Man cuts off fingertips to escape sinking boat

A fisherman had two of his fingertips reattached after cutting them off to free himself from a sinking boat, his employer said Tuesday.

Surgeons told William Messenger that circulation had returned to the severed tips, said David Groves, spokesman for the Washington State Labor Council. A groggy Messenger spoke with the Labor Council from Harborview Medical Center by phone early Tuesday.

Messenger, 51, cut his trapped fingertips with a pocketknife just minutes before his future son-in-law, Jarrod Todd, arrived with help and tools, Grays Harbor County Undersheriff Rick Scott said.

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"Hindsight is 20-20. If he'd have known help was not that far away, he might have held off taking the steps that he did," Scott said.

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Messenger and Todd, 29, were fishing on the Wynoochee River on Sunday when rapids swept their 16-foot drift boat into a log jam. The side of the boat slammed against a log, pinning Messenger's left index and middle fingers. The pressure of the water held the boat in place.

The boat was turned upstream at a 45-degree angle and began to fill with water. Todd escaped and went to a nearby home in Aberdeen for help, Scott said. In the meantime, Scott said, Messenger was straddling the quickly filling boat and began to worry it would sink before Todd returned.