George Wood, of Treebank Crescent, Ayr, Scotland, grounded his vessel, the 30-metre Honeybourne III, on Old Horse Rocks between Cayton Bay and Filey on August 24.

The international crew of seven all escaped unhurt. Once ashore, Wood, 52, was found to have more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in his breath, following his birthday celebrations the night before.

However, passing sentence yesterday at York Crown Court, Judge James Spencer QC ruled the grounding of Wood's ship was not related to his alcohol intake.

He said: "The shame that you must feel having let your vessel go aground one can only struggle to imagine, and that you were found at the time to be over the limit of alcohol may suggest to many people that the two things were connected.

"I am not persuaded that they are."

Prosecuting, Rob Galley said: "When the defendant and his crew landed ashore it was apparent that he smelt of alcohol. The police arrived and did a roadside, or the quayside equivalent of a breath test, which was positive and he was arrested."

The court heard Wood has previous maritime convictions, including travelling the wrong way down the English Channel which resulted in a £3,000 fine.

Mitigating, Jim Withyman told the court Wood, who has 21 years' experience as a skipper, has lost his £30,000-a-year job as a result of the incident, and will be reported to the Maritime Coastguard Agency.

He said: "In all likelihood he won't be able to skipper a vessel for some time."

Mr Withyman said on the day of the accident Wood had been trying to find a quiet spot for one of his crew to do some welding on board, during which time he would go through anchor drills with the remainder of the crew.

Mr Withyman said: "It was a clear day and Mr Wood simply had not appreciated that the tide was taking him towards the shore.

"He proceeded to do all that was correct and necessary, he called the coastguard, let off a flare, and evacuated the ship. This has never happened to him in his 37 years in the industry."

The Honeybourne III's crew were taken ashore by a passing fishing vessel, Sunrise, and Scarborough and Filey lifeboats stood alongside the troubled vessel for a number of hours with the warship HMS Severn.

The Peterhead-registered Honey-bourne III was later refloated and towed to Scarborough by local trawler Emulator, which was escorted by Filey lifeboat.

Wood, who was found with 81 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath, more than twice the 35 microgrammes limit, was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay a £15 victim surcharge.

Judge Spencer QC added: "The manoeuvre that you were instigating was very close to the shore and it seems to me that you could have gone aground at any time. The fact that you did is not necessarily connected to the fact that you had too much to drink.

"But you were over the limit and that cannot be ignored. You will pay a fine of £1,000."