Police said yesterday that violent clashes which broke out on a Friday night cruise aboard the started when women connected to the Town and Country gangs clashed.

The melee sent four women to hospital, one of whom was stabbed so badly that she suffered a collapsed lung.

Police have arrested two teenage girls in connection with the violence and said they are now following ?specific lines of inquiry? about the events on the terror cruise.

?It is believed the females had connections with the Town and Country gangs,? Police media relations spokesman Dwayne Caines said yesterday. ?Females played a role in it and Police are trying to piece together their specific roles.?

A 17-year-old Smith?s Parish girl and an 18-year-old Pembroke woman arrested following the clashes which saw two women stabbed on the Friday night cruise and two others injured, remained in custody yesterday.

The worst injured in the violence, a 20-year-old Southampton woman, was in stable condition in the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital yesterday after being admitted with a collapsed lung as a result of the stabbing.

Another woman was stabbed in the back during the bloody clashes and two others sustained a sprained shoulder and bruising. All three have since been released from hospital.

Yesterday, Mr. Caines commended the captain and crew for containing the situation as best they could.

?(Police) would like to thank the captain and the crew for their courage and valour under fire,? he said.

During the clashes, a man attacked Captain Joseph Bailey as he brought the massive ship to Dockyard to try and disembark passengers trapped in the violent melee.

The man put a knife to Captain Bailey?s throat and said he would cut it if he did not take the boat away.

?He did not have the knife to my throat the whole time, it was less than a minute,? Captain Bailey said yesterday. ?I think I could identify him if I saw him. He had to be in his late 20s or 30s. If I saw him again I would definitely report it. I would not be afraid to say it was him.?

He said the altercation did not take place in the wheel house but at the wheel bridge outside.

There was a crowd of people around him, a knife appeared at his throat and he heard a voice say, ?get the f***ing boat off the dock?.

?I was able to pull away but I was stuck because there were a lot of passengers,? Captain Bailey said. ?If I had got to him, it would be a different story.?

He made a statement to Police yesterday. There were unconfirmed reports that at least one person on board the boat that night had a gun.

Organiser Brenton Richardson, who runs the BermyNET web site, told yesterday that eight security personnel had been hired for the cruise but the situation had spiralled beyond their control.

He said BermyNET functions are geared towards college students and have not involved any violence in the past.

?They were screening people before they got on the boat,? he said.

However, an eyewitness who was on board the cruise said she got on the boat at the Dockyard pick-up point and was not searched by security personnel.

Mr. Richardson said he now is reconsidering future party plans and his marketing strategies for these types of events. He said he is considering using metal detectors for future events.

The violence on the booze cruise has also prompted the Department of Marine and Ports to look into making it a requirement for anyone who books Government-owned vessels for a party to have security screen each individual before they get on board.

Acting Director Scott Simmons told yesterday the Department is currently reviewing internal safety procedures.

?We?re looking into requiring people who charter the vessel to have security measures on board which will protect people who are on board the vessel as well as at how we can provide for the safety of our crew,? said Mr. Simmons. ?At the moment we?re reviewing the situation ourselves and conducting inquiries with our crew about the incident.?

On Saturday night, security personnel hired by Marine and Ports screened party-goers before they boarded Government ferries transporting party-goers to the Pink Party at Snorkel Park in Dockyard.

He said the Department will continue renting out boats for booze cruises and does not plan to curtail activities over the summer.

The cruise left Hamilton on Friday at 9.30 p.m. with up to 400 people on board.

The melee erupted at around 11.30 p.m. and Captain Bailey made an emergency call to Harbour Radio when he heard of the fighting on board.

He was told to proceed to Albuoy?s Point to meet an ambulance but ?all hell broke loose? and he opted to try and disembark trapped passengers at Dockyard.

When the ship arrived, however, a gang of men jumped off the boat and began pelting it with bottles and flaming cans, and hitting it with poles.

It was at this point that Captain Bailey was attacked at knifepoint.

He eventually navigated the boat to Albuoy?s Point, where Police met it and horrified party-goers disembarked.