VALDOSTA — As a culinary specialist aboard the USS Bainbridge, Seaman Terrell White of Quitman had been assigned to prepare a meal for the freighter captain held by pirates.

This was earlier this month when Somali pirates held Capt. Richard Phillips hostage. The Navy destroyer closely followed and kept contact with the small lifeboat where the pirates held Phillips.

On the bottom of an A-1 Steak Sauce bottle, Terrell White reportedly affixed a note for Capt. Phillips: “Hang on, sir. We’re coming.”

White wanted the freighter captain to know that the U.S. Navy would not let him down and that everyone from the USS Bainbridge’s commanding officer, Cmdr. Frank Castellano, to the culinary specialists were there for Phillips.

While it isn’t believed that Phillips received the note while a hostage, he heard of it after his daring rescue last week. Phillips met with Terrell White, a 2007 Brooks County High School graduate, aboard the Bainbridge.

“He was a nice guy,” White says of Phillips. “He was in good spirits.”

As Phillips praised the Navy and the Bainbridge crew as “superheroes” during his celebratory homecoming Friday in Vermont, the destroyer cruised the Indian Ocean, patrolling for more pirates off the coast of Somalia.

On Friday, the Navy also arranged for a phone interview between Seaman Terrell White at sea, aboard the Bainbridge, and The Valdosta Daily Times.

It was 11 a.m. here. White said simply it was Friday evening on his side of the world. Given the distance and the Bainbridge being at sea, a 10-second delay elapsed between each side of conversation.

He could not give specific details to his location or the ship’s mission, but did say the Bainbridge was at sea, patrolling, ready to respond if, when and wherever needed.

Asked if he ever thought he’d be battling pirates when he enlisted in the Navy, the 20-year-old White said, “No. It’s like a myth,” but one that has become all too real for anyone sailing the Indian Ocean.

White’s mission usually involves cooking on ship, but the recent crisis with the Somali pirates meant shared duties. The entire crew operated as all hands on deck, doing whatever was needed to save Capt. Phillips and stop the pirates.

“We all stepped up and helped out a lot,” White said.

White joined the Navy about two years ago, shortly after graduating Brooks County High School. He has not decided whether the Navy will be his career, he says, though it might. One day, he would like to open, own and operate a restaurant.

He hasn’t been home since December 2007, though he has kept in touch with his family via phone and e-mail.

His mother and stepfather are Yolanda Bell and Daniel Bell of Quitman. He is the second son of a family of five, four sons and one daughter. Asked if he wanted The Valdosta Daily Times to let his family know he was doing well, White said yes and provided phone numbers for family members.

Yolanda Bell has worried about her son since hearing the Bainbridge named in news reports.

“I screamed when I realized this was his ship,” Bell told The Valdosta Daily Times. “I said, ‘Oh my God, my baby’s on this ship.’”

Terrell is her second son. Her third son says he wants to some day join the Air Force. Her youngest son says he wants to one day join the Marines. Her oldest son is in the Army and is scheduled to leave for Iraq later this year.

She never imagined her second son aboard a ship in a conflict with pirates.

Bell had hoped that aboard ship his dangers would be fewer than had he joined the Army.

“I felt like him joining the Navy was the safest place for him,” Yolanda Bell said. “But I guess there is no safe place when it comes to defending our country.”