Drowning Drowning was the act of an oxygen - breathing life - form being asphyxiated in a liquid , usually water . This frequently resulted in the death of the life - form . According to Styre ' s experiments , immersion in water produced asphyxiation in human s in less than three minutes . ( TV : " The Sontaran Experiment " ) Aquaphobia was the fear of water , or of drowning . ( AUDIO : " House of Blue Fire " ) The Fourth Doctor once claimed to have saved Julius Caesar from drowning in the River Tiber . ( AUDIO : " Phantoms of the Deep " ) Ashildr cured a whole village of scarlet fever . However , believing she was a witch , they attempted to drown her . However , she was able to hold her breath and escape . ( TV : " The Woman Who Lived " ) In 1485 , Clarrie drowned when he fell into a river while being chased by guards who had recognised him as the Duke of Clarence . According to William Shakespeare , the Duke was drowned in a vat of wine . ( AUDIO : " The Kingmaker " ) In 1599 , the Carrionite called Lilith killed Lynley by drowning him with her doll , filling his lungs with water . ( TV : " The Shakespeare Code " ) In 1649 , hundreds of women and children attempting to escape Oliver Cromwell ' s siege of Wexford drowned when the overcrowded boat s they were on sank . ( AUDIO : " The Settling " ) In 1699 , Rory Williams drowned when he was knocked overboard the " Fancy " . He was revived by the Siren , but died again when he was taken off life support , and revived again when Amy Pond used CPR on him . ( TV : " The Curse of the Black Spot " ) In 1746 , slave trader Trask drowned troublesome prisoners , and almost subjected Ben Jackson to this fate . After being thrown overboard , ( TV : " The Highlanders " ) he himself drowned . ( PROSE : " Alien Bodies " ) In 1872 , Theodore Cassells and the crew of the " Marie Celeste " drowned when a wave swamped their lifeboat . ( COMIC : " A Stitch in Time " ) In 1885 , the Vespiform calling himself Christopher drowned when a monsoon flooded the Jamuna River in Delhi . ( TV : " The Unicorn and the Wasp " ) In 1891 , the governess of Francesca and Digby Latimer drowned in a frozen pond on Captain Latimer ' s estate . ( TV : " The Snowmen " ) In one iteration of the time loop created by Edward Grove , Edith Thompson was drowned in the kitchen sink . ( AUDIO : " The Chimes of Midnight " ) In 1916 , Grigori Rasputin drowned in the Neva River . ( PROSE : " The Wages of Sin " ) In 1926 , the Vespiform Arnold Golightly drowned when he dove into Silent Pool to retrieve the Firestone , which had been thrown there by Donna Noble . ( TV : " The Unicorn and the Wasp " ) On 11 May 1964 , Jane Potter drowned in the River Stock . ( AUDIO : " The Eternal Summer " , " Plague of the Daleks " ) Circa 1970 , Professor Zaroff drowned in his laboratory when the Second Doctor flooded Atlantis . ( TV : " The Underwater Menace " ) In the 1970s , Professor Charles Kettering was killed at Stangmoor Prison when the Keller Machine turned his fear of drowning against him . His fear was so great that water manifested in his lungs . ( TV : " The Mind of Evil " ) A few years later , Scorby was drowned in a pool of water by plant s under the control of a Krynoid . ( TV : " The Seeds of Doom " ) On 9 May 1984 , Peri Brown almost drowned when she tried to swim from her stepfather ' s boat to the shore of Lanzarote . She was rescued by Vislor Turlough . ( TV : " Planet of Fire " ) Circa 1996 , Maude O ' Neill drowned herself in a lake on Gravonax Island after her daughter Eadie was killed . ( AUDIO : " Night Thoughts " ) Circa 1997 , Ace almost drowned in a chamber in King Arthur ' s spaceship at the bottom of Lake Vortigern . ( TV : " Battlefield " ) In 2007 , Estelle Cole drowned in a rain y storm above her house , unnaturally caused by fairies . ( TV : " Small Worlds " ) On Christmas Eve of the same year , the Tenth Doctor drowned the Racnoss in the Thames Flood Barrier . ( TV : " The Runaway Bride " ) In a parallel world , the Doctor drowned as well . ( TV : " Turn Left " ) In 2009 , Owen Harper tried to drown himself after the resurrection gauntlet was used to bring him back . ( TV : " A Day in the Death " ) In 2119 , Richard Pritchard drowned when the ghost of Jonathan Moran opened the outer door of the airlock he was in . ( TV : " Under the Lake " ) In 2167 , an unstable Roboman drowned himself in the River Thames . ( TV : " The Dalek Invasion of Earth " ) In 2194 , Estella was believed to have drowned herself in the main canal in Venice , but in fact had merely faked her death . ( AUDIO : " The Stones of Venice " ) On Kar - Charrat , the Kar - Charratan s used their water - controlling abilities to drown many Dalek s in their own casings . ( AUDIO : " The Genocide Machine " ) On Gallifrey , the Master was almost drowned in the river Lethe by Torvic , but was rescued by the Doctor , who killed Torvic . ( AUDIO : " Master " ) In the Matrix on Gallifrey , Goth almost drowned the Fourth Doctor . ( TV : " The Deadly Assassin " ) In Eugene Tacitus ' world , Pepin VI drowned when he fell asleep in his bathtub . ( AUDIO : " The Holy Terror " ) On Baspral , Galena attempted to drown a young boy in a stream , having foreseen that he would grow up to be a ruthless dictator , but was stopped by the Doctor . Ten years later , the boy drowned Galena in the same stream . ( PROSE : " The Inquisitor ' s Story " )