What to do with a drunken sailor?

[PaulGooch]

After reading so many threads about losing the freedoms we have on the water, including the recent thread about proposed drink/sailing legislation, where the vast majority seemed against legislation, it's a bit odd to see so many advocating reporting the guy.

Live and let live, i say.

If it turned out that was "live and let die", well at least he died making his own decisions.

 

[johnalison]

I believe you are mistaken.

Thank you. I understood the maritime obligations but was referring to the obligations of any person ashore or afloat, which seemed more relevant to the case quoted.

 

[mjcoon]

Yep, and if he's going far enough he will have sobered up by the time he gets there

Oh, surely he won't have been too drunk to lay in adequate supplies before departing!

Mike.

 

[Reptile Smile]

I suppose my concern from this thread is not so much the bloke, as the number of people ready to call him an alcoholic, or frankly even determining his state of inebriation from a distance away. I think the English trait coming out of this thread is not so much the willingness to 'mind our own' as the willingness to pass judgement on others.

I think Seajet phrased it pretty much spot on for me.

 

[Nostrodamus]

I suppose my concern from this thread is not so much the bloke, as the number of people ready to call him an alcoholic, or frankly even determining his state of inebriation from a distance away. I think the English trait coming out of this thread is not so much the willingness to 'mind our own' as the willingness to pass judgement on others.

I think Seajet phrased it pretty much spot on for me.

As I mentioned I am an expert when it comes to determining drunkenness. This man was drunk every time someone saw him including myself.
He (glass in hand) even apologised for not coming to a meal because he was unable to get up due to a little too much drink.
An hour before he left he was unsteady on his feet, his speech was slurred, and his breath smelt strongly of intoxicating liquor. At this point a fellow countryman of his refused to let him come on his boat because he was too drunk.
Your honour, that is the case for the prosecution and I would like it noting in the official transcript that the in the initial posting I said "Believed Alcoholic"
As I said, I don't think there is a right or wrong answer to this but I just wondered what the views of others were.

 

[Greenheart]

As I mentioned I am an expert when it comes to determining drunkenness. This man was drunk every time someone saw him including myself.
He (glass in hand) even apologised for not coming to a meal because he was unable to get up due to a little too much drink.
An hour before he left he was unsteady on his feet, his speech was slurred, and his breath smelt strongly of intoxicating liquor. At this point a fellow countryman of his refused to let him come on his boat because he was too drunk.
Your honour, that is the case for the prosecution and I would like it noting in the official transcript that the in the initial posting I said "Believed Alcoholic"
As I said, I don't think there is a right or wrong answer to this but I just wondered what the views of others were.

To be honest, if you'd said all that back at the start, it would have been easier to reach a very clear decision...

...leave the man alone. There's no possible reasonable basis for butting in. There isn't, in your own words, any "case for the prosecution". You might as well ask us whether we think a yacht with grubby topsides ought to be denied access to a safe harbour.

There are thousands of worse offenders and greater personal offence caused between boat-owners every day, without justifying any official response.

Case dismissed. Why exactly has this important court's time been so wasted, here?

Sorry. My C. Aubrey Smith side comes through when I'm feeling judgemental.

 

[Nostrodamus]

I have just had an update and our friend is safe and well.

Apparently he went out, caught a rope around his prop, tried to get into a fishing village that was too shallow, went aground, got off and came back here. His boat is apparently damaged and will be hauled out tomorrow.

I am told by others he was walking around drunk again but I have not seen this?

Does the forum still believe as a general principal that nothing should be done.

Please don't take this the wrong way, I was concerned about a fellow sailor and am glad he is safe and well and just opened up the dilemma as a discussion.

Does what has happened now change anyone ones opinion or is it something that could have happened to anyone?

Most of us have caught lines from time to time. and may also have gone aground even if only briefly. At least h was capable of getting back.

 

[Koeketiene]

I have just had an update and our friend is safe and well.

Apparently he went out, caught a rope around his prop, tried to get into a fishing village that was too shallow, went aground, got off and came back here. His boat is apparently damaged and will be hauled out tomorrow.

I am told by others he was walking around drunk again but I have not seen this?

Does the forum still believe as a general principal that nothing should be done.

I do - we're all entitled to make our own mistakes.
As long as we also live with the consequences.

 

[dylanwinter]

nicely put

I agree.

If you're that worried about drunks, then you could pop back to any British city on a weekend night and you'd have hundreds of drunks to help. Why should the fact that he's a sailor make any difference?

it would not be nice to see such a man in such a state

but I think I would just observe and do nothing

is he any bigger risk than the bloke staggering home through town after a a night in the pub

he too endangers himself and car drivers who might swerve to avoid him

would I intervene with every drunk I see..nope

 

[PaulGooch]

I do - we're all entitled to make our own mistakes.
As long as we also live with the consequences.

+1

 

[Lakesailor]

Should you say nothing or report the matter to someone?

1. Sling him in the long boat till he's sober,
2. Keep him there and make 'im bale 'er.
3. Pull out the plug and wet him all over,
4. Take 'im and shake 'im, try an' wake 'im.
5. Trice him up in a runnin' bowline.
6. Give 'im a taste of the bosun's rope-end.
7. Give 'im a dose of salt and water.
8. Stick on 'is back a mustard plaster.
9. Shave his belly with a rusty razor.
10. Send him up the crow's nest till he falls down,
11. Tie him to the taffrail when she's yardarm under,
12. Put him in the scuppers with a hose-pipe on him.
13. Soak 'im in oil till he sprouts flippers.
14. Put him in the guard room till he's sober.
15. Put him in bed with the captain's daughter*).
16. Take the Baby and call it Bo'sun.
17. Turn him over and drive him windward.
18. Put him in the scuffs until the horse bites on him.
19. Heave him by the leg and with a rung console him.
20. That's what we'll do with the drunken sailor.

 

[lenseman]

It just might have been "Trouville", late of these forums and sadly missed for his colourful way with words?

 

[prv]

I certainly don't think, to quote an earlier poster, you'd get "short shrift from the CG who wouldn't want to deal with it". We would never give any caller "short shrift" - we're grateful for any information passed onto us.

But you're not the Portuguese Coastguard.

Pete

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Quite so.
After all, isn't an alcoholic just some-one who drinks more than you do?

No. An alcoholic is someone who has a dependency on alcohol as a drug. The kind of person of whom you say "Well, I've never seen him/her drunk - but I've never seen them him/her sober either".

Sadly it is all too often fatal, either because of the effects of excessive alcohol consumption, or because of a fatal alcohol induced accident. This has occurred to someone known to me.

The only chance of a cure is for the person concerned to recognize their plight and seek assistance - for example from AA. I understand that a former alcoholic never claims to be "cured" merely that they have been sober for x days, months or years.

Happily, most of us either don't have the genetic predisposition to alcoholism, or don't drink enough to trigger it. There almost certainly is a genetic predisposition, as certain ethnic groups (e.g Inuit and Native Americans) suffer from it more than Europeans.

After-thought; most alcoholics try very hard to disguise their drinking. So, I actually wonder if this guy is an alcoholic, or simply on a bender. Maybe that's his way - get drunk in port, then sober up on passage? If so, there is plenty of historical precedent; I wonder how many tall ships went to sea with a sober crew!