Just when you thought you’ve heard every kind of mishap onboard a cruise ship, there’s this. A 44-year old Californian man has been arrested after he attempted to and then successfully launched Holland America’s, Ryndam, stern anchor. Obviously he was ridiculsly intoxicated at the time. While sailing the Caribbean, the inebriated man stumbled into the aft mooring area and put on gloves that were lying around. He then commenced to deploy the stern anchor and throw life rings overboard.
That next morning the captain made an announcement about the incident and asked that anyone with information come forward. When no one did, the captain rang the ship alarms and forced everyone to the muster stations. Then, using a still captured from the security video, they successfully identified him.
He faces a $250,000 fine for each count of damage to property and endangering a vessels safe navigation. He also faces 20 years of possible prison.
This is pretty alarming, that if a drunk passenger can stumble and find his way into a secure area, what kind of trouble could a competent sober passenger cause.