NAIROBI?Sunday's rescue of a US captain held hostage on a lifeboat for five days ends the latest in a rash of pirate attacks off Somalia's coast -- some of the world's most dangerous waters for shipping.

Here are some of the main piracy acts off Somalia since the start of 2009:

? January 1: A cargo ship flying the flag of Saint-Kitts and Nevis, the Blue Star, with 28 Egyptian sailors aboard is captured by pirates near the Somali coast. On March 4 Egypt announces that the ship and its crew have been released.

? February 22: Pirates seize a Greek cargo ship, the MV Saldanha, in the Gulf of Aden, with 22 foreign crew members.

? March 19: Pirates take hostage 24 members of a Greek cargo ship, the Titan, after boarding the ship in the Gulf of Aden.

? March 26: Two Greek and Norwegian cargo ships carrying chemicals are stormed by Somali pirates to the east of Kismayo, a port to the south of Somalia.

? April 4: Somali pirates hijack a French-flagged yacht, the Tanit, with five on board, including a three-year-old child, in the Indian Ocean. On the same day, a 20,000-ton German container carrier is hijacked, some 400 nautical miles from the Somali coast, between Kenya and the Seychelles. A day later a tug from Yemen is seized.

? April 6: A Taiwanese tuna fishing beat, the Winfar 161, and a British cargo ship, the Malaspina Castle, are captured near the Seychelles.

? April 8: Somali pirates seize Danish-owned and US-flagged ship, the "Maersk Alabama," off Somalia with 20 American crew on board, as the ship heads to the Kenyan port of Mombasa.

? April 10: French special forces storm the Tanit, freeing four hostages. A fifth hostage and three pirates are killed in the operation.

? April 12: The US Navy rescues Maersk-Alabama's captain Richard Phillips, held hostage on a lifeboat for five days, killing three of his four captors.