Cargo ship captain held hostage by pirates says he was prepared to die during lifeboat ordeal

In first interview, pirate hostage recounts ordeal

MONTPELIER, Vt. — Former pirate hostage Richard Phillips says he thought he’d never get out of the lifeboat where Somali pirates held him after an aborted hijacking attempt.

In his first interview, Phillips tells NBC’s Matt Lauer he was resigned to dying at some points during his five-day Indian Ocean ordeal this month.

Phillips says that when he still had radio contact with his crew members, he told them that if they saw a splash in the water, it was going to be him trying to escape. He did try, but he returned to the lifeboat after a pirate fired a shot. From then on, he says, the atmosphere between him and his captors changed.

The interview is to be broadcast Tuesday on the “Today” show. Excerpts were released Friday night.