When we first did a feature on maritime piracy, the United States had no one of its own being held captive by modern-day pirates. This all changed, however, when last Wednesday the 508-foot, 17,000 ton container ship Maersk Alabama was hijacked by four armed gunmen while on its way to Mombasa, Kenya from Djibouti.

The vessel is owned by Danish company Maersk Line Ltd, but it flies the Stars and Stripes and is manned by an all-American 20-man crew. It had on board food and aid destined for drought-stricken Somalia and Uganda, from groups such as the World Food Program and the United States Agency for International Development.

The crew of the Maersk Alabama has since re-commandeered the ship, but its Captain, Richard Phillips, is being held hostage by the pirates aboard a lifeboat. The remaining crew sailed the Alabama to its original destination after the U.S. Navy destroyer Bainbridge arrived on the scene. Since then, there has been a standoff between the U.S. Navy and the pirates.

Capt. Phillips is the first U.S. citizen to be held captive by pirates, and the incident has become the first act of piracy against an American ship in over two hundred years.

According to a Somalia expert from Davidson College, these pirates are in the business “strictly for the money”, and that they do not take cargo or kill people. They have, however, successfully extorted money from international shipping companies, which is their core business, so to speak. The Navy has asked for the assistance of the FBI hostage rescue team in the negotiations for the release of Captain Phillips.

The U.S. Armed Forces, however, are reportedly ready to take action against piracy in general if called upon to do so. Special operations forces, including the Army Delta Force and the Navy SEALs, are capable of handling situations involving piracy. The U.S. Special Forces have operated in this part of the world for years. In January, the Navy launched Joint Task Force 151, an anti-piracy command composed of, among others, SEALs and Marines whose expertise include boarding and reclaiming hijacked ships.