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The party's over for skipper under influence who ran his boat aground
Published Date:
11 September 2009
By Mark Branagan
WHEN trawler skipper George Wood celebrated his birthday he was careful to do it on dry land, knowing the booze-free weeks at sea had taken their toll on his body's tolerance of alcohol.
Unfortunately, the Scot underestimated the effect of the drinking session and was still under the influence when he ran his boat ashore on the Yorkshire coast the following day, prompting a rescue by coastguards, a court heard.
Wood, 52, claimed he was too busy directing an anchor drill to notice his vessel was drifting on the strong tide towards the rocks at Filey. By the time he realised anything was wrong the vessel, Honeybourne III, was already stuck fast – and the coastguard had to be called out to rescue the crew, Scarborough magistrates were told yesterday.
Wood, of Treebank Crescent, Ayr, was breath tested and found to be more than twice the legal limit for someone on duty as the master of a ship.
He pleaded guilty yesterday but magistrates directed Wood be sentenced at York Crown Court.
Scarborough Magistrates could have fined Wood up to £5,000.A crown court judge could impose the same level of fine but also has the power to jail the skipper for up to two years, the court was told. Presiding magistrate Tony Green said: "We are of the opinion that this matter is too serious for our sentencing powers."
The court heard that Wood, a married man with three grown up children, had been at sea for 37 years – 21 of them as skipper – after signing on at the age of 15. He was of previous good character until the incident on August 23 at Filey Point.
Jim Withyman, defending, said: "The day before the incident the defendant celebrated his birthday with his friends and family in Scarborough and drank quite a lot."
Because he was a scallop fishermen he usually spent up to seven weeks at sea and a week on shore. But since the recession he had been out for up to eight weeks at a time, he added.
"When he is away at sea there is no alcohol on the ship and his tolerance of alcohol is lost. When he celebrated his birthday his tolerance of alcohol had dropped."
Mr Withyman underlined his client had no history of drink-related offending, adding: "He has not previous convictions for drink related matters on either land or sea and before this case was a man of good character."
When he took his boat out to sea the next morning he needed to get her shipshape and ensure his multi-national crew were prepared for the sea.
So he first set out to find some shelter to allow some welding to be done and conduct an anchor drill. "He was conscientiously preparing so he had a seaworthy boat and everyone knew what they were doing when out at sea," Mr Withyman continued.
"But he had not anticipated how strong the tides were and very slowly drifted onto the beach at Filey Point. It was too late when he realised he had got stuck."
Dawn Birkett, prosecuting, said: "The coastguard were called and the crew was take to the shore where Wood breath tested positive. Obviously, the aggravating feature here is the ship was in open water and had grounded itself through the inattention of Wood. The crew had to be rescued."
The next day Honeybourne III was towed off the rocks by another fishing vessel. There was no damage to the boat or environmental damage to the rocks.
Mr Withyman added: "No one was hurt. It all happened very slowly close to the shore. There was no pollution or damage to property and no other vessel involved. It was simply a very gradual float towards the shore which he greatly regrets and it was because he was dealing with a drill for his crew."
Sailing into legal trouble
The Government introduced drink-sailing laws for professional seamen five years ago.
The limits are the same as for drinking driving on the road - 80 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood or 35 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.
A foreign captain who drank rum and beer before his 65-metre cargo vessel was due to leave Newhaven, was fined £2,000 after being found drunk on deck by Customs officers last year.
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