Captain held captive after pirates chased from ship

In a riveting high-seas drama, an unarmed American crew wrested control of their US-flagged cargo ship from Somali pirates and sent them fleeing to a lifeboat with the captain as hostage.

A US warship arrived on the scene this morning and was near the ship – the first with an American crew to be taken by pirates off the Horn of Africa – as crew members negotiated with the pirates for the return of the captain.