What They Did With The Drunken Sailor

Proved to be a case of what do you do with a drunken sailor when police were called to investigate reports of a "body" in a dinghy in Cairns Inlet. Worried passers-by had called the police when they saw a man lying in a dinghy. It was tied to a wharf near the Cairns Yacht Club. Police officers investigate what appears to be a body, which revives and takes offOfficers found the 45-year-old man was just sleeping it off after consuming a few too many drinks in the scorching sun. But the man didn't take too kindly to being woken. After ordering the police off his boat, he untied his dinghy, fired the motor and sped off across Trinity Inlet. However, police had the last laugh. After an hour-long chase he was intercepted and breath-tested and blew 0.17 – more than three times the legal limit. Cairns water police Sergeant Andrew Ibell said the man had given officers a mouthful before trying to escape. "He's done a runner. He tried to get away but his boat broke down," Sgt Ibell said. "Then he tried to row the boat – fairly unsuccessfully." Police enlisted the help of the Cairns Port Authority vessel to catch up with the drunken sailor. "He was in sight of police the whole time," Sgt Ibell said. "The state he was in, he shouldn't have been anywhere near a boat." The man was charged with operating a vessel under the influence of alcohol and will face court Today.