Poon Lim's Raft: A WWII Survival Story

[Music] foreign [Music] on April 5th 1943 some Brazilian fishermen noted something out at Sea as they came closer they could tell it was a raft and see that there was a person on the raft waving at them obviously seeking help as they approached the raft they saw an emaciated man who said good morning his name was poon Lim and his extraordinary Story of Survival is one of the most amazing of the second World War poon Lim's raft deserves to be remembered in many ways the second world war hinged as the first world had on the British Merchant Fleet according to the Imperial War museums in 1939 nearly a third of the merchant ships in the world were British it was the largest Merchant Navy in the world the website of national Museum's Liverpool explains in the second world war as in the first The Merchant Navy was to be Britain's Lifeline in 1939 Britain an island nation of 48 million people depended for her survival upon Maritime trade her 1900 ocean-going Merchant chips manned by Crews from throughout the Commonwealth were part of the formal largest Merchant Fleet in the world with help from the men in chips of friendly Nations they brought into the country all of her oil half her food and most of her raw materials the news site ctgn Europe explains that if the second world war was won by the side with the most resources then it was won by seafarers in the Atlantic and Arctic oceans as much as by soldiers on the beaches of Normandy or the towns of Belgium if enough weapons food and Men could make it across the Atlantic to Britain and to its Russian Ally Nazi Germany could be defeated if the U-boats and the luftwaffe could sink enough British ships carrying those supplies Hitler had a Hope of Victory and the Germans certainly tried writing in the general diplomatic history in 2014 Meredith Oyen of the University of Maryland notes that between 1939 and 1945 German U-boats sank more than 3 500 Allied Merchant ships killing more than 36 thousand civilian seamen at times Marine casualty rates exceeded even those of the Armed Forces a significant percentage of the men facing those risks did not come from the British Isles National Museum's Liverpool writes that in 1938 the British merchant service employed over 190 thousand seafarers of those over 130 000 were British residents and fifty thousand Indian and Chinese the war brought in new stresses Not only was the Merchant Navy taking losses but thousands of its Sailors were joining the Royal Navy ctg in rights but with many of its own Sailors fighting in the Royal Navy Britain needed thousands of mariners from across the world to crew the vital Merchant ships many came from the British Empire but more than one in seven of the men who braved the U-boats storms and freezing conditions was Chinese yet these Sailors face great difficulties quite aside from the U-boats tiny Sailors were paid approximately one-third when a British semen was paid and did not receive the war risk bonus otherwise known as the danger money that Brodie Seaman received in time of War when Chinese Sailors died about 100 have been killed already in the battle of the Atlantic by 1940. their families did not receive compensation on the scale of a British sailor and the website dragon and Lion's notes Chinese Sailors were sometimes subject to violence at the hands of British crews and officers despite a wartime propaganda film called the Chinese in Britain proclaiming shoulder to shoulder to the greatest battle of Naval History alongside their British Seaman comrades they too brave the Torpedoes the bombs and the mines making history Under Fire labor disputes occurred over the course of the war reducing some of the problems but life of a Chinese sailor in the British Merchant Navy was still one full of risks yet tens of thousands Brave that risk among them was a young man from China's far Southern Hainan island named poon Lim limb had originally enlisted with the British Merchant vessel in 1934 at the age of 16 but after three years at Sea had returned to Hong Kong to study a trade in 1940 when it looked like the Japanese would attack Hong Kong and his cousin's suggestion he returned to the Merchant Navy as the second Steward on his cousin's ship the SS Ben Lomond in her 1999 book Soul Survivor author Ruth Ann mcconnwrights increasingly High casualties in the growth of War Associated shipping created a need for additional Manpower in 1940 the British Merchant Navy sent out a call for Chinese seamen poon Lim was among those who answered the call a young man of 22 he signed articles of agreement for second Steward on the Ben Lomond Scots officer chip of 9675 tons with a crew of 47 half Scots and half Chinese and eight gunners built in 1922 the ship belonged to Scottish Shipping Company the bend line the names of whose vessels all started with Ben in late 1942 Ben Lomond was sailing from Port Syed in Egypt to New York via Cape Town South Africa and Paramaribo Dutch Guiana under the command of her master a Scotsman named John Maul she left Cape Town in ballast due to pick up cargo at perimaribo the ship was armed with a four-inch gun for defense but was traveling unescorted The Voyage was without incident until November 23rd the Melbourne Australia age wrote In 1960. for 12 days the Ben Lomond sailed under course for Paramaribo Dutch Guyana but on the 13th day when she was about 750 miles in the mouth of the Amazon she was cited by a lurking submarine the submarine was the type 9C U-Boat u-172 under the command of Captain Lieutenant Carl emmerman the boat was on its third war Patrol having already scored a significant success Sinking The Troop ship SS orcades on October 10th the u-172 struck the Ben Lomond while submerged there was no warning before the two Torpedoes struck poon Lin had been about to start his duties when the first torpedo struck McCune writes the ship lurched slamming him across the engineer Steward's bunk then she healed sharply flinging him onto the deck ashtray bedding and Mattress tumbled after him and he heard a great creaking and thrashing of gear staggering to his feet he wondered if a lookout had cited a submarine an explosion rocked through the tears of Steel decks hurling Liam back onto the deck the age rights poon Lin grabbed his life belt and raced for his Lifeboat station according to Macan who interviewed poon Lim for her book when he managed to get across the lurching ship to his Lifeboat station it was already gone but he saw some officers trying to lower another boat at the bridge station and went to help lacun writes then just as they raised the boat off the chalks a noise like thunder ripped through the Ben lomond's bowels the bulkhead of the main holes collapsed tie your life jackets on tight and go over the side the second mate ordered that was a terrifying idea poon Lim did not know how to swim but couldn't writes that the second mate told him for God's sake Jump Then swim like mad or you'll be pulled down with a ship but there was no time the Ben Lomond sunk in under two minutes before poon Lin could respond to the second mate mccun writes that the stern plummeted tons of greasy poured into the ship forcing it into a death roll and limb was sucked into a punishing black swirl pulled down as the vessel went under Lim was nearly drowned choking on the black oil in the water the pole tore off his slippers and his trousers he might have died had not McCann notes the buoyancy of his K-pop jacket brought him to the surface and kept him afloat K-pop is a naturally occurring fiber harvested from a tropical tree tightly buoyant resistant to water was commonly used in life jackets until replaced by synthetic materials journalist Frank Wright wrote in the Omaha Nebraska World Herald in 1968 the oil clogged over poon Lim's eyes blocked his nostrils and ears he clung to a wooden box and kicked with his feet to get clear of the fouled water once he was out of the water his vision blurred by the oil he saw a life draft with men aboard but McCann writes as he tried to make his way to the raft the U-Boat surfaced and took the men from the raft aboard afraid that the crew might kill him he hid from the U-Boat after some time the men were placed back on the raft and the U-Boat submerged and left the age rights of the Ben Lomond there was no sign the torpedo had blown half her bottom away and she had sunk with appalling rapidity in the oil soaked Mast the boat drifted away and was unable to get their attention he never saw it again the age writes there was not a boat in sight he could see none of the rest of the crew although for a short time he heard some pitiful cries for help then there was an eerie silence the Chicago Tribune wrote in May in 1943 for an hour the steward swam until he cited an unoccupied life raft and climbed aboard the raft that he found was a Carly float patented by American Horse Carly in 1903. the Carly float used a copper or steel tube that was a foot or more in diameter bent into an oval ring the tube was then covered with K-pop and covered with waterproof canvas the Carly raft had advantages over traditional lifeboats and inflatable rafts unlike a Lifeboat it was light and could simply be thrown overboard rather than having to be lowered by a rope mechanism but it was more durable than notably fragile inflatable rafts and it did not have to be inflated it simply could be stored on a deck or mounted against any open surface you floated as well on either side the Carly floats were open to the weather and left the risk that men aboard might die of exposure Wright writes that it was six feet square and of standard design with a container for and aft the raft had been supplied with the age rights six boxes of hardtack two pounds of chocolate ten small cans of pemmican one bottle of lime juice five cans of evaporated milk and 10 gallons of water the stores were the Tribune rights meant to sustain several men for a short period in addition the raft carried two paddles some rope a flashlight and some signal flares it was far from perfect the floor of the raft was made from wooden slats and the water splashed through it was an uncomfortable way to sleep but if you tried to sleep on top of the float which would keep him out of the water he ran the risk of falling off in his sleep into the ocean and he couldn't swim he lost his pants but managed the age rights to make a sort of sarong out of a burlap bag than the age rights the wearily lonely hours stretched into days on he drifted covering little more than an average of five miles a day although by then he had lost all idea of distance and Direction and the vast expanse of lonely sea the age continued at the end of three weeks he realized that he was to survive he would have to add to his fast diminishing stock of food and water The Baltimore Sun reported in May 1943 that the food lasted for 55 days the water held out for 65 days he took apart his life jacket as risky as that was and used the canvas to make an awning that both protected him from the Sun and could collect rain water he spread the K-pop from the life jacket on the floor of the raft and when it rained the K-pop would soak up the water which you could then wring out into a container he fashioned a knife from one of the cans he fashioned a fish hook from some wire in the flashlight and then a larger one from a nail pulled from the planking on the raft floor he first used some biscuit as bait when he caught us more fish he cut it into strips and caught a larger one he then used the entrails from that fish to catch more he cut the fish into strips and dried it in the sun Wright writes that using this method he was seldom without fish during his Marathon ordeal at sea the Chicago Tribune writes that he kept a count of time by counting the days from the time the moon was full the Tribune continues once he fell overboard but the sea was calm and he managed to swim back to the raft he felt dizzy several times and suffered slight attacks of fever but was bothered mostly by the gnawing pains in his stomach caused by hunger the Miami Florida news reported in May 1943 that when asked how he passed the time poon Lim said that he sang native folk songs most of the time however he said he just made his mind blank or slept the age writes that the thing he most feared now was insanity he saw several ships but none recognized his flares maybe they didn't see him or maybe they feared that it was a U-Boat trap as they were known to use flares to get ships to slow down and there were times when there was no rain the age rites after a hundred days his water supply was nil because there had been no rain for nearly a week for the next five days poon Lim knew the tortures of thirst before the rain came down again in Equatorial torrents right Wright said sometimes when there was no rain he lowered a tent into the sea and waited for hours while the humidity in the air condensed within the tin and dribbled down the sides into the bottom the age reports that now and again seabird settled on his raft and using phenomenal patience and self-control poon Lim managed to catch some but the age continues the days pass with maddening slowness between Lynn drifted on and on his body becoming blacker his frame thinner his spirit unconquerable then the Chicago Tribune reports after 128 days poon Lim saw the outline of land many miles away but he couldn't maneuver his raft towards it a plane flew overhead enough to make it clear that it had seen him but the plane flew off and didn't return the Miami News reported that the pilot later told him that he had cited the raft at Sea had flown back to find food to drop for him but had been unable to find the raft when he returned finally write rights when poon Lim woke On the Sunny morning of April 5th 1943 his 133rd day on the raft he saw a forest covered Shore and in the foreground a fleet of small Brazilian fishing boats one of them sailed towards his raft and the boat were three women and four men then showing how unconquerable his Spirit was he greeted them good morning he said while it was initially reported that he had been adrift for 131 days it was officially determined that he'd actually been addressed for 133 days which the Miami News noted broke the previous record for drifting in a raft by about 50 days and yet despite his ordeal when the fishing boat arrived onshore he was able to climb onto dry land under his own strength he was taken to a hospital took him 45 days to recover when he was told that he had broken the record for days adrift in a life raft he said I hope no one ever has to break that record and while since a few people have survived longer on disabled boats to this day no one has broken poon Lin's record for days adrift in a life raft as to the men that he had seen alive on a Lifeboat from the Ben Lomond after it had sunk they were never rescued it's not clear who it was that had survived long enough to be interrogated by the Germans but he was the only survivor of the Ben Lomond that was ever found became a bit of a celebrity he was given the British Empire medal by King George VI and he traveled around the world telling his stories and teaching survival skills he decided to relocate to the United States eventually became a citizen and passed away in 1991 in Brooklyn New York at the age of 72. 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Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 293,373

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy

Id: z02pGF8g6PM

Length: 15min 47sec (947 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 05 2023