The biographical movie, whether dramatising the life of Abraham Lincoln or an American cargo captain seized by pirates, dominates current cinema.
"We did have to hide it a lot in the beginning," said Snell, who is based on the USS Bainbridge, the guided missile destroyer that helped rescue cargo captain Richard Phillips from Somali pirates in 2009.
The cargo ship captain, Arne Rinnan, said there were at least six very sick people aboard.
On Sunday, Navy snipers killed three pirates holding hostage an American cargo ship captain.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which is heading the investigation, dispatched a team of marine investigators led by a former cargo ship captain.
Aboard the Maersk Alabama, a 17,000-ton cargo ship, Captain Phillips's crew erupted in cheers, waved American flags and fired off flares.
§ 165.1333 Security Zones, Seattle's Seafair Fleet Week moving vessels, Puget Sound, WA. § 165.1334 Security Zone; U.S. Coast Guard BSU Seattle, Pier 36, Elliot Bay, Seattle, WA. § 165.1335 Security Zone; Vessels Carrying Hazardous Cargo, Sector Columbia River Captain of the Port Zone.
But Beijing's policy of non-interference has so far precluded military rescues, as when U.S. Navy Seals killed three Somali pirates to free a cargo ship captain off the Horn of Africa in 2009.
Last year, Navy Seal snipers killed three pirates who were holding an American cargo ship captain in a lifeboat, after he had offered himself as a hostage in exchange for the safety of his crew.
In another development, United States officials said that Abduhl Wal-i-Musi, the sole surviving pirate of four who took an American cargo ship captain hostage, was flown to New York to face federal charges.
Richard Phillips, the American cargo ship captain rescued by the American Navy from Somali pirates, will return to the United States on Wednesday with his crew after reuniting with them in the Kenyan port of Mombasa, his company said.
