A man in Saskatchewan, Canada was boating one day when he unfortunately ran into some bad weather. He ended up stranded in the bush for several days, with hardly any supplies and no way to communicate with the rest of the world.
When it seemed like there would be no hope of rescue, he took matters into his own hands. Luckily, he had an axe with him, so he chopped down four power poles, knowing that someone from the power company would have to come and check what happened.
It worked! His efforts left several hundred people without any power for nearly two days, but it led to the man's timely rescue.