Washington (AP) - Across the national security establishment, the United States urgently sought answers Wednesday for what is believed to be the first American hostage-taking by pirates in 200 years. The crew of the U.S.-flag ship hijacked off the coast of Somalia was believed to be safe.
President Barack Obama's chief spokesman said the White House was assessing a course of action. Press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters that officials there monitoring the incident closely. Said Gibbs: "Our top priority is the personal safety of the crew members on board." The White House would say no more about what actions it was considering.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said there had been no communications from the pirates for ransom. But he would not go into military plans. "I'm not going to speculate on any future military actions," Whitman said, when asked what the U.S. military may do.
The UK Maritime Security Centre (Horn of Africa), an organization run by the European Union's Naval Force, said the crew was safe. British maritime officials had been able to contact the 17,000-ton Maersk Alabama, according to a U.S. defense official in Washington who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.
Another U.S. official said similar information about the crew's apparent safety was passed during a 9 a.m. EDT conference call Wednesday among U.S. national security, military and homeland security officials.
And the Cape Cod Times of Massachusetts reported that Capt. Joseph Murphy, 33, the ship's second in command, had contacted his mother by phone and said he was safe.
A senior Navy official had said earlier Wednesday that the administration was talking to the shipping company to learn more about what happened when the Maersk Alabama and a crew of some 20 people was seized by pirates. The official refused to say what plans the U.S. had for trying to free the ship.
Reports coming into the Pentagon carried varying estimates of the number of American crew members. Some said 21, others said 19. It was not immediately clear the nature of the ship's cargo is, although one report said that it might be food aid.
Murphy's father, Capt. Joseph Murphy, an instructor at a maritime academy, told the Cape Cod newspaper that his son was well aware of the threat of pirates in the area and, while home on a visit only a few weeks ago, had talked with his class about the risk. "He knows the potential danger and he talked with my students about that," Murphy said. "He connected right away with the students."
At least 12 of the Americans aboard the Maersk Alabama are members of the Seafarers International Union, spokesman Jordan Biscardo said. The union is trying to get as much information on the situation as it can, he said.
"It goes without saying we're deeply concerned and we're closely monitoring the story," Biscardo said.
Biscardo would not immediately release the names of the union members aboard the vessel. The Seafarers International Union represents unlicensed United States merchant mariners sailing aboard U.S.-flag vessels.
The Maritime Center said the ship had been tentatively identified as the Maersk Alabama, If so, it would be the first US-flag vessel taken by the Somali pirates and the crew would be the first American citizens captured by pirates in about 200 years.
In December 2008, Somali pirates chased and shot at a U.S. cruise ship with more than 1,000 people on board but failed to hijack the vessel.
Though the U.S.-flag ship was the sixth seized within a week in the dangerous region around Africa, Cmdr. Jane Campbell, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, said it was the first pirate attack "involving U.S. nationals and a U.S.-flagged vessel in recent memory."
A second Defense Department official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said he had no information on the number of pirates or any details of the attack.
Retired Navy Cmdr. Kirk Lippold, who was in charge of the USS Cole battleship when it was attacked by suicide bombers in 2000, said, "Although the United States and other nations are working in a loose coalition to prevent piracy, the dwindling number of ships in our Navy amplifies the impact of this menace."
Lippold said the administration deserves praises for recommending more combat ships and unmanned aerial vehicles to help interdict this type of threat, but said the Navy "simply needs more ships and at a quicker rate than we are currently building or plan to build."
"Only with a robust and capable Navy will the United States be able to defend our interests worldwide," said Lippold, now a senior military fellow at Military Families United, an advocacy organization for military families.
The crew first reported being under attack, then said that pirates had already boarded the ship, according to "talking points" prepared by the U.S. government for briefing reporters about the situation.
Though the company has had some Defense Department contracts it was not on a Pentagon job when attacked, the talking points said.
The hijacking comes one day after international maritime officials issued a warning on the area.
Following a series of attacks off the eastern coast of Somalia, the Combined Maritime Forces issued an advisory Wednesday highlighting several recent attacks that occurred hundreds of miles off the Somali coast and stating that merchant mariners should be increasingly vigilant when operating in those waters.
"While the majority of attacks during 2008 and early 2009 took place in the Gulf of Aden, these recent attacks off the eastern coast of Somalia are not unprecedented," the advisory provided by Navy officials in Washington said. "An attack on the large crude tanker Sirius Star in November 2008 occurred more than 450 nautical miles off the southeast coast of Somalia."
The advisory said the "scope and magnitude of problem cannot be understated."
The nearest ship from the international coalition working against pirates in the region was hundreds of miles away from the Maersk Alabama.
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Associated Press reporters Matthew Lee, Ben Feller and Jesse Holland contributed to this story.