Poon Lim BEM (; 8 March 1918 – 4 January 1991) was a Chinese seafarer. In 1942–43, he survived a record 133 days alone on a life raft in the South Atlantic.
Poon was Second Mess Steward on , a British cargo ship that the sank on 23 November 1942. He survived on an wooden raft with supplies. When the supplies ran low, Poon resorted to fishing, catching seabirds, and rainwater collection.
On 5 April 1943, three Brazilian fishermen rescued Poon as he neared the coast of Brazil. After Poon returned to the United Kingdom, King George VI awarded him the British Empire Medal. After the Second World War, Poon emigrated to the United States.
Early life
Poon Lim was born to a peasant family in Wenchang County, Hainan. His father was a travelling martial arts teacher. In 1936, Poon was sent to British Hong Kong, where he was trained as a sailor.
Shipwreck
In 1942 Poon was Second Mess Steward on the Ben Line cargo ship Benlomond, which was en route from Suez to New York via Cape Town and Paramaribo. Her officers were British, but most of her crew was Chinese. She was defensively armed, but her voyage was unescorted.
On 23 November, U-172 intercepted and hit Benlomond with two torpedoes at position , about north of the coast of Brazil.
Poon was spotted by the crew of U-172 but instead of rescuing him, they laughed at him and waved him away.
thumb|Poon Lim on his raft, in a reconstruction for US Navy [[survival training|366x366px]]
Poon at first kept himself alive by drinking the water and eating the food on the raft, but later resorted to fishing, catching seabirds, and collecting rainwater in a canvas life jacket covering. He could not swim well, and often tied a rope from the boat to his wrist in case he fell into the sea. He took a spring from the flashlight and made it into a fish hook, unravelled hemp rope to make a fishing line, and crushed pieces of hardtack to make bait. He dug a nail from the boards on the wooden raft to make a stronger fish hook. When he caught a small fish, he used it as bait to catch bigger fish. He improvised a knife from part of a pemmican can. The water tank had an iron key, which Poon also used as a tool. When gulls settled on his raft, he caught and killed them. He soaked their meat in seawater to salt it, then dried it on deck to make jerky.
When Poon saw sharks, he caught one, He was so weak that his rescuers had to lift him off his raft. But he ate well, and when the fishermen landed him at Belém, three days later, he was able to walk again, although he was still weak.
Aftermath
After being in the hospital for 35 days Poon left Brazil via plane going to Miami and later New York. At a ceremony at the Seamen's Church Institute of New York and New Jersey in New York on 16 July 1943, the Acting British Consul told Poon that King George VI was to award him the British Empire Medal. His citation states that "Poon Lim displayed exceptional courage, fortitude and resource in overcoming the tremendous difficulties with which he was faced during the long and dangerous voyage on the raft". At the same ceremony, Ben Line presented Poon with a gold wristwatch.
After the war, Poon wanted to emigrate to the United States, but the quota for Chinese immigrants had been reached. However, because of his fame and the aid of Senator Warren Magnuson, he received a special dispensation and eventually gained citizenship in 1952.
When told no one had ever survived longer on a raft at sea, Poon replied, "I hope no one will ever have to break that record." In a similar situation, José Salvador Alvarenga, a fisherman from El Salvador, was apparently lost for 439 days, floating from Mexico to the Marshall Islands. , no one has broken Poon's record on a life raft.
The writer Alfred Bester later stated that Poon's ordeal was used in his novel The Stars My Destination, which opens with a man stranded in space.
Poon died in Brooklyn on 4 January 1991, aged 72.
See also
- José Salvador Alvarenga – survived 438 days adrift in the Pacific Ocean
- Maurice and Maralyn Bailey – survived 117 days adrift in the Pacific Ocean
- Cornelis van der Slot, Nicolaas Hoogendam and Basil Izzi – survived 83 days on a raft in the Atlantic Ocean
- Steven Callahan – survived 76 days adrift in the Atlantic Ocean
- Louis Zamperini – survived 47 days adrift in the Pacific Ocean
- Dougal Robertson – survived 38 days adrift in the Pacific Ocean
- List of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea