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In a New York Post article, crew members of Phillips accused the film of being grossly inaccurate in facts and the portrayal of Phillips. They claim that he had a bad reputation for twelve years prior to the hijacking for being sullen, arrogant, and self-righteous. Eleven crew members have sued the Waterman Steamship Corporation and Maersk Line for nearly $50 million alleging "willful, wanton and conscious disregard for their safety" by Phillips. The article states that Phillips received seven e-mails about the increasing threat of piracy near Somalia, but Phillips ignored all the warnings and kept them from his crew. A crew member was also tasked with recording all of the hijackings in the region, however when it was shown to Phillips, he also ignored that and continued off-course through the region with several hijackings. “The crew had begged Captain Phillips not to go so close to the Somali coast,” said Deborah Waters, the attorney who is representing the 11 crew members. The article also states that there were two hijackings during an 18 hour period, as opposed to the one shown in the film. The crew was off-route and performing a lifeboat drill when they noticed the pirates approaching the Maersk. When Phillips was informed of this, he ordered the crew to complete the drill instead of taking pirate defense stations as one crew member quotes: “And he goes, ‘Oh, no, no, no — you’ve got to do the lifeboats drill.’ This is how screwed up he is. These are drills we need to do once a year. Two boats with pirates and he doesn’t give a s- -t. That’s the kind of guy he is.”[24]
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