Somali Pirates lost their Prize-American Hostages No More.

A report from The Straits Times (April 9, 2009) report that what once was taken by pirates was once again back in the hands of the America crew onboard the Maersk Alabama container ship.  

And a bit of trivia provided in THAT article was that this was the first time in 200 years off the coast of Somalia - that Americans were captured by pirates.  

While one pirate was captured by the crew, the other fled and were back in the water again.  Once back in control of their ship, they contacted their private shipping company to let them know everything was ok again. 

The Maersk Alabama was the sixth ship seized by pirates in recent days.

Check out this BBC News Series, "Somali Pirate Patrol Diary" by Jonah Fisher.

A terrific series of articles by BBC reporter Jonah Fisher onboard the HMS Northumberland while it is on patrol in the Gulf of Aden as a part of the European Union's Combined Task Force Atalanta.  

Top photograph is from the ABC/AP website.  Bottom photo is of the HMS Northumberland and from the BBC News website.

UPDATE:  Captain Richard Phillips is still being held hostage by the Somali pirates in one of the lifeboats off of his ship, the Maersk Alabama.

While the crew managed to reclaim the vessel, it seemed that the good Captain had given himself over to the pirates to spare the rest of his crew.  He is currently bobbing around in the ocean with some pirates while the hostage takers still try to get some money out of the whole Maersk Alabama affair.

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Ref BBC News "Somali Pirate Patrol Diary" Days 1 to 5, February 19 to 23, 2009 ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7899898.stm) 

BBC News on AMerican Ship Crew retaking their ship back ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7990566.stm ).

Americans retake ship ( http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/World/Story/STIStory_361178.html)

ABC News/AP (http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=7286097)

photo is from ABC/AP website.

Reuters.com (APril 9, 2009) "Somali pirates keep American hostage on lifeboat."  ( http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSL851535820090409 )