Poon Lim: The Sailor Who Survived 133 Days Alone in the South Atlantic

 

During World War II, Chinese native Poon Lim was working as a steward on the British merchant ship SS Ben Lomond. The ship was traveling from Cape Town to Surinam when a German U-boat intercepted and sank it on November 23, 1942. The British ship was armed but was moving very slow. Onboard, there were 53 men and Lim was the only one who survived the attack. As the ship was sinking, he quickly grabbed a life jacket and jumped in the water. After a few hours of swimming, Lim found an 8-foot square wooden raft and climbed onto it. The raft contained some food and water including several tins of biscuits, some chocolate, a forty-liter jug of water, some flares, and a flashlight. The raft and the items kept Lim's alive for a long period of time before it ran out. Then, he was obliged to fish with a wire that he turned into a fish hook which he took from the flashlight and caught rainwater using his life jacket.

Lim was not a very good swimmer so every time he had to go in the water he would tie a rope from the boat to his wrist. Also, he fashioned a knife out of a biscuit tin. He was even able to catch a small shark. Poon had to deal with sunburn, seasickness, thurst, and the agony of watching boats and planes go by. Finally, after 133 days at sea, a Brazilian family spotted the man and rescued him. He had lost 9kg and spent four weeks in a hospital but made full recovery.

King George VI bestowed a British Empire Medal on him, and the Royal Navy incorporated his tale into manuals of surviving techniques. Lim holds the world record for time spent surviving as a castaway adrift at sea. As Poon said about his record before his death, "I hope no one will have to break it."