General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
Re: Life rafts
Posted by:
Theo Horsten
()
Date: July 02, 2003 02:37AM
<HTML>Great stuff, as usual, Ken.
Yes, I think Poon Lim must have set the record, although everything is relative, of course.
Five survivors of the Dutch "Zaandam" (U-174, Thilo), found an empty raft. The food lasted two weeks, the water twenty days. One man, the American gunner Beasly, died after 66 days, an American officer, Maddox, died a week later. The three others were rescued 83 days after the ship had been sunk, 2 Dutchmen and one American gunner named Izzi.
They had no fishing gear, but Maddox managed to catch a small shark with a lasso. Later one of them dangled his feet in the water to attracht fish which the others caught with their bare hands. One night they managed to catch a bird, They didn't eat it, but dangled it in the water instead of their feet and small fishes would bite in it. On some days they would catch hundreds of small fishes. They would eat them raw, but Maddox and Beasly had trouble eating raw fish. The were the ones that didn't survive.
The were rescued by the American "sub chaser" PC 576, but only because a sailor B. DeWatte kept a very good lookout.
For the record: Izzi was from a place called South Barre, in Massachussets.
Theo</HTML>
Yes, I think Poon Lim must have set the record, although everything is relative, of course.
Five survivors of the Dutch "Zaandam" (U-174, Thilo), found an empty raft. The food lasted two weeks, the water twenty days. One man, the American gunner Beasly, died after 66 days, an American officer, Maddox, died a week later. The three others were rescued 83 days after the ship had been sunk, 2 Dutchmen and one American gunner named Izzi.
They had no fishing gear, but Maddox managed to catch a small shark with a lasso. Later one of them dangled his feet in the water to attracht fish which the others caught with their bare hands. One night they managed to catch a bird, They didn't eat it, but dangled it in the water instead of their feet and small fishes would bite in it. On some days they would catch hundreds of small fishes. They would eat them raw, but Maddox and Beasly had trouble eating raw fish. The were the ones that didn't survive.
The were rescued by the American "sub chaser" PC 576, but only because a sailor B. DeWatte kept a very good lookout.
For the record: Izzi was from a place called South Barre, in Massachussets.
Theo</HTML>
