Quinn said the pirates were armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles, but the freighter's crew carried no weapons.

Maersk Alabama Captain Richard Phillips is seen at his home in Underhill, Vermont in this undated photo provided by his family April 8, 2009. The crew of the US-flagged, Danish-owned freighter hijacked by pirates off Somalia retook control of the ship on Wednesday but their captain, Phillips, was still being held hostage on a lifeboat, the shipping line and a crew member said. [Xinhua]

The Americans locked themselves in the compartment that contains the ship's steering gear, where they remained for about 12 hours.

The pirates "got frustrated because they couldn't find us," he said.

The pirates sank the small boat they used once they climbed aboard the freighter, Quinn said, so Phillips offered them the lifeboat and some money.

Four hijackers boarded the Maersk Alabama earlier in the day and one is in custody, according to Pentagon officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The three others tried to escape, and their status is unknown, they said.

Earlier Wednesday, the chief executive officer of the company that owns the Maersk Alabama played down the report that the vessel has been retaken by US crew members, who are unarmed.

"We have no facts that confirm the ship has been retaken," John Reinhart, CEO and president of Norfolk, Virginia-based Maersk LineLtd., said at a news conference 12 hours after the hijacking.

The ship was en route to Mombasa, Kenya, when it was attacked about 500 kilometers off Somalia's coast, he said.

The Maersk Line is one of the US Department of Defense's primary shipping contractors, but the Maersk Alabama is not under a Pentagon contract, according to the US military.

The attack was the sixth off Somali coast and the Gulf of Aden within a week, but hijacking of a US-operated ship in Africa is rare.

According to experts, the last pirate attack of an American vessel by African pirates was reported in 1804, off Libya.

(Xinhua News Agency April 9, 2009)