Sailor's prosthetic leg thrown into sea to fulfil dying wish - but it didn't go to plan

A family has fulfilled a sailor's dying wish by throwing his prosthetic leg into the sea in the vague hope that it would wind up in Ibiza, Spain.

It didn't quite work out like that. In fact, the leg, which was cast into the ocean in Lydney, Gloucestershire didn't even make it out of the UK and instead washed ashore in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, just 30 miles away.

The leg belonged to Michael Harris, who died in December aged 66 and spent 20 years in the merchant navy. The keen traveller, jokingly requested before he passed away for his children to take his prosthetic leg and send it out to sea.

But they took him at his word and daughter Natalie Denning, 41, and sons Ricci Harris, 35, and Daniel Harris, 43, cast the leg away from Michael's hometown of Lydney, Glos., on January 19.

Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

SWNS

Natalie, from Lydney, attached a note to the leg but didn't expect to hear about the leg again so soon and they were "shocked" it had washed up.

She said: "I didn't think we'd hear anything about it so soon but when my brother messaged saying it had been found, I was shocked.

"One lady who stumbled across it in Weston is a marine biologist and she said it could take a month before it gets out to sea beyond the estuary as the tide keeps dragging it back in.

"It still seems to be around Weston at the moment so we're hoping it can be pushed a bit further out to get it into the sea.

"It's been so lovely and I hope to god it keeps going as it's made people smile."

Michael had his leg amputated in 2017 after a circulation problem developed, and subsequently had a prosthetic leg fitted.

She says his request might have been meant as a joke - but the children are taking it seriously.

"Daniel had taken dad for radiotherapy and as they were driving home he said he'd always wanted to go travelling again and so rather comically asked if we could send his leg round the world," said Natalie.

SWNS

"We nearly didn't do it but we thought, 'This is going to be funny'. It's kept him alive for us as well - we just hope it gets further than Weston!"

The family is hoping the leg ends up somewhere exotic, with Natalie's personal preference the Spanish island of Ibiza.

She said: "I'm hoping it'll go off to maybe Ibiza. If someone wants to get it out of Weston on a direct boat to Ibiza that'd be amazing!"

"We've also said wherever it ends up we'll definitely go out to visit as that'll be hilarious."

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.