Erratic, threatening passenger forces Spirit of Tasmania to return to Devonport

A man is in police custody after he allegedly threatened passengers aboard the Spirit of Tasmania, forcing the ship’s captain to turn the ferry around and return to Devonport.

The ship was just 50 metres into its voyage from Devonport to Geelong on Tuesday evening when the Tasmanian man began acting erratically and allegedly threatening passengers.

Witness Ian MacLean told 3AW radio he heard a commotion soon after the ship departed Devonport.

“[I] looked over and this meth-head was walking towards me… As he’s walked past he’s threatened to kill … two female staff,” MacLean said.

“I thought, ‘this isn’t on’, and sort of challenged him, and then he had a go at me. He said, ‘don’t you bother me’.”

MacLean said he tried to calm the man but he had “arced up again” and then pulled out “some large stabbing item in his right hand”.

Tasmanian police said there was no evidence the man had a knife, but investigations were ongoing.

MacLean, staff and a retired Geelong police officer eventually shepherded the man down the escalators.

“And you can’t make this story up, he smashes the lights on the way down the escalator,” MacLean said.

The man tried to exit the ship’s sealed passenger door, banging on the entrance with a fire extinguisher and causing it to discharge white foam, MacLean said.

The man was contained in an isolated area on the ship and the captain turned the ship back to Devonport, where it was met by police about 7.30pm.

“The Spirit docked about 7.30pm, where it was met by police,” a Tasmanian police spokesperson said.

“A Tasmanian man, aged in his mid-thirties, was safely taken into custody.”

The ship later resumed its journey and safely arrived in Geelong on Wednesday morning.

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