British Forces

A True Survivor

Poon Lim, a Chinese immigrant to the UK, served aboard a British merchant ship during the war. In 1942, the ship was attacked by a German U-boat while sailing from Cape Town to Dutch Guiana. With little comparable armaments to defend herself, the vessel was soon sunk, and Lim was forced to jump overboard as the boilers neared exploding point. Stranded in the middle of the Atlantic, he managed to haul himself aboard a small raft, and drifted alone for 133 days. He survived by drinking rain water and eating fish, which he caught with an improvised line made from hemp rope and a piece of wire from a flashlight. At one point, Lim managed to use bits of fish guts to attract sea birds, which he managed to kill and eat. In addition, he is said to have killed a single shark, using a water jug as a weapon. Twice he was noticed by other vessels, but on both occasions was unsuccessful of being rescued. On the first instance, a freight ship passed by, and Lim later stated that the crew most definitely saw him, but refrained from picking him up due to his race. On the second occasion, a group of US Navy planes flew overhead. Lim managed to gain their attention, but as the pilots dropped beacons and prepared to organize a rescue mission, a strong storm blew in, and Lim was left alone. At long last, on April 5 1943, Lim managed to reach land, where he was saved by a trio of Brazilian fishermen and taken to Belem, where he was hospitalized. While recovering, he was told that no one on earth had ever survived so long on a raft. Lim replied with the quote: "I hope no one will ever have to break that record." Upon returning to the UK, he was honored with the British Empire Medal. He later moved to the United States, where he died on January 4 1991, at the age of 72. His 133 days of survival holds the world record for longest time to stay alive on a raft at sea.