Hainanese boy drifted on the sea for 133 days, but was refused help because he came from China. How did he survive?

1719 in April 15, Robinson Crusoe, a novel by the famous British writer daniel defoe, was officially published and was sought after by people. This novel mainly tells the story of Robinson encountering a storm during his voyage to Africa. He drifted to an uninhabited island and began his isolated life. With tenacious willpower, he was self-sufficient and returned to his hometown after living on a desert island for 28 years and more than 2 months. Defoe's novels left a deep impression on the world.

However, Robinson Crusoe is a novel after all, not a real thing. However, there was once a young man in our country, whose experience was very similar to that of Robinson, who drifted at sea for 133 days and was called "Robinson of China". He has been drifting at sea for more than four months. How did he survive?

Poon Lim was born in a peasant family in Hainan. My father is a martial artist, and he walks the streets every day to collect his disciples. So he studied martial arts with his father to keep fit, also to protect himself in troubled times. 1936, his father asked someone to take him to Hong Kong to make a living. Poon Lim first worked as an apprentice on the Tanda, and three years later signed a contract with an English ship named Belomon, where he worked as a second-class waiter. What he didn't expect was that something would happen to the ship he signed.

1942165438+12: 00 pm on October 23rd 10, the "Belomon" was carrying out wartime transportation mission in the Atlantic Ocean. When it reached 750 miles east of the Amazon River, it was hit by two torpedoes launched by the German U- 172 submarine, and most of the 55 crew members were killed. When the ship sank, Poon Lim immediately put on a life jacket and jumped into the sea before the ship exploded, saving his life. After drifting at sea for two hours, he finally found a life raft and began to modify it to keep it out of the wind and rain and move on.

To Poon Lim's surprise, the metal box of the life raft contained more than 65,438+000 liters of fresh water, cans, flares, flashlights and biscuits. Although there is not much fresh water and food, he can persist for a while, and there are signal flares, which makes him full of confidence in being rescued. Whenever it rains, he tries to collect rainwater and save it for later use. Soon, there is little food and fresh water left. We must look for fresh water and food. Because Poon Lim is not good at swimming, he often ties a rope around his wrist, and the other end is tied to a life raft to prevent himself from falling into the water.

The flashlight was used up, so Poon Lim took out the spring inside and made a fishing rod with other fishing tools. However, this fishing rod can only catch small fish, but can't catch big fish. So he took a nail from the board of the life raft and bent it to catch big fish. With a big fishing rod, food is basically guaranteed. Raw fish have a fishy smell, which is difficult to swallow and easy to deteriorate, so Poon Lim dried them to make dried fish, which tastes better and is better preserved. The weather at sea is changeable, and a strong wind makes him lose a lot of fresh water and food. In order to survive, he caught a bird, killed it and drank its blood to quench his thirst. The smell of killing fish attracted sharks. Instead of running away, Poon Lim managed to catch a shark, drink its blood and make its meat into fillets.

During this period, Poon Lim had two chances to escape. One day, he met a cargo ship. The people on the boat saw him, but they didn't save him because he came from China. Later, he met a reconnaissance plane of the US Navy and asked for help. This time, the U.S. military dropped a buoy on the sea, but it was swept away by a big storm and lost the chance to escape. Due to the lack of food and water for a long time, Poon Lim's health became very poor, with pustules on his thighs and arms, accompanied by edema. He can only keep awake by pinching himself hard, because once he falls asleep, he will become the shark's food. When he was about to despair, he found that the color of the sea water had faded, which made him see hope.

1On April 6, 943, Poon Lim drifted at sea for more than 100 days, and finally reached the coast of Brazil and was rescued by fishermen. Later, under the arrangement of the British Consulate, he returned to England and was awarded the order of the british empire by King George VI. Later, he immigrated to the United States, got married in new york and died at the beginning of Brooklyn 199 1 1.