The Guinness World Record consistently records extraordinary human activity with extraordinary records in various fields. However, for this person, the record occurred not for the world stage, but it happened by chance.
Is Poon Lim, a crew on a British ship that was stranded for 4 months in the middle of the sea on a raft. There he must survive against the rigors of nature. Then how did it happen to him?
In 1942, when the second world war occurred, the sea was filled with various types of war instruments and weapons. Great Britain, famous for being at sea, was struggling at the time. They asked for help from China. Many young people from China registered to be seamen for British ships and Poon Lim was one of them. He enlisted as a crew on a British merchant ship named SS Ben Lomond. A ship that isn't too fast but is capable of maneuvering. In addition, the ship wasn't equipped with adequate weapons.
On November 23, 1942, when SS Ben Lomond tried to cross the Atlantic Ocean, he was shot by two torpedoes from a German submarine, the U-Boat. The ship immediately sank. Fifty-five passengers were drawn to the seabed. Eleven of them were lucky to have appeared wearing buoys, and Poon Lim was one of them.
But 10 of his friends were first rescued by a ship that crossed the area. Poon Lim was left alone in the middle of the vast and deep Atlantic Ocean on a raft. The raft has been filled with food, 40 liters of water, and fireworks (signal flares). But that amount won't be enough for Poon Lim to survive. Poon Lim was very scared because he knew that he could not swim until he tied himself to the raft so it would not fall.
When his drinking water supply runs out, he realizes that his life is in danger. But he did not panic. He uses the roof on a raft to collect fresh water. Then he realized that his food reserves would soon run out so he had to think about how to keep him eating. He then unpacked the flashlight he had to take a long cable in it, pull the nail from the raft with his teeth, then bend it to the hook. Secure!
He now has water and food reserves to meet his needs. Even though he is aware that eating raw fish every day is very dangerous. But he doesn't have much choice when in that position. Most often he dries fish to kill germs and other organisms. Smart too!
But Lim's challenge did not end there. He is still in the middle of the sea. He saw many ships passing by. He even saw a German submarine, a U-boat several times. But Lim saw a glimmer of hope when a plane passed him dropping a float to mark its place.
However, all that was in vain when there was a storm that came to hit Lim. The storm not only blew buoys, but all the food and beverage reserves it had collected. When it died down, Lim still had to deal with the heat of the sun. He almost gave up if it wasn't for the bird that landed on his raft. With the last remaining energy, Lim caught the bird to eat.
Over the next few days, birds are the main food. However, it brought new disaster for Lim. The remaining bones and meat of the bird invite sharks to come around the raft. There weren't many choices for Lim at the time but to kill sharks. He fished sharks with bird meat using his hook. The shark was connected, Lim immediately pulled it onto the raft. What followed was Lim's struggle with the shark. Sharks are hungry for hungry humans. And the winner is human.
Some time passed, suddenly Lim saw the sea water has changed color, which means one thing is that Lim has been close to the mainland. The land is Brazil. He was rescued by 3 fishermen in April 1943. After being treated for 2 weeks in the hospital, he was ready to return to England. Lim was awarded a medal from the British empire and a gold watch from his superiors as a gift.
