Jail Time for Drunk, Incoherent Captain

A drunken captain caught navigating a cargo ship up the River Tay while almost four times the legal alcohol limit has been jailed, according to BBC News.

Andrejs Borodins was in charge of the Frifjord when a pilot from Dundee harbor found him staggering and incoherent. The 53-year-old Latvian had planned to sail the ship from Perth to Norway in July.

The captain's state was discovered when the pilot who found him came aboard the Frifjord to help steer the vessel past the road and rail bridges on the Tay. He sent Borodins to his bunk to sleep off his intoxication, with the first mate taking the wheel as the ship docked in Dundee.

Police arrested Borodins, who failed a breathalyzer test. He pleaded guilty on indictment to a charge under the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003.

Borodins had been working at sea for 25 years, having previously done his national service in the Russian military. He allegedly was exhausted from back-to-back shifts, and used this as his reason for drinking. His defense lawyer stated that Borodins is lucky that there was a Good Samaritan around to help him avoid a serious maritime disaster.

Borodins will be jailed for four months, reduced from six months for his early guilty plea.

The local sheriff defined Borodins’ action as a “gross breach of duty.”