The phrase "drowning man" refers to someone who is desperately struggling or facing great difficulty, just like a person who is submerged in water and struggling to survive. Full definition
The first pilot can not save the first drowning man and then turn around and save the second group. (discovermagazine.com)
-- and were dragged down like drowning men into debauchery, unbelief, and utter damnation.» (religion-online.org)
Nobody deliberately takes a holiday to «The Swamp of Drowned Men;» it isn't «The Swamp of Fluffy Animals,» there are some pretty big red flags there. (thatvideogameblog.com)