I worked on my fathers charter boat as a deck hand and we were having a day to do a little tuna fishing for ourselves. We fish off the coast of Tasmania in the Tasman Sea, rated as one of the worst patches of water in the world.

We had had a slow day and and had moved well out to sea almost out of sight of land trying to get something to bite. We noticed a small boat just above the horizon and could make out what seemed to be someone waving and turned to invetigate as the law requires.

Some time later and well out of sight of land and sea lanes we came across an old 30 foot timber boat designed for river use. On board were 8 men in their twenties obviously bent on suicide.

They had left shore some 10 hours earlier with nothing more than a cut lunch and a lot of beer. They failed to tell anyone where they were going did not make any basic checks, carried no radio or emergency gear except some flares which were soaking wet.

Their engine had stopped due to water in the underfilled fuel tank. The craft was driven by an ancient petrol engine, and while dismantling the carburetor in an attempt to clean it, lost some parts in the bilge.

Its only by devine intervention we found them as a night being hammered by the Tasman Sea would have finished them off.

We spent some 4 hours dragging them to safety and never saw them again.

I feel they deserve some kind of recognition for their group attempt to remove themselves from the gene pool.

Submitted on 01/12/2006

Submitted by: Gary Smith
Reference:

Copyright © 2006 DarwinAwards.com

James said:
Neutral: Personal Account
Though I tend to be partial to "stupid nautical tales", I feel this story is lacking something. What they did was perfectly stupid, but they seemed to be aware of their difficulty. Had they cheerfully refused assistance (they seemed to be actively seeking the same), it would have made for a funnier story. Just the same, I'll let it squeak by and see what my fellow mods think. Thanks for submitting, Gary!

Jack said:
Neutral: Personal Account
I agree. While marginal, this does qualify as good enough to keep as a Personal Account. I dare say that they didn't have life jackets either. Going out into the open sea without a radio would qualify them for an HM if we had a good reference.

Greg said:
Neutral: Personal Account
A fine effort it was too!

Charles said:
Neutral: Personal Account

Tracy said:
Neutral: Personal Account
I'll go with this one

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