William Shakespeare’s boat trip turns into a tempest, with a wife lost along the way

Some are born great, some achieve greatness — and some sail a boat right into a bridge.

The tale of a boating incident in Rhode Island earlier this month that media dubbed “bizarre” involved so many twists and turns that it could have been written by the Bard himself — which would have been fitting because the man in the story is named William Shakespeare.

Here’s what happened that led to a husband and wife being cited with multiple boating violations this week.

William Shakespeare, and his wife, Delyse, “took their sailboat down to Newport Harbor on Aug. 17 to watch the start of their son’s sailboat race, which started at about 12:30 p.m.,” the Providence Journal reported.

Investigators with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management said alcohol played a role in what transpired later that day, WJAR in Providence reported.

Their boat hit the Newport Bridge a little after 4 p.m., the Journal reported. Delyse said she did not remember who was driving the boat when it happened, Sgt. Michael R. Schipritt, of the DEM’s Division of Law Enforcement said in his report, according to the newspaper.

“He said at some point in the morning they started having cocktails and he fell asleep around 12:30 p.m. on the bench on the boat’s deck,” Schipritt wrote, according to the newspaper. “He said the next time he woke up was when the boat hit the Newport Bridge. I asked who was driving the boat at that time and he said his wife.”

About 40 minutes later, Delyse fell off the sailboat, according to police reports cited by the Journal.

Her husband didn’t know and the boat kept going, authorities said, according to WJAR.

According to the Newport Daily News, “she told a DEM police officer it took her about 15 to 20 minutes to swim to shore on Potter’s Cove.”

According to the Journal, the boat spent more than two hours lazing around the cove in circles. It left the area — without the wife — about 6:20 p.m. and “then headed north toward Conimicut Point, where it ran aground at about 11:40 p.m.” the Journal reported.

William told authorities he looked in the cabin and thought his wife was asleep under a quilt, he told authorities, according to WJAR.

He drove the boat back to the East Greenwich Yacht Club about 1 a.m., but it was another half hour before he realized his wife wasn’t on the boat, the Journal reported.

His 911 call at about 1:30 a.m. brought out two local fire departments, the DEM and the Coast Guard to begin a search, reported the Daily News.

William told police he last remembered seeing his wife 12 hours earlier when she handed him a drink around 1 p.m., WJAR reported.

Meanwhile, back at the cove, as rescue crews were looking for her, Delyse swam out to a sailboat moored there at about 4 a.m. and another 911 call was placed, according to the TV station.

“Because of the hours that passed between the accident and when authorities were notified and interviewed the Shakespeares, no breath test could be given to the couple,” the Daily News wrote.

“It is my conclusion, based on the written statement that Mr. Shakespeare gave the Warwick Police Department and the verbal statements that they both gave me, that alcohol was a factor in this incident,” Schipritt wrote in his report, according to the Journal.

This week, WJAR reported that the Shakespeares were issued tickets for operating an unregistered boat, improper or no lookout and failing to take appropriate action to avoid a collision.

William, according to the TV station, was also charged with operating a boat recklessly.

They face a fine of up to $1,000, according to the Journal.