suddenly the ship gave a sickening lurch
and poon lim
slammed into the side of a bunk and
ashtray and some other items tumbled
after him
he wondered what was going on the ss ben
lomond a british merchant ship was 13
days out of cape town south africa
sailing west bound for paramaribo dutch
guyana it was nearly noon and 24 year
old lim as the second steward
had just been about to leave his
quarters to go serve lunch lim got to
his feet he was walking out the door
when a massive explosion rocked the ship
hurling him to the deck he laid there
for a moment the wind knocked out of him
he could hear the creaking of a boat
the yells of sailors and the gush of
seawater as it poured through a
shattered porthole
comprehension kicked in as the second
explosion even larger than the first
shook the ship
the ben lomond had been torpedoed by a
german u-boat
lim scrambled back to his quarters for
his bright orange life jacket
the ship pitched and yawed as he put it
on and stumbled down the galley
thick black acrid smoke billowed from
the vents lim fought his way across the
deck to his assigned lifeboat station
but the boat was already gone all around
him panic sailors ran every which way
scalding steam hissed out of the damaged
engine room and he could hear the
screams of the trapped firemen
a slick of black oil was spreading
across the blue ocean
no doubt about it the ss ben lomond was
going down
limb saw the second mate and some semen
at the bridge station trying to lower a
lifeboat
he ran over to help there was a sudden
thunder like boom
the main bulkhead was collapsing the
second mate yelled at him to tie their
life jackets tight and go over the side
the seamen quickly jumped but lim froze
he wasn't much of a swimmer having only
learned to dog paddle as a child
the second mate screamed at him to jump
or he would be sucked down with the ship
before lim could move the stern plunged
in the massive wave of seawater poured
onto the ship
lim was caught in a black whirlpool the
water made his ears pop
ripped off his slippers and tangled his
loose chinese trousers around his legs
he struggled trying to kick himself free
his lungs ached and his head threatened
to explode
just when he couldn't hold his breath
any longer limb was suddenly propelled
upwards
the buoyancy of his life jacket making
him pop on the surface like a cork
coughing limb stared at the scene before
him he couldn't believe it
all that was left of the ben lomond was
a huge oily stain
and a field of floating wreckage lim
could hear yells from the living but the
glare of the sun on oily water made it
difficult to tell which direction they
were coming from
surely someone had made it onto a
lifeboat lim shouted too first in
chinese and then in english
hanging on a broken board limb paddled
through the debris field about 100 yards
away he spotted some semen in a raft
pulling another survivor aboard blim
shouted and tried to swim closer to the
raft but the men didn't respond
a periscope suddenly appeared and lim
was rocked by swells
as a u-boat rose to the surface a hatch
opened in submariners swarmed out
they trained guns on the raft and reeled
it in limb breathlessly watched as the
survivors were led into the submarine
sometimes u-boats would take survivors
hostage but these submariners seemed
relaxed
they hung out on decks smoking
cigarettes lim decided to take a chance
and started yelling for help as he
paddled toward the submarine
eventually the seaman noticed limb and
alerted the others they beckoned him to
come closer
then limb saw survivors being forced
back onto the raft
the u-boat started up churning water
creating huge swells
which tumbled limb under the submariners
laughed and aimed their guns pretending
to fire at him
then they went down the hatch and the
u-boat began to dive lynn closed his
eyes thinking that he was going to be
sucked down
in another whirlpool but he wasn't after
a few moments he opened his eyes to see
that the submarine and the raft were
gone
the ss ben lomond had sunk in two
minutes only six survivors had managed
to abandon the ship
the survivors on the raft were never
seen again ultimately making limb the
lone survivor out of the crew of 54.
despairing limb paddled around looking
for someone something
anything hours later he finally saw
something one of the ben lomond's
emergency rafts
after swimming to the raft and hauling
himself onto the narrow deck wim was
exhausted and collapsed
some time later he awoke stiff sore and
shivering limb wrestled out of his life
jacket and took off his sodden clothing
worried about getting separated from the
raft he took some rope and made a loop
for his wrist
so he could keep the raft tied to him he
curled up on a ledge and scanned the
darkening horizon
hoping to see the sweep of a spotlight
but there was only waves
it was late morning when lim awoke
chilly he reached for his clothing only
to realize that it was gone
fallen overboard sometime during the
night however his life jacket was
floating in the water
the buckle snagged on the edge of the
raft he leaned over and grabbed at it
but it was just out of reach
lim was afraid to stretch further for
fear he'd fall overboard a wave suddenly
swept it free and watched helplessly as
the bright orange life jacket drifted
away
until it was finally out of sight lim
took stock of the raft
it was square with two eight foot long
two and a half foot wide plank benches
a three by six well sat between them the
whole frame sat upon six water tight
drums
there were two metal containers four and
a half containing supplies
luckily the containers were stocked with
a bag of barley sugar two pounds of
chocolate
five tins of evaporated milk tins of
hard tack dried beef flour molasses suet
malted milk tablets
and a bottle of lime juice more
importantly there was an 11 gallon water
tank
there was also loose tobacco and rolling
papers in a small tin
matches along with a rope five flares
two smoke pots and a flashlight
lastly there were oars and a huge canvas
sale unfortunately for lim he knew
little about sailing and had no way to
navigate
he quickly used the sail to create a
shelter so he'd have some relief from
the scorching sun
the next several days were all the same
during the day lim huddled in the shaded
well
knight brought relief from the heat but
then he would shake with chills due to
sunburn
though lim didn't have much of an
appetite he ground up a little hard tack
mixed it with water to form a thick soup
and sprinkled on some dry beef for
flavor he daydreamed about his childhood
in a rural village in the province of
hainan china
he tried to calculate how long it would
take a rescue boat to reach the area
where the ben lomond went down to find
him
a squall blew up and the raft danced on
the choppy waves
lim curled up in the well and gripped
the side of a bench so hard he got
splinters
just over a week after the ben lomond
sank lim cited a ship
it was still far away so he decided to
set off a smoke pot to draw it near
and then he would set off a flare the
ship didn't react to the smoke and
changed course
but lim decided to set off a flare
anyway but he didn't know how to use
them
they had instructions but lim didn't
read english very well he tried to light
a flare and tossed it in a wide arc
it fell into the sea and sank unlit in a
panic he dropped the second flare in the
sea
but his third attempt to work a red ball
of light shot up into the sky
but the ship didn't change course lim
set off the fourth flare and the ship
swung toward his rack
lim set off his final flare the ship
came close enough that he could see
three men on the bridge and the glint of
binoculars
lim realized the mariners were studying
him sometimes enemy subs used decoys to
lure ships
lim yelled that he was from the ben
lomond he thought about jumping in the
water and swimming for
it suddenly the ship's engines revved to
life lim lit a smoke pot but the ship
turned and rapidly sailed out of sight
lim cursed and wept he wondered if the
ship had refused to pick him up because
he was chinese
the next morning lim woke up with a new
resolve there was no guarantee he'd be
rescued anytime soon he needed to make
plans to survive
he checked his supplies he had drank two
gallons of water in just over a week
at this rate his water would last maybe
28 days however if he limited himself to
a pint a day
drinking in the morning and then again
at dusk he could stretch it to 40 days
he portioned out his food as well
william's skin was erupting into painful
boils from the constant exposure to salt
water
he took the jagged edge of a tin and
lanced the bumps he could no longer
sleep in the well he needed to stay dry
and sleep on a bench
even if he risked falling into the sea
he made himself a rough sleeping bag out
of some canvas and lashed it to a bench
it took several days before lim got used
to napping on the bench but with his
skin staying dryer his boils improved
his biggest problem became thirst most
days long before evening he had drunk
all his rationed water
he opened a tin of milk and drank most
of it at once because it would rapidly
spoil in the heat
it gave him an upset stomach and
diarrhea lynn figured out that he could
keep an open tin of milk floating in
another tin of
water in the well to slow the spoiling
when it rained
lim scrubbed himself and gargled he
developed the system to catch rainwater
on the sail so he could replenish the
water tank
by now his skin had tanned to leather
and his hair had grown long enough to
shield his eyes from the dazzling sun
as his supplies got low lim began to try
to figure out how to catch fish
he ended up digging the spring out of
the flashlight and bending it into a
hook
he beat the edge of a tin lid and shaped
it to make a knife the knife went on a
lanyard around his neck
after many tries lim finally caught his
first fish he ate it raw even though it
was slimy and disgusting
knowing that fish was his best chance
for survival lim came up with a system
of drying them
thus making them more tasty and
preserving them to eat later lim had
been successfully fishing for about two
weeks when a large
fish nearly got away with his hook lynn
decided to make a better hook
using the heavy key to the water tank
lim started to dig a nail out of one of
the planks
for hours he worked at it using the key
and his fingernails to chip away at the
wood surrounding the nail
unable to yank the loose and nail out
with his hands eventually he gripped it
in his teeth and pulled
the pain was excruciating and lim's
mouth rapidly filled with blood
but all at once the nail yanked free
limb's head snapped back and he bumped
it hard on the bench
the limb had to wait a few days for his
hands to heal up before hammering the
nail into a hook shape
and then filing it into a fine point in
all the making of the new hook took
about a week in which he barely ate but
afterwards he was able to catch larger
fish
limb developed a routine where he fished
early in the morning cleaned the fish
and prepared them for drying
ayton spent the rest of the afternoon in
the shade of the canvas sometimes he
sang songs from his childhood as he
worked
he was able to preserve and store up a
few days worth of fish at first lim
counted the days by tying knots in a
rope but after a long
while he decided that there was no point
in counting the days and began counting
full moons
it was several days later that lim
spotted six planes flying in formation
he had seen planes before but this time
he was ready he waved the crude flag he
had made with a length of canvas and an
oar
a plane broke formation to take a closer
look lim yelled and waved the oar madly
the plane circled the raft lim had been
seen the plane dropped a buoy and
waggled his wings before flying off
lim sat with hope and caution warring
inside him how long before the plane
came
back as afternoon turned into evening
lin became worried
low dark clouds hung in the sky a big
storm was coming
soon the wind howled angry streaks of
lightning split the sky
surging waves rushed over the raft
sending limbs sputtering all he could do
was wrap himself in the canvas sail
huddle in the well and hold on to a
plank as best he could
lim wasn't exactly sure for how long the
storm raged but it was for days
when the sea finally quieted he crawled
out of the well weak and bruised
worst yet the storm had destroyed his
supplies his food was spoiled or washed
away
the water tank be fouled with seawater
by strength of will lim bailed out the
water tank spread the canvas to dry
and completed other cleanup tasks for a
couple days lim tried to fish baiting
the hook with barnacle meat but caught
nothing
his genitals began to swell and it was
hard to pee when lim finally urinated he
drank the pee
unfortunately it only eased his thirst
briefly lim would repeat the action a
few times over the next week his urine
growing darker and darker
then one day he couldn't go anymore he
was so thirsty his skin was flaking off
the saltwater boils were back and they
broke open on their own
and oozed pus the inside of his mouth
was full of ulcers and foul white fur
coated his tongue
lying down was uncomfortable as he could
feel every inch of his protruding bones
touching the planks
he was dying there was no way around it
lim drifted in and out of consciousness
pinching himself to stay awake
he felt that if he slept he wouldn't
wake up day turned into night
a gentle breeze blew over his fever's
skin limb kept his eyes half closed
against the searing brightness of the
moon
he heard the flap of wings overhead then
a bird landed on the raft to investigate
him
lim held his breath as the bird hopped
closer closer when it was less than a
foot from his hand lynn pounced he had
it by the legs
the bird shrieked and feed its wings but
lim banged its head against the deck
until it was silent
with his knife lim slaughter slit in the
feathered breast and drank the still
warm blood
then he tore apart the bird and ate it
raw for the first time in a few days he
slept
the next day it drizzled and lynn was
able to catch a little water
that night lim caught another bird and
devoured it like the first
he awoke to rain limb drank deeply it
was too much water too soon and he
vomited
after that he took smaller sips and was
fine he set up his water catch system
and was able to capture several gallons
of water
not long after that lim realized that he
had drifted into waters full of fish
he was able to catch some he had to
force himself to eat slowly
over the next several days limb grew
stronger he alternated between catching
fish and birds
his health slowly improved one day while
fishing limb reeled in part of a tree
trunk
it was the first sign of land he'd seen
in months within a few days the ocean
water had turned muddy brown
it obviously mingled with fresh water
somewhere nearby in the distance lim
could see a strip of sandy beach as lim
drifted closer he could see a jungle and
smell the vegetation
he tried to use an order row towards the
land but the current was too strong so
he drifted parallel
one misty morning lim could hardly
believe his eyes a fleet of fishing
boats were sailing fairly close by
in search of an early catch lin began to
shout for help in english
his voice rusty from disuse poon lim was
rescued by a fishing family 10 miles off
the coast of brazil
he sailed with them for three days
before they landed at belem
he spent 133 days at sea he was weak but
able to walk ashore unassisted
the amazed british council took photos
of lim and sent him to a hospital
he was 30 pounds underweight but
surprisingly he had no serious problems
he spent 45 days in the hospital
recovering eventually limb returned to
britain king george vi
bestowed a british empire metal on him
and the royal navy incorporated his tail
into manuals of survival techniques
after world war ii ended lim wanted to
emigrate to the united states but the
quarter for chinese immigrants had been
reached
however because of his fame and special
legislation written by senator warren
magnuson
he received a special dispensation and
eventually gained citizenship
the u.s navy emergency rescue equipment
section interviewed lim
extensively even reconstructing a raft
similar to the one lim survived on
lim reenacted his survival skills and
showed them his technique for making a
knife
when told no one had ever survived on a
raft longer at sea
lim is said to have replied i hope no
one will ever have to break the record
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