Photo provided by the U.S. Navy shows a team from the USS Boxer towing the lifeboat from the Maersk Alabama.

Now, a museum dedicated to the SEALs will have a part of that historical day in April.

The National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum near Fort Pierce is expected to receive at 10 a.m. Friday the lifeboat on which Capt. Richard Phillips was held hostage after Somali pirates seized his cargo ship, the MV Maersk Alabama, about 280 miles south of the Somali port city Eyl.

The public is invited to attend Friday when the lifeboat arrives at the museum.

For museum officials, the lifeboat is a rare find and an important moment in the modern history of the SEALs.

“It’s a piece of history that comes in on the heels of the actual event,” said retired Navy Capt. Michael Howard, the museum’s executive director and a former SEAL. “We can’t believe it really. We’re kind of pinching ourselves.”

Over the years the museum — the only one in the world dedicated to preserving the history of the SEALs and their predecessors —has built up quite a collection. (more…)