Poon Lim, The Man who Survived 133 Days Lost at Sea

You may know the movie called Castaway, starring Tom Hanks. Do you know the definition of castaway? It means shipwrecked or someone lost in a secluded place. In the film, Tom Hanks was on an island; in real life, Poon Lin was not.

The only thing worse than being stranded away from civilization is being stuck in a massive ocean without being a great swimmer. This was one man’s fate in 1942.

How would you survive in the middle of nowhere when supplies ran out? What if no one could hear you scream? In this article, you’ll learn how he survived over one hundred days in the ocean and beat a shark to death.

How Poon Lim Ended Up On The SS Benlomond

Lim, a native of the Chinese island of Hainan, was born in 1918. During the 1930s, as Japan aggressively invaded and aimed to suppress China entirely.

Lim’s father decided it would be better for his son to leave rather than face the Chinese army drafting him to fight against the Japanese forces.

Lim enlisted in the British Merchant Navy to pursue a different path as a cabin boy, where he joined one of his brothers already serving in the same capacity.

Although life at sea provided some distance from the suffering endured under Japanese occupation, Lim and other Asians encountered a horrid environment dominated by Europeans.

Discrimination and physical abuse from their officers were their everyday experiences. Determined to resist such mistreatment, Lim left the British Merchant Navy in 1937 and relocated to Hong Kong, where he started a career as a mechanic.

Recognizing the need to attract more individuals to join due to the shortage of manpower resulting from the outbreak of war in 1939, the British implemented improvements to working conditions aboard their ships.

Lim took this opportunity to escape from Hong Kong as the Japanese planned to strike in 1941; Lim opted to serve as a steward on the SS Benlomond.

How Poon Lim Got Stranded In The South Atlantic Ocean

In 1942, Lim served as the Second Mess Steward on the cargo ship Benlomond. The ship was traveling from Suez to New York, with stops in Cape Town and Paramaribo.

While the British officers supervised the ship’s operations, most crew members were Chinese. Benlomond had a maximum speed capability of approximately 12 knots and had defensive armaments, but it traveled without an escort.

On the fateful day of November 23rd, the notorious U-172 submarine orchestrated a devastating attack on the Benlomond, which was situated in the northern waters of Brazil.

The U-172, a Nazi U-boat, unleashed two torpedoes upon the unsuspecting vessel, resulting in dire consequences.

Amidst the chaos, Lim, who happened to be in his cabin then, swiftly reacted by equipping himself with a life jacket.

Making his way to the boat station, Lim encountered two officers and a seaman who were laboring to launch one of the lifeboats. Together, they elevated the boat from its chocks and poised for launch.

However, an unfortunate turn of events unfolded as Lim was abruptly swept overboard by external forces, impeding his participation in the evacuation effort.

Tragically, the Benlomond succumbed to its ill fate, succumbing to the watery depths a mere two minutes after enduring the destructive impact of the torpedoes.

In these tumultuous circumstances, Lim was trapped in the clutches of the unforgiving underwater currents.

Miraculously, Lim emerged from the depths, gasping for precious air. And found only a few remnants of the sinking ship floating in the water.

He displayed resourcefulness in the face of adversity by salvaging one of these floating planks for added buoyancy. Two hours after grabbing onto the planks, he found the life raft.

There were supplies on the raft that included water, hardtack, chocolate, pemmican and other foods.

How Poon Lim Survived 133 Days

He was surrounded by water he couldn’t drink. He made a canopy that protected him from the sun and gathered rainwater. At first, the food supply he found was helpful, but he had to become even more resourceful with time.

Fishing, catching seabirds, and collecting rainwater became essential for his survival. Not being a strong swimmer, Lim took safety measures by securing a rope from the raft to his wrist in case he accidentally fell into the sea.

He crafted a fishhook using a spring from a flashlight, fashioned a fishing line from unraveled hemp rope, and used crushed pieces of hardtack as bait.

Lim even fashioned a stronger fish hook by extracting a nail from the raft’s boards. He used small fish as bait to catch bigger fish, which kept him a steady food supply.

Lim also used a part of a pemmican can to create an improvised knife and repurposed an iron key from the water tank as a multi-purpose tool.

When birds settled on his raft, Lim captured and killed them for food. To preserve the meat, he soaked it in seawater to add salt and then dried it on deck, effectively creating jerky.

Sharks posed a significant threat, but Lim adapted his fishing techniques for defense.

He successfully caught a shark using the remnants of the captured birds as bait. Aware of the risks involved, Lim braided his fishing line to double its thickness and wrapped his hands in canvas to provide some protection.

When the shark attacked him after he pulled it on the raft, he used a water container to beat it to death. Lim drank the blood from the shark’s liver, compensating for the lack of rainfall and depleted water supplies.

Could you imagine being so thirsty and in dire need of liquid that you consume blood from a shark? A shark you had to kill because you had no other choice.

Some would rather die than come face to face with a shark. Poon Lim had a strong will to survive.

When Was He Rescued?

He came across a handful of people in the ocean and asked for aid in English. Most ignored him, while some laughed at him. He felt that it was because he was Asain that he wasn’t rescued sooner.

What would you do if you were calling for help in the middle of an ocean and people laughed at your distress? We all think we would stand firm and fight for our lives.

Poon Lim kept going despite having several reasons to be discouraged. Could you do the same?

Finally, in April of 1942, he was rescued by three Brazilian fishermen. They found him nine nautical miles off the coast of Pará. The fishermen had to help get him off the raft because he was too weak and had lost 20 pounds.

Since they didn’t speak the same language, he didn’t get to tell his story until three days after being back on land.

Not only was he cast at sea, but he returned learning that he was also the sole survivor of Benlomond. The captain, eight gunners, 43 officers, and men didn’t survive.

After three days of returning to land, he could walk, although weak. After 14 days in the Brazilian hospital, he was cleared to travel and headed to Britain.

**Poon Lim shows Rear Admiral Julius Furer how he took the spring out of an electric light and made a fish hook while he was adrift.**

What Was His Life Like After Being Rescued?

He was awarded the British Empire Medal because of his courage. His story was so powerful that he became a US citizen even though the United States had reached the limit of their Chinese immigrant quota.

Would you want to be around water if stranded in the ocean? Poon Lin didn’t fear the water as he had applied to the United States Navy. Unfortunately, he was refused for having flat feet.

A man who survived being a castaway for 133 days would be an excellent exception to the rule.

He could have handled anything, including being flat-footed in the Navy. Poon Lim died at 72 years old in 1991.

He still holds the record for the longest time for a single person to survive being lost at sea in a life raft. He also hoped no one would have to break that record.