Captain Richard Phillips exchanging himself to pirates for the safety of his captured crew is one of the great stories of high seas heroism.

It was told in media reports and lauded on social network sites like Facebook, which has a fan page dedicated to him.

The story made the country feel good.

But it is untrue, according to crewmembers of the Maersk Alabama

"The captain was captured from the beginning," said chief engineer Mike Perry of Riverview.

The story of Phillips offering to exchange himself for the crew "is misleading," he said. "It is not an accurate portrayal."

Colin Wright was one of three men on the bridge when the pirates burst in with AK-47s shortly after 7 a.m. April 8. Wright, a third mate from Galveston, Texas, said the pirates pointed weapons at the Merchant Marines while barking orders.

The deal Phillips did make, according to Perry and Wright, came later after Perry and another crewmember captured one of the pirates. Wright, Perry and another crewmember, John Cronan said

Phillips, all the while a pirate hostage, climbed into the lifeboat after arranging a deal to exchange himself for the captured pirate.

Phillips had nothing to do with disseminating the story, said Perry and Wright. He was still a captive when it broke, they point out.

While Perry and Wright say they want to clear the air and correct erroneous information, they echo the sentiments of several crewmembers, including Cronan and Ken Quinn of Bradenton, contacted by The Tampa Tribune.

Phillips is a great captain who performed well above the call of duty before and during the emergency. His fast thinking, calm demeanor and life-risking heroics helped save the crew and the ship. To a man, they say they would go back to sea with him. In a heartbeat.

The problem, say Perry and Wright, lies not with the captain, but the media following the story.

"This crew battled for 33 hours with the pirates," Perry said. "No one wanted to give up until everyone was together again. It took everyone, not just one person. Not me. Not the captain, but everyone. Everybody is the hero in this story."

A detailed message left on Phillips' answering machine in Vermont was not immediately returned.

Beginnings of the tale

On the day the pirates boarded the Maersk Alabama, CNN Pentagon Correspondent Chris Lawrence, reporting on Anderson Cooper 360, was one of the first to posit the idea that Phillips offered to get into the lifeboat to save the crew.

According to the transcript:

Cooper: So he actually went voluntarily with them, to get them off the ship? Is that right?

Lawrence: Not sure, but from what the crew members were saying, that's what it sounded like, like this came down to a negotiation, where the captain said I will go with them to try to diffuse this situation."

The story reverberated. By April 11, MSNBC was reporting that after being freed, the crew was "exhilarated by freedom but mourning the absence of the captain they hailed for sacrificing his freedom to save them."

"As the pirates shot in the air, Capt. Richard Phillips, 53, of Underhill, Vt., told his crew to lock themselves in a cabin and surrendered himself to safeguard his men, crew members said. Phillips was still held hostage in an enclosed lifeboat Saturday by four pirates being closely watched by U.S. warships in an increasingly tense standoff.

"He saved our lives!" second mate Ken Quinn, of Bradenton, Fla, declared from the ship as it docked in the resort and port city of Mombasa. "He's a hero."

On April 12, U.S. Navy SEALS, firing from the U.S.S. Bainbridge, shot and killed the three pirates on the lifeboat. Phillips was rescued. The fourth pirate – the one captured by the crew of the Maersk Alabama, - had gone aboard the destroyer and is now in federal custody in New York.

A different version

On Thursday, Perry told The Tribune and News Channel 8 that he ordered the crew into the safe area, then helped capture the pirate. His story was corroborated by three other crew members.

One of them, Colin Wright, today recounted being on the bridge when two pirates boarded the ship.

"I was on the bridge at the time," he said. "The pirates came aboard quickly."

Wright said he was on the satellite phone, reporting the events to the piracy central. Another crewmember, A.T.M. Reza, was also on the bridge.

Phillips, he said, is busy. "He is giving orders, reporting what was happening to the crew."

He put the phone down on the desk, Wright said, allowing him to communicate with the rest of the ship.

"One pirate aboard," he shouted.

"Two pirates aboard."

Within a minute, the first pirate was on the bridge.

"He was holding a gun on us," Wright said. "At this point, the captain was captured. A.T.M. was captured. We were being held at gunpoint."

Wright's first thought?

"I was scared," he recalled. "I thought this could be the end of it for all of us. It was terrible."

At one point, the pirates wanted the whole crew on the bridge. At gunpoint they ordered Phillips to call for the men. He complied to stall for time, Wright said.

But the crew did what it was supposed to do according to the security plan. They remained in hiding.

The pirates started losing patience.

"They said we had two minutes or they would start shooting," Wright said.

The captain continued to call out. The crew continued to hide.

"The time was getting down to a minute and half," Wright said.

Then a minute.

"It appeared to me I would be the first one shot," he said. "They were arguing. The pirate still alive was arguing with the other pirates. It looked like they would shoot me because I am a little bit bigger than the other guys. What they said is, 'Where's the Fat Guy?' That's what they called me. The Fat Guy."

Then, a lucky break.

The pirates ordered Wright to find the other crew. Alone.

Then he did what he was supposed to.

He ran and hid.

The deal

After a long hot day of hiding from pirates and then capturing one, Phillips brokered a deal.

He would get on board the pirates' open boat with the pirates. Then the crew would give up their pirate captive in exchange for the captain.

But things didn't go according to plan, said John Cronan, who along with crewmember William Rios, volunteered to make the exchange.

At first, the captain got into the pirate boat with the three pirates, Cronan said. Each had an AK-47.

The pirate boat had problems, Cronan said, and that's when the plan started to go awry.

"Captain Phillips directed the three pirates to paddle back to ship," Cronan said. "It was classic Captain Phillips, with his Boston accent."

The now-famous covered orange motorized lifeboat was then lowered into the water with Cronan and Rios and food, fuel and a surprise.

"Rios had a pocket knife and a homemade knife up his sleeve," Cronan said. "I had a hammer and a pocket knife and we knew Phillips was a physically robust man."

The pirate captive was still aboard the Maersk Alabama.

The lifeboat hit the water. It was stern-to-stern with the pirate boat.

Phillips ordered the pirates to point their guns down or the deal was off.

Cronan said he and Rios were ready to pounce. But the captain, through gestures and tone of voice, discouraged an attack.

"He said, 'Let's transfer the food and fuel, guys. Let's go.'"

Cronan said he and Rios then transferred over to the open boat, while the pirates and Phillips went into the covered boat.

They motored away about 20 yards alongside the ship, Cronan said.

They backed into the pilot ladder that was already down by the water line. It was then that the captured pirate was brought out and allowed to climb down the ladder into the covered lifeboat for what Cronan said was presumed to be a prisoner exchange.

Now the four pirates, with Phillips as their captive, motored away, leaving Cronan and Phillips to paddle to the pilot line to climb back onto the ship.

"That is when I really started to fear for my life," Cronan said. "Now that the pirates had their man back and Phillips, I thought they were going to spray us down."

Though only 25 feet, the climb back to the main deck of the ship, and relative safety, felt much longer, Cronan said.

"I assumed they would let Phillips jump into the water and they would motor off into the night," said Cronan. "But that never transpired."

Four days later, Navy SEAL sharpshooters killed the pirates and Phillips was rescued. He returned to a hero's welcome in Vermont. True to what his crew describe as his humble character, Phillips deflected any praise, heaping it all on his crew and his rescuers.

Ken Quinn returned to a hero's welcome in Bradenton.

Meanwhile, Mike Perry, who helped save the crew, reluctantly agreed to talk to the Tribune and News Channel 8.

To set the record straight.

To let friends and family, and the world at large, know that everyone aboard the Maersk Alabama played a role in the happy outcome.

Tribune researchers Melanie Coon and Stephanie Pincus contributed to this report. Editor Howard Altman can be reached at (813) 259-7629.

www2.tbo.com/content/2009/apr/24/captain-didnt-surrender-save-crew-engineer-says/news-metro/