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Additional from AP, US crewman: Somali pirates hold captain hostage

"The American crew of a hijacked U.S.-flagged ship retook control of the vessel from Somali pirates Wednesday but the captain was still being held hostage, according to Pentagon officials and a member of the crew.

The crew member told The Associated Press that the 20-member crew had managed to seize one pirate and then successfully negotiate their own release.

The man, who picked up the ship's satellite phone but did not identify himself, told the AP in a brief conversation that the crew had retaken control of the ship and the pirates were in a lifeboat. But the man also said that they were holding the ship's captain hostage."........

................"A U.S. official had said around noon Eastern time the crew had retaken control and had one pirate in custody.".................

............."Joseph Murphy, a professor at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, said his sons, second in command Capt. Shane Murphy, was a 2001 Massachusetts Maritime Academy graduate who recently talked to a class about the dangers of piracy.

The younger Murphy wrote on his Facebook profile that he worked in waters between Oman and Kenya.

"These waters are infested with pirates that highjack (sic) ships daily," Murphy wrote on the page, which features a photograph of him. "I feel like it's only a matter of time before my number gets called."

Joseph Murphy said his son was trained in anti-piracy tactics at the academy and received training with firearms and small-arms tactics."...............

..............."The U.S. Navy said that the ship was hijacked early Wednesday about 280 miles (450 kilometers) southeast of Eyl, a town in the northern Puntland region of Somalia.

U.S. Navy spokesman Lt. Nathan Christensen said the closest U.S. ship at the time of the hijacking was 345 miles (555 kilometers)away."...........