A Captain's Duty

be a good day, I thought.
    But the Somalis wouldn’t leave me alone. They were obsessed with the knots again. They would tie a knot and tell me to undo it. If I touched the wrong string, they’d slap me in the head and tie a second knot. Then, if I didn’t do things exactly right, a third. Pretty soon there were six knots I was trying to untie.
    Even Young Guy got tired of the game. “What’s the point?” he yelled at Musso and Tall Guy. They went right back at him.
    “What’s the matter? You want to be an American sailor? Huh? We’re Somalis, we’re twenty-four/seven.”
    The tension was mounting. The Somalis were arguing constantly, Young Guy vs. the other two. Around noon, the navy dropped off more food, but that didn’t relieve the atmosphere on the boat.
    The Leader had been off the ship for an hour. He’s bailing, I thought. He sees something is coming and he’s selling these guys down the river. I learned later that he went to discuss ransom and conditions with the navy, but I don’t believe that. I think the Leader got off that boat because he saw bad shit coming down the pike.
    All the while, the other three pirates were still continuing the tutorial on Somali knots. But I’d had enough of that, too.
    “That’s it,” I said, “I’m done.” It was 3 p.m. At that moment, I didn’t care if they killed me, I wasn’t going to tie another knot or take another command.
    Suddenly, I felt weak. All the strength seemed to drain out of my body. I slumped back into my chair and things went blurry. I couldn’t focus on anything, it was like my mind had let go. I felt dizzy and lightheaded.
    The pirates got nervous.
    “You need doctor, you need doctor,” Musso said. He got on the radio and demanded that the navy send one to the boat. The Somalis brought water over to me and I drank some and I poured the rest over my head. They had gone from rationing my water to giving me all I wanted.
    I was scared. I’d never felt this way before in my life. My heart’s giving out, I thought. This is how it happens. It must havebeen heat fatigue. I’d always hated heat, but it’d never gotten to me like this.
    The navy doctor arrived about an hour later.
    “How are you doing?” he called to me from the inflatable.
    “Well, I’m fine now. I think I just had a little heat stroke or something.”
    “How are the sanitary facilities?”
    “Well, you’re looking at it.”
    “Can you show me where you go? We want to make sure it’s okay.”
    I didn’t get it. I’d told them the pirates wouldn’t let me near the door for anything.
    What I didn’t know was, at that moment, there were guns hidden under blankets on that Zodiac. The navy guys were trying to get me near the rear door, where they would have gestured for me to jump. Then they would have opened up on the Somalis. But the pirates weren’t letting me anywhere near that hatch.
    They also used the nonduress password “suppertime.” But I didn’t know they had that code—Shane had given it to them.
    Before the navy corpsmen left, they handed over more food, some fish and plums, and they told the pirates, “Make sure the captain gets this food. This is not for you. Captain only.” So I tried to eat it, even though I still wasn’t hungry. Those plums were the most delicious things I’d ever tasted. They’d brought four, one for each guy on the boat. I’d wolfed down two before I realized what I was doing.
    “Oh, I’m sorry, did I eat yours?” I said to Musso. “Here, have my fish.”
    He just waved his hand. They were scared I was dying or something, so they were just happy I was eating.
    The navy had also sent a pair of blue pants and a bright yellow shirt. I didn’t want to put the clothes on, because I was filthy and the thought of getting this clean shirt dirty somehow offended me. I said to the pirates, “I’ll put it on after I take a shower.” But the pirates insisted. I put them on and the shirt immediately got wet and dirty from the water I was pouring over my head and the general filthiness of the boat.
    It didn’t occur to me that the navy gave me a bright yellow shirt so the sharpshooters could tell me apart from the pirates. My brain wasn’t that sharp. I felt like a sluggish animal.
    There also was a bottle of A.1. steak sauce. I didn’t find out until later, but a navy crewman had written a message on the label: “Stay strong, we’re coming to get you.” I was devouring the plums and never saw it. And I