NEW YORK: Prosecutors say Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse was not shy about making his presence known on the Maersk Alabama, brazenly tearing through the ship in a way that belied his young age and skinny, 157-cms frame.

He was the first to board the ship, he fired a shot at the captain, he helped steal $30,000 in cash from a safe, and he bragged about hijacking ships in the past, authorities said.

But the swagger, authorities say, the 18-year-old displayed on the ship had evaporated by the time he entered a federal courtroom on Tuesday to face a piracy charge that carries a mandatory life prison sentence. He is the first pirate charged in the US in more than a century.