Sole survivor of the sinking of the Benlomond in WWII, Poon Lim, set a record for 133 days adrift at sea

BRAZILIAN fishermen spotted a raft adrift off the coast of Brazil in 1943. Aboard the raft was a man who had survived 133 days at sea.

Poon Lim on his raft off the coast of Brazil in 1943.

THREE fisherman aboard their family boat about 16km off the coast of Brazil could see something small in the distance. As their vessel drew closer they could see that it was a man on a wooden raft, excitedly waving a shirt in the air. It was obvious that the emaciated figure was asking to be rescued, so the fishermen came alongside and picked him up.

The man didn’t speak a word of Portuguese, so they were unable to get the stranger’s full story. He was so hungry he ate whatever they gave him, but only rudimentary communication was possible. It was not until they took him ashore three days later that he was able to tell someone the details of his ordeal. His name was Poon Lim and he had been a steward aboard the SS Benlomond, a British Merchant Navy ship, which had been torpedoed in November 1942. Lim had found a wooden raft and spent 133 days adrift until he was finally rescued by the fishermen on April 5, 1943, 75 years ago today.

Even though others have been stranded aboard disabled boats at sea for longer, Lim’s experience is still a record of endurance aboard a ship’s raft. His story of survival made him globally famous at the time.

US Navy Rear Admiral Julius Furer (left) presents Poon Lim with a tempered glass signalling mirror in 1943.

Lim was born on the Chinese island of Hainan in 1918. In the 1930s as Japan invaded and sought to subdue all of China, Lim’s father decided it would be better if the young man left rather than be drafted into the Chinese army to fight the Japanese.

He signed up with the British Merchant Navy as a cabin boy, joining one of his brothers who was already serving with the merchant navy. Life at sea was perhaps better than suffering at home under the Japanese. But in an environment dominated by Europeans, it was still hellish for Lim, and other Asians, who suffered discrimination and beatings from their officers.

Unwilling to submit to such treatment, Lim quit in 1937 and went to Hong Kong to become a mechanic. But knowing they needed to entice more people to join and with the shortage of manpower caused by the outbreak of war in 1939, the British improved conditions aboard their ships. Lim, looking for a way out of Hong Kong just as the Japanese were poised to strike in 1941, signed on for service as a steward aboard the SS Benlomond.

Built in 1922 the Benlomond was originally commissioned by Furness, Withy & Co Ltd (Liverpool), and named Cynthiana, but was later renamed Hoosac, then London Corporation. It was sold to a Greek owner in 1937 and given the new name Marionga J. Goulandris, before being bought in 1938 by Ben Line Steamers (Leith), who renamed it Benlomond.

On November 10, 1942 the lightly armed vessel left Cape Town bound for Suriname in northeastern South America without an escort, the master was John Maul and Lim was among his crew. On November 23 the Benlomond was torpedoed by German sub U-172 and sank 1200km east of the mouth of the Amazon River.

Lim put on his life jacket and jumped overboard, he would be the only survivor. He paddled around in the water for two hours before he discovered a wooden raft that somebody launched but failed to get on. The raft had provisions aboard, including biscuits, water and milk, but he needed to make them last as he had no idea whether rescue was at hand.

As his provisions ran low he found ways to supplement them. He collected rainwater in his life jacket and a canvas canopy. He unravelled rope for a fishing line and fashioned fishing hooks from a nail in the planks of his raft and from a spring in a flashlight that was no longer working. He used crushed biscuits rolled into a paste for bait and once he caught a small fish he used it for bait for bigger fish, eating his catch raw. Once he caught a shark, but it attacked him as he pulled it aboard and he had to bash it to death using a water container. He cut it up using a knife he made from the lid of a tin of meat. He also caught seagulls, salting the meat with seawater and drying it on deck to make jerky.

During his time adrift there were moments when other ships came near but perhaps decided that since he was Asian he may have been an enemy trap. American airmen also seemed to spot him but a storm shortly after may have moved him far away from his reported position. Ominously, a German sub also spotted him but went on its way.

His rescue off Brazil ended his ordeal and made him an instant celebrity. In October 1943 he travelled to London where he was awarded a British Empire Medal by King George VI. Settling in the US in 1944 he made trips around the world, including Australia in 1946, talking about his experiences and teaching survival techniques. However, it took him five years and an Act of Congress to increase the quota of Chinese immigrants by one, before he officially became an American citizen.

He died in 1991.

Originally published as Sole survivor of the sinking of the Benlomond in WWII, Poon Lim, set a record for 133 days adrift at sea