Poon Lim
| Poon Lim | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
March 8, 1918 Hainan, China |
| Died | January 4, 1991 (aged 72) Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
Poon Lim or Lim Poon BEM (March 8, 1918 – January 4, 1991, Chinese: 潘 濂; pinyin: Pān Lián) was a Chinese sailor who survived 133 days alone in the South Atlantic.
Lim was working as second steward on the British merchant ship SS Benlomond when it was sunk by a German U-boat on November 23, 1942. After a few hours in the water, Lim found an 8-foot square wooden raft which contained some food and water. When the supplies ran low, he resorted to fishing, catching seabirds and collecting rainwater. On April 5, 1943, he was rescued by three Brazilian fishermen as he neared the coast of Brazil. After returning to the United Kingdom, he was awarded a British Empire Medal by King George VI. After the war, Lim emigrated to the United States.
Lim was born in Hainan Island, China, in 1918. In 1942, during World War II, he was working as second steward on the British armed merchant ship SS Benlomond, which was on its way from Cape Town to Paramaribo, Suriname and New York. The ship was armed but slow moving and was sailing alone instead of in a convoy.
On November 23, the German U-boat U-172 intercepted and struck the Benlomond with two torpedoes in position 0°18′N 38°27′W / 00.30°N 38.45°W, some 750 miles east of the Amazon. As the ship was sinking, Poon Lim took a life jacket and jumped overboard before the ship's boilers exploded. Benlomond sank in approximately two minutes, allowing only six survivors, including Poon Lim, to abandon ship. After approximately two hours in the water, Poon Lim found and climbed aboard an 8' square wooden raft. The raft had several tins of biscuits, a 40-litre jug of water, some chocolate, a bag of sugar lumps, some flares, two smoke pots, and a flashlight. Lim was ultimately the only survivor of the sinking. 53 of the crew of 54 were lost at sea, including the master, 44 sailors and eight gunners.
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