since 1986, likened him to Captain Chesley B. Sullenberger III, who became a national hero after safely crash-landing an airplane in the Hudson River in January.

"Of all the ship masters I've seen and known, I honestly believe that Rich, for all his capabilities, was the right person to be put in that position for the benefit of his crew, himself, and to a good ending for all concerned," Stalkus said.

In Vermont, state and local officials have begun planning a hero's welcome for Phillips. Underhill Selectman Steve Owen said the homecoming would be heartfelt but subdued, reflecting the farm town's quiet ways.

"Here, we like to keep things toned down, but I think that everyone will welcome him home like the hero he is," Owen said.

John R. Ellement of the Globe staff contributed to this report from Bourne; material from wire services was also included. Ballou contributed from Vermont, Schworm from Boston.