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Poon Lim (March 8, 1918 – January 4, 1991) was a Chinese sailor who survived 133 days alone in the South Atlantic. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
is the 67th day of the year (68th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ...
is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the 1991 Gregorian calendar). ...
For other uses, see Atlantic (disambiguation) The Atlantic Ocean is Earths second-largest ocean, covering approximately one-fifth of its surface. ...
Biography
Poon Lim, or Lim Poon, was born on a Hainan Island in 1918. In 1942, during World War II, he was working as second steward on the British merchant ship SS Ben Lomond, which was on its way from Cape Town to Dutch Guiana. The ship was armed but slow moving and was sailing alone instead of being in a convoy. Not to be confused with the unrelated provinces of Henan and Hunan Hainan (海南; pinyin: Hǎinán) is a province of the Peoples Republic of China, located at the southern end of the country. ...
Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki TÅjÅ Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...
Main article: Seafarers professions and ranks A Chief Steward (often shortened to steward) is the senior unlicensed crewmember working in the Stewards Department of a ship. ...
Nickname: Motto: Spes Bona (Latin for Good Hope) Location of the City of Cape Town in Western Cape Province Coordinates: , Country Province Municipality City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality Founded 1652 Government [1] - Type City council - Mayor Helen Zille - City manager Achmat Ebrahim Area - City 2,499 km² (964. ...
The Republic of Suriname, more commonly known as Suriname or Surinam, (formerly known as Netherlands Guiana and Dutch Guiana) is a country in northern South America, in between French Guiana to the east and Guyana to the west. ...
On November 23, a German U-boat intercepted and torpedoed the ship. As the ship was sinking, Poon Lim took a life jacket and jumped overboard before the ship's boilers exploded. After approximately two hours in the water, he found an empty life raft and climbed into it. is the 327th day of the year (328th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
U-boat is also a nickname for some diesel locomotives built by GE; see List of GE locomotives October 1939. ...
The torpedo, historically called a locomotive torpedo, is a self-propelled explosive projectile weapon, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater toward a target, and designed to detonate on contact or in proximity to a target. ...
A lifejacket is an article of protective clothing that is designed to keep the wearer floating above the surface of the water. ...
The raft had several tins of biscuits, a ten-gallon jug of water, some chocolate, a bag of sugar lumps, some flares, two smoke pots and an electric torch. For other uses, see Chocolate (disambiguation). ...
A World War I-era parachute flare dropped from aircraft for illumination. ...
For the Parliament song, see Flash Light (song). ...
Poon Lim initially kept himself alive by drinking the water and eating the food on the raft, but later resorted to catching rainwater in a canvas tarp and fishing. He could not swim very well and often tied a rope from the boat to his wrist, in case he fell into the ocean. He took a wire from the electric torch and made it into a fishhook, and used hemp rope as a fishing line. He also dug a nail out of the boards on the wooden raft and bent it into a hook for larger fish. When he captured a fish, he cut it open with a knife he fashioned out of a biscuit tin and dried the fish on a hemp line over the raft. Once after a large storm had spoiled his fish and fouled his water, Poon, barely alive, caught a bird and drank its blood to survive. Biscuit tins are rectangular or square tins originally designed to contain biscuits but the term is also used for similar shaped tins containing a variety of products. ...
On two occasions other vessels passed nearby: first a freighter, then a squad of US Navy patrol planes. Poon contends that the freighter saw him but did not pick him up because he was Chinese. The Navy planes did see him, and one dropped a marker buoy in the water. Unfortunately for Poon, a large storm hit the area at the same time and he was lost again. Cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship that carries goods and materials from one port to another. ...
The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. ...
He was also once spotted by a German U-boat, which had been doing gunnery drills by targeting seagulls. It did not offer assistance. U-boat is also a nickname for some diesel locomotives built by GE; see List of GE locomotives October 1939. ...
At first he counted the days by tying knots in a rope, but later decided that there was no point in counting the days and simply began counting full moons.
On April 5, 1943, Poon Lim reached land and a river inlet. A few days earlier, he had known that he was close to the land because the colour of the water had changed and was no longer the ocean deep blue. Three Brazilian fishermen rescued him and took him to Belém three days later. is the 95th day of the year (96th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Nickname: Local da cidade de Belém, no estado do Pará State Pará County Belém Government - Mayor Duciomar Gomes da Costa Area - City 1,070 km² (413. ...
During his ordeal, Poon Lim had lost 20 pounds, but was able to walk unaided upon being rescued. He spent two weeks in a Brazilian hospital, and the British consul arranged for him to return to Britain via Miami and New York. He later found out that only 11 others of the ship's crew of 55 had been rescued.
King George VI bestowed a British Empire Medal on him, and the British Navy incorporated his tale into manuals of survival techniques. After the war, Poon Lim decided to immigrate to the United States, but the quota for Chinese was full. However, because of his fame and the aid of Senator Warren Magnuson, he received a special dispensation and eventually gained citizenship. George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions from 11 December 1936 until his death. ...
The British Empire Medal (Medal of the Order of the British Empire for Meritorious Service) is a British medal awarded for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the crown. ...
Look up quota in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Warren Grant Magnuson (April 12, 1905–May 20, 1989) was a Democratic Senator from Washington from 1944-1981. ...
He died in Brooklyn on January 4, 1991. [1] This article is about the borough of New York City. ...
is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the 1991 Gregorian calendar). ...
References The Social Security Death Index is provided by the United States Department of Social Security. ...
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