The captain of the Celebrity Mercury cruise ship arrested last week for operating a vessel under the influence of alcohol failed repeated breath-alcohol tests and had more than four times the legal limit in his system, according to papers filed at a court hearing May 22nd.

During an appearance in U.S. District Court in Seattle, Periklis Petridis , 47, who was removed from his command and fired by Celebrity Cruises, was charged with one count of operating a vessel while under the influence of alcohol.

If convicted, Petridis faces up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine, or five years probation.

According to an affidavit from G. Russell Baker, an agent with the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service, a Coast Guard lieutenant and two members of the federal Public Health Service boarded the Mercury at 12:30 p.m. Friday after a report of a hydraulic leak.

When each smelled alcohol on Petridis' breath, the Coast Guard lieutenant called for Coast Guard marine safety officers to come and test the captain.

The first two breath-alcohol tests, using an expired calibration gas canister, found Petridis' alcohol content to be 0.095 and 0.099, Baker said.

After being removed from duty at 5 p.m. -- the time at which the ship originally had been scheduled to sail -- and taken to the Seattle Police Department's West Precinct, he was given two more breath tests producing blood-alcohol readings of 0.181 and 0.176, prosecutors said.

The federal limit for operating a vessel in U.S. waters is 0.040 and the limit that results in a charge of driving an automobile under the influence is 0.080 in most U.S. states.

Anne Bremner, Petridis' attorney, contended that her client was not at the helm of the ship or even on duty at the time the breath-alcohol tests were administered, making the charge meritless.

U.S. Magistrate James Donohue ordered Petridis released on a $100,000 bond. He will next appear in court when he is arraigned June 6.