It seems that a local boat owner needed to do some maintainence work on his outboard engine which required the engine to be running. Normally, a professional mechanic would haul the boat out of the water, and if the engine needed to be run it would be placed in a tank of water (a 55-gallon drum is usually all you need). The water is needed because it gets circulated through the enigne as coolant. Apparently this not-too-bright amateur mechanic decided that he'd simply tie the boat up to a dock in water shallow enough that he could stand next to the engine to work on it. This way he didn't have to put up with the hassle of hauling the boat out of the water first. So our hero ties up the boat near shore, fires up the enigne (keeping it neutral, of course), and hops into the water behind the boat. Everything was fine at first - the water wasn't too deep, the engine was idling nicely, and he could reach everything he needed.

It's at this point that Darwin made his entrance, for our hero did something to the engine that caused the clutch to engage. The boat, even though tied to a dock, had enough slack in its lines that it could move forwards and backwards a short distance.

Our hero suddenly found himself standing directly behind a rapidly spinning propeller in chest deep water, and because he'd kicked the engine into reverse the entire boat surged backwards directly towards him. Finding very little in the way of resistance, the propeller quickly and efficiently sliced open his entire abdomen before he could get out of the way.

Unfortunately Darwin wasn't clever enough this time. The surgeon said that the propeller hadn't damaged any vital organs, and since it happened in salt water the risk of infection was quite small. All the surgeon had to do was pack the mans intestines back up and sew up his abdomen. That very night our hero was sitting up in bed at the hospital, undoubtedly planning his next brush with Darwinian greatness.

Submitted on 09/23/2005

Submitted by: Bruce Pennypacker
Reference:

Copyright © 2005 DarwinAwards.com

Jack said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
Pity medical confidentiality doesn't allow for confirmation. I think I'd go for a Honorable Mention for that. Thanks for the submission.

Kelly said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
Too bad this wasn't reported in a news paper.

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