Drunk Captain Gets Minimal Prison Term

On Monday the U.S. District Court in Tacoma, Washington sentenced Capt. Seong Ug Sin from Korea to 14 days in prison, and six months of supervised release, during which time he is restricted from sailing in U.S. waters. A minimal sentence compared to the maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine he was facing.

In April, Sin was commanding the 590-ft STX DAISY through the Strait of Juan de Fuca when the U.S. Coast Guard boarded the vessel for inspection. The Coast Guard testimony revealed that the inspection team had trouble boarding the vessel because Sin refused to follow their orders. Sin also was unable to produce usable charts of Puget Sound, where the ship was headed, and had difficulty providing proper documents to the investigation team.

The Coast Guard searched the vessel, finding that the captain and another officer had consumed considerable amounts of Korean whisky. A breath test was administered to Sin who registered a blood-alcohol level of 0.108 percent, more than double the legal limit of 0.04 percent.

The STX DAISY was ordered to Port Angeles Harbor where it remained for several days while another captain could be brought in to command it.

In a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s office, released Monday the government says it asked for a significant sentence because of the major threat that Sin posed to the environment and others in the busy waterway. “The consequences of an accident that may have occurred due to the defendants intoxication could have been catastrophic. The defendant’s intended journey through the Straits of Juan de Fuca and down the Puget Sound to Olympia covered over 205 miles through areas characterized by narrow channels and strong currents. More importantly, the defendant’s intended track crossed no less than six Washington State Ferry routes, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, and many areas of high commercial shipping and recreational boating activity. The defendant’s ship, carrying large quantities of fuel oil posed further risk to the marine environment. In the interest of public safety, a strong sentence is warranted to deter future mariners from following in this defendant’s wake,” the Assistant U.S. Attorneys wrote in their sentencing memo.