He’s eternally anchored in gratitude.
Nearly two decades after Capt. Rich Phillips endured a near-death ordeal at the hands of Somali Pirates off the East African coast, he is still constantly showing thanks to his saviors — the US Armed Forces.
“I really didn’t think I was going to make it out of there,” Phillips, now 70, told The Post of his harrowing days of captivity in 2009 on board a cramped lifeboat after the four marauders sieged his cargo ship, the Maersk Alabama.
“I owe the SEALs a little — just my entire life.”
Capt. Phillips, whose perilous moments became the subject of an eponymously titled 2013 movie starring Tom Hanks, will deliver a “VIP” speech Thursday at Huntington’s Oheka Castle for the Lt. Michael P. Murphy Navy SEAL museum’s annual gala.
The prestigious event is held in honor of the Patchogue-born Medal of Honor recipient, Murphy, who was slain in the 2005 notorious “Lone Survivor” Afghanistan mission, which was also featured on the silver screen.
Phillips called the decision to speak at the event “a no-brainer” after he was approached by Murphy’s parents, Maureen and Dan.
“It was ‘What do you want me to do? Yep, I’ll be there,’” Phillips, who lives in Underhill, Vermont, said. “Then she told me it was a gala, and I would have to wear a tuxedo — but I still did it without any hesitation.”
The since-retired captain said he has been highly vocal on several military causes since his return to the States. Still, the Navy’s elite unit, whose snipers eliminated the Somali pirates on the lifeboat in one fell swoop, continues to hold a special place in his heart.
“I keep in touch with a group of eight to ten of them,” he said of his heroes who rescued him on Easter Sunday.
“I send them a thank you message every year at Easter for what’s coming up on 17 years I would have never had if they weren’t there. … I call them Titans — they’re not gods, they’re regular people doing extraordinary things.”
One of Phillips’ favorite parts of attending SEAL events is that, from the family to the fighters, “you can see how they live and you can see how they act in such a tight-knit community.”
“It’s something I wish we had in the civilian world,” he added.
Retired Navy SEAL and author Marcus Luttrell, who joined Murphy on the “Lone Survivor” mission, also plans on attending the Long Island event.
“It will be great to meet him,” said Phillips.
Calmer waters
Phillips said he no longer carries the terror of 2009 with him, but instead thinks, “Why should I dwell on the bad things?”
“Everybody goes through a crisis in their life — sometimes small, and sometimes a life-changer,” he said.
“It’s just a matter of how well you do with it,” added Phillips, who has, comfortably, seen Hanks play him in the film.
He admires his portrayal — especially the Oscar winner nailing the New England accent — in the hair-raising drama that chronicled the pirates invading the cargo ship and taking Phillips for ransom in exchange for his crew’s safety.
But there’s one thing, he said, Hollywood took a little too much liberty with — depicting a connection Phillips made with the youngest pirate, portrayed on screen as a misguided youth.
Admittedly, early on, Phillips warned the young man that “you’ll end up in trouble hanging around these people,” but that was the extent of his sympathy.
“By the end of the four and a half days on the lifeboat, what I learned was he was the crazy one. He used to love to sit across from me, point his AK, and dry fire it, and then grin at me.”
Phillips added that two days ahead of his April 12 rescue, the gang “started doing mock executions,” and he experienced nothing remotely close to Stockholm syndrome while on board.
“I didn’t think I was going to get out of there, but I wasn’t going to die begging,” he said. “I wanted to be strong. I want them to know that I was an adversary, not a passenger or hostage.
“Fortunately, I didn’t have to do too much. I just had to sit there, and the Navy SEALs took care of the outcome.”
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