ROCHFORD

A Barrington mariner who commanded the Maersk Alabama when pirates tried to hijack the U.S.-flagged cargo ship last week won’t be back in time for Thanksgiving, said his sister, Amy E. Rochford.

Paul M. Rochford, 52, is now expected to fly back to Rhode Island Saturday, she said.

Rochford, a 1979 Massachusetts Maritime Academy graduate, captained the cargo ship when Somali pirates tried to take over about 350 nautical miles east of the Somali coast.

It was the second time pirates tried hijack the American ship.

In April, Rochford’s classmate, Richard Phillips of Underhill, Vt., commanded the ship as Rochford stayed home with his ill father. Phillips’ crew retook control of the ship but Phillips surrendered to the pirates and was held hostage in a lifeboat for five days.

Both times, the ship operated by Danish company Maersk Lines was transporting food into Mombasa, Kenya, as part of the U.S. relief effort into Africa.

Journal Staff