Drunk woman steals Ferry claiming she's Captain Jack Sparrow

Drunk woman in England yelling ‘I’m Jack Sparrow’ takes Devon river ferry for a boat-bashing joyride.

It’s hard out there for a pirate. A British woman will spend 112 days in the brig for drunkenly shouting at police officers ‘I’m Jack Sparrow,’ while recklessly eluding them aboard a hijacked commercial river ferry in Devon, England.

When police arrived to speak to Alison Whelan, she unmoored the 45-foot vessel from the Kingswear pontoon and set off up the river. Magistrates didn't see the funny side of her hour-long drunken escapade — which left several boats damaged, involved 30 members of the emergency services and left tax payers with a hefty bill. Whelan was sent to jail.

A British woman will be spending 112 days behind bars for drunkenly shouting at police officers “I’m Jack Sparrow,” and stealing a commercial river ferry.

Alison Whelan, of Torquay, England had been on a two day booze bender and had taken a form of hallucinogen before stealing the Paignton Pleasure Cruises' Dart Princess in Devon, England on Sept. 10.

Whelan, 51, boarded the 45-foot ferry with a friend and untied the mooring ropes, drifting upriver and “bashing into other boats like a pinball machine,” the Daily Record reported.

When police responded, the drunken woman began taunting officers for “being out of their jurisdiction.”

She also informed police “I’m Jack Sparrow,” the pirate protagonist played by Johnny Depp in the the “Pirates of Caribbean” films.

Police chased Whelan for more than two hours, requiring the help of the coast guard and local lifeboat service.

The ferry sustained about $2,500 worth of damage from colliding with other vessels during the chase.

"The fact is that, had circumstances been different tide-wise, it could have been serious," said Ashley Lane, operations manager for Paignton Pleasure Cruises.


Alison Whelan, 51, had been on a two-day bender drinking Lambrini and eating hallucinogenic plants, when she sought late-night shelter with a companion on the Dart Princess passenger ferry.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/drunk-woman-england-yelling-jack-sparrow-takes-devon-river-ferry-boat-bashing-joyride-article-1.1165020#ixzz2KBLsCktF