"One of the options of last resort is for the military to exercise combat force to try and rescue Captain (Richard) Phillips," retired US commander Kirk Lippold told AFP.

"If it appears that negotiations aren't going well, (the pirates) are probably going to attempt to use the hostage as a shield to try and get away," he added.

Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported senior officials in the administration of President Barack Obama were debating a course of action.

Some in the Defense Department, the paper said, have been frustrated by what they see as a failure to act.

But many other national security officials say an ill-considered strike would have negative diplomatic and political consequences far beyond the Horn of Africa, according to the report.

The Post said other options under consideration include increased financial pressure and diplomatic activity, including stepped-up efforts to resolve the larger political turmoil in Somalia.

A second, helicopter-holding US warship has joined the destroyer USS Bainbridge in the tense standoff in the Gulf of Aden, raising pressure even further on the four pirates who are holding Phillips on a small lifeboat.

The amphibious assault ship USS Boxer is also in the region but further away than the other two vessels.

The pirates earlier in the week stormed the freighter Maersk Alabama, later losing control of the ship but taking the captain hostage.

The heightened military presence against the small band of pirates backs up the efforts of military and FBI experts attempting to negotiate Phillips' release.

Once cornered, the pirates have asked for a ransom and demanded safe passage to the Somali coast before they would consider releasing their captive.

But the Pentagon has so far been reluctant to cede to their demands, arguing that any concessions would only encourage other would-be pirates.

"Should the US come into custody of pirates, you can be assured a component of our strategy is to hold these individuals accountable for their crimes," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman. The US Navy in recent weeks has handed over several suspected Somali pirates to Kenyan authorities for trial.

The presence of an American hostage, however, complicates the situation -- with any attempted rescue operation putting the captive seaman's life in peril.

On Friday the French owner of a yacht was killed while four other hostages were freed when French special forces stormed a vessel seized by Somali pirates a week ago.

"The safe return of the captain is the top priority," promised Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday.

If the Somalis decide to make a break for shore, the US forces must follow them, some experts argue, in order to deter further acts of high seas piracy.

But chasing one pirate crew after another is a strategy that falls short for coalition forces on the high seas, said retired Marine major general Tom Wilkerson, who heads the United States Naval Institute (USNI).

"The seizure of the US-flagged ship Maersk Alabama and its American crew by Somali pirates is proof that the Combined Task Force simply can't fulfill its mission to deter piracy," Wilkerson said in comments on the USNI website.

"The vastness of the sea makes it too difficult to track pirates. We can't stop them on water, so we need to take action to eliminate the pirates' land-based sanctuary."

In December the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution for the first time authorizing international land operations against the armed pirates that are sheltering in Somalia.

Such a move would not be a first. In April 2008 the French military on detained six Somali pirates on land, freeing 30 crew members of a French luxury boat they had seized a week.

"As long as we allow the pirates a sanctuary, a place where they know we won't go, they will be encouraged to continue attacking vessels and holding them for ransom," said Wilkerson.

"The lawlessness of Somalia has turned the entire county into a safe haven. Pirates don't live on the water, they live in Somalia. That's where we need to get them," he added.

Before it was attacked the Maersk Alabama had been en route to Mombasa to deliver more than 5,000 tonnes of relief food supplies to the United Nations World Food Programme.

earlier related report
US Navy to send more forces in pirate stand-off
The US military on Thursday said it was sending in more ships to the scene of a stand-off with Somalia pirates holding an American hostage on a lifeboat in the Indian Ocean.

A day after pirates hijacked the Maersk Alabama aid ship before being overpowered by the unarmed American crew, the high-seas drama remained unresolved with both the pirates and the US Navy promising to move in reinforcements.

The four pirates were ousted from the 17,500-tonne Danish-operated container ship, but were still holding the captain hostage on a lifeboat.

More naval ships were to join the destroyer USS Bainbridge that arrived overnight to help secure the release of the American, US defense officials said.

"The safe return of the captain is the top priority," Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters in Washington.

The reinforcements were coming from naval forces already deployed in the wider region, including a counter-piracy task force out of Bahrain, officials said.

"There's more naval assets being moved south from where they are towards where the (USS) Bainbridge is currently engaged in its activity with this pirate ship," an official with the US Central Command, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP.

The Navy earlier had called in negotiators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation "to assist with negotiations with the Somali pirates and are fully engaged in this matter," the FBI said in a statement.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the pirates' lifeboat was "apparently" out of fuel though military officials declined to confirm her account.

A spokesman for the Maersk shipping company, Kevin Speers, told reporters that "most recent contact with the Alabama indicated that the captain remains a hostage but is unharmed at this time."

Meanwhile the freighter was boarded by military personnel and headed to its destination port of Mombasa, in Kenya, with its cargo of aid destined for African refugees, US and company officials said.

The guided missile destroyer USS Bainbridge arrived overnight to monitor the situation and prevent the pirates from securing their hostage on a larger ship, accompanied by a P-3 Orion surveillance aircraft overhead.

It was believed to be the first American merchant ship hijacked since the North African Barbary Wars in the early 19th century, underlining the anarchy raging off Somalia despite an international naval effort against piracy.

The US destroyer facing off against the hijackers ironically is named after commodore William Bainbridge, an American who fought pirates in the Barbary wars and was at one point captured along with his crew.

A commander from the gang of Somali pirates who took the ship said more pirates were on their way to try and help those holding the hostage, who are effectively surrounded.

"We are planning to reinforce our colleagues who told us that a navy ship was closing in on them and I hope the matter will soon be solved," Abdi Garad told AFP by phone from the northern pirate lair of Eyl.

"They are closely monitored by a navy ship and I think it will be difficult for us to reach the area promptly," he said, with US helicopters swirling the area.

"But we are making final preparations and will try our best to save our friends."

The Maersk Alabama's chief officer, Shane Murphy, reportedly told his father that the crew used "brute force" to overpower the pirates, who were armed with AK-47 assault rifles.

The incident was the latest in a series across the western Indian Ocean, a vital global shipping lane where increasingly brazen pirates on small skiffs have hijacked anything from small sailing yachts to huge super-tankers.

The Maersk Alabama had been due to dock in the Kenyan port of Mombasa on April 16 to deliver more than 5,000 tonnes of relief food supplies to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

Over the past week, pirates have seized a German vessel, a small French sailing yacht, a British-owned Italian-operated cargo, a Taiwanese fishing vessel and a Yemeni tugboat.

Analysts and military officers say pirate attacks are likely to grow given the lucrative ransom money paid by shipping companies and the lawless nature of Somalia.

Clinton called the pirates "nothing more than criminals" and Pentagon officials said there was no sign the hijackers had links to Islamist militants in Somalia.

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