Associated Press The U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama had been captured in April.
NAIROBI, Kenya -- The Maersk Alabama, the American-flagged ship captured briefly by pirates in April before a dramatic rescue of its captain, came under fire early Wednesday morning off the Somalia coast, but evaded the attackers.
Four men in a skiff sped within 300 yards of the container ship, firing automatic weapons in an attempt to board it, according to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet. A security team aboard the Alabama fired back and managed to fend off the attack, the Navy said.
The onboard security detail was a private contractor, not a military detachment, according to a Fifth Fleet spokesman. A U.S. P-3 surveillance aircraft established radio communication with the ship's captain Wednesday, and the ship reported that all aboard were safe and that the ship was proceeding to its next port of call.
In the attack, the Alabama's crew took evasive maneuvers and used a new technique to repel pirates, deploying a long-range acoustic device that emits high-pitched sounds painful to the human ear.
A Somali claiming to represent the pirates, speaking by phone from Xaradheere, a pirate stronghold in Somalia, said the U.S.-flagged vessel narrowly escaped capture. His account matched details provided by U.S. and European military officials, lending credence to his claims of speaking for the pirates.
"It narrowly escaped and opened fire on us," said the man, who identified himself as Abdullahi Nor, a pirate spokesman. "One of our colleagues was injured in the attack." Mr. Nor said he had spoken to the would-be hijackers by satellite phone.
A vessel from the European Union Naval Force Somalia, a mission set up to fight piracy, was dispatched in an attempt to track down the skiff.
The U.S. Navy said that the Maersk Alabama is en route to Mombasa, Kenya, its original destination. It is expected to arrive early Sunday morning.
Amid a sudden jump in pirate attacks off the east coast of Africa, the shipping industry has adopted a raft of new "best practices" -- policies and guidelines used by shipping crews and owners to help defend against piracy. They include using water hoses to knock pirates from their ladders, lacing a ship's railings with barbed wire, and making evasive maneuvers when under attack.
The shipping industry has stayed clear of endorsing the use of armed security. But amid the recent surge in attacks, a few ship owners and operators have chosen to do so.
Most shipping companies fear that armed personnel could increase liability and the possibility of violence. The use of private security firms is still rare, piracy analysts said.
Kevin Speers, a spokesman for Maersk Line Ltd., said the company revised its security plan for the Maersk Alabama to include armed security after the ship was boarded by pirates in April.
The crew managed to retake control of the ship, but the pirates took the ship's captain, Richard Phillips, of Vermont, hostage. He was held aboard the Alabama's lifeboat for days before he was rescued by U.S. naval forces, who killed three of his captors and arrested the fourth.
"Armed security is not the preferred route," Mr. Speers said, but he said the company decided to hire the private guards because the Alabama regularly sails in the high-risk waters to deliver food aid. He said that the move was approved by the U.S. Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard requires all U.S.-flagged ships in high-risk areas to have security, but it is up to the carriers to decide whether they should be armed, said Lt. Cmdr. Chris O'Neil, a Coast Guard spokesman. The Coast Guard must approve all security plans, he said.
Piracy has been on the rise off the Somali coast since mid-2008. Pirates also have improved their ability to operate farther from the Somali coast, relying on large "mother ships" that can launch small skiffs, operating more than 1,000 miles offshore, away from the warships that now patrol the Gulf of Aden's high-traffic shipping route.
On Tuesday, pirates released 36 crew members from a Spanish tuna trawler after holding them hostage for more than six weeks. A man who told the Associated Press he was a pirate said the captors had been paid a $3.3 million ransom. A day earlier, pirates hijacked a North Korean vessel and took its crew hostage.
—Abdinasir Mohamed in Mogadishu contributed to this article.
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A12
The ''Maersk Alabama'', a US-flagged container ship that was hijacked by Somali pirates seven months ago, was attacked off the coast of Somalia. The pirates, however, could not capture the vessel. 

The ''Maersk Alabama'' 
The US Navy's 5th Fleet, based in Bahrain, reported that four pirates riding in a fast skiff came within 270 meters of the container ship. The ''Maersk Alabama'' was about 965 kilometers off the northeast coast of Somalia and was steaming toward the Kenyan port city of Mombasa when it came under attack.

The Navy said the crew of Maersk Alabama undertook evasive maneuvers and deployed long-range acoustical devices, which make noise painful to the human ear. The crew also responded with small-arms fire after pirates fired automatic weapons at the ship. The pirates abandoned the attack without causing injuries or damage to the vessel.


Abdullahi Nor, who said he was a spokesman for the pirates, commented on the incident.  "We have attacked a ship with an American flag — we tried to throw our ladders for climbing but it sped and has gone away.  It narrowly escaped and opened fire on us. One of our colleagues was injured in the attack."  Nor claimed to have communicated with the ship's attackers via satellite telephone.

US Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, from the Naval Forces Central Command, issued a statement in which he praised ''Maersk Alabama'''s owner and crew for following maritime industry's best practices, including having a security team on board to help prevent a hijacking.

"Due to ''Maersk Alabama'' following maritime industry’s best practices, such as embarking security teams, the ship was able to prevent being successfully attacked by pirates. This is a great example of how merchant mariners can take pro-active action to prevent being attacked," he remarked.

In April, the 155-meter vessel made international headlines when it was seized by pirates who held captain Richard Phillips hostage at gunpoint for five days in a lifeboat. He was freed by US commandos who killed three of the pirates.

A spokesman for the European Naval Force described the second attempted hijacking of the Maersk Alabama as "pure chance."

Wednesday's attack came soon after a report released by the United Nations, which said the presence of international warships off the coast of Somalia, as well as improved efforts by ships to protect themselves, have considerably reduced the number of successful hijackings in the region this year, especially in the Gulf of Aden.

But the report, submitted by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, noted that intensified anti-piracy activity in the Gulf of Aden is also forcing pirates to hunt for targets in the Indian Ocean, closer to the island nation of the Seychelles.

Since the beginning of October, seven of the eight vessels seized by pirates have been in the vicinity of the Seychelles. Recently, the government began allowing the US Navy to use the airport in the capital Mahe to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles to combat piracy. The Seychelles also signed an agreement last week to allow European warships and military personnel to pursue pirates from the high seas into Seychellian waters and to use necessary force.