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:
Ken Dunn
()
Date: July 01, 2003 01:09PM
<HTML>Hi All,
Here are a couple of brief versions of documented accounts of men from British merchant ships who survived torpedoing and time in a lifeboat / raft at sea.
The first is Second Officer Richard H. Ayers of the GAIRSOPPA sunk by U-101 (Mengersen) on 02-17-1941. He survived 13 days at sea in frigid conditions and ended up as the only survivor although there were 32 men in his lifeboat on the first day. The provisions in the lifeboat consisted of:
6 tins of biscuits
24 tins of condensed milk
2 casks of water one of which had been damaged and was only half full.
Oars – number unknown.
Sea anchor – possibly improvised.
Sail.
The biscuits were so hard they couldn’t be eaten unless soaked in water. Eating them just made them more thirsty.
There were also one or two tarpaulins that they tried to use for shelter against the wind and icy sea spray. There may have been more items in the boat but they weren’t mentioned. Neither was the size of the tins or the water casks.
All of the men had frostbite. They ran completely out of water on the 8th day although it was rationed to about a pint per man per day and 16 of the men had already died by the 7th day.
On the 12th day only 7 remained alive and some of them were only semi-conscious.
On the 13th day they reached land and all but Ayers died trying to get through the surf zone in their weakened condition. Ayers probably only survived because some children saw him and threw him a rope & pulled him in.
Second Officer Richard H. Ayers was the only man in the boat knew how to handle it. Had it not been for him they probably wouldn’t have survived the first night in those rough seas and high winds.
The second is the remarkable story of Second Steward Poon Lim a Chinese merchant seaman serving on the British merchant ship BENLOMOND when she was sunk by U-172 (Emmermann) on 11-23-1942.
Mr. Poon Lim survived an incredible 133 days on a raft at sea – alone the whole time. He ended up being the only survivor from his ship. I don’t think words can describe how terrible his ordeal was.
He was alone in the water after the torpedoing when he spotted the empty raft. He managed to climb aboard. It was a typical British raft made of wood and supported by 6 watertight drums. It looked like a big crate. It was provisioned with:
6 boxes of hardtack.
2 pounds of chocolate.
10 cans of pemmican (a concentrated preparation of dried beef, flour, molasses, and suet). I have read that it tasted quite nasty and most really disliked it.
1 bottle of limejuice.
5 cans of evaporated milk.
10 gallons of water.
He also found 4 poles and a tarpaulin, a canvas piece to cover the recessed area in the middle of the raft, some paddles, signal flares, smoke pots, a can of massage oil, a flashlight, and some rope.
The supplies were stored in the drums used for flotation. The food and water wouldn’t have lasted very long with a raft full of men as was frequently the case but he had it all to himself.
When his food ran low he improvised some fishing gear. He made a small fishhook from the spring out of the flashlight but it was only good for very small fish. He made a better fishhook out of one of the nails holding the raft together which he had to pull out with his teeth! The small hook was used to catch fish he could use for bait on the big hook and he was soon landing 20 pounders. He laid them out to dry in the sun and when birds came to steal them, he caught the birds and ate them too. He set the canvas up on the poles for shelter with one end tipped so any rainwater would flow into a container.
Finally, his raft was spotted by a Brazilian fishing boat 10 miles off the Brazilian coast and he was rescued. Three days later they made land. Poon walked ashore under his own power!
The exceptional courage, fortitude and resourcefulness of this man stands as an example for all of us.
Paraphrased from: Wise, James E. Sole Survivors of the Sea. Baltimore, Maryland: Nautical & Aviation Publishing Company of America, Inc., 1994. ISBN: 1-877853-29-1. Copyright: James E. Wise, 1994.
As a side note, after getting out of the hospital Poon was flown to the U.S. where he tried to join the U.S. Navy. He was rejected because he had flat feet! We have to have our standards now – don’t we? That’s pretty much like telling Mother Teresa she needs a character witness.
Regards,
Ken Dunn</HTML>
Here are a couple of brief versions of documented accounts of men from British merchant ships who survived torpedoing and time in a lifeboat / raft at sea.
The first is Second Officer Richard H. Ayers of the GAIRSOPPA sunk by U-101 (Mengersen) on 02-17-1941. He survived 13 days at sea in frigid conditions and ended up as the only survivor although there were 32 men in his lifeboat on the first day. The provisions in the lifeboat consisted of:
6 tins of biscuits
24 tins of condensed milk
2 casks of water one of which had been damaged and was only half full.
Oars – number unknown.
Sea anchor – possibly improvised.
Sail.
The biscuits were so hard they couldn’t be eaten unless soaked in water. Eating them just made them more thirsty.
There were also one or two tarpaulins that they tried to use for shelter against the wind and icy sea spray. There may have been more items in the boat but they weren’t mentioned. Neither was the size of the tins or the water casks.
All of the men had frostbite. They ran completely out of water on the 8th day although it was rationed to about a pint per man per day and 16 of the men had already died by the 7th day.
On the 12th day only 7 remained alive and some of them were only semi-conscious.
On the 13th day they reached land and all but Ayers died trying to get through the surf zone in their weakened condition. Ayers probably only survived because some children saw him and threw him a rope & pulled him in.
Second Officer Richard H. Ayers was the only man in the boat knew how to handle it. Had it not been for him they probably wouldn’t have survived the first night in those rough seas and high winds.
The second is the remarkable story of Second Steward Poon Lim a Chinese merchant seaman serving on the British merchant ship BENLOMOND when she was sunk by U-172 (Emmermann) on 11-23-1942.
Mr. Poon Lim survived an incredible 133 days on a raft at sea – alone the whole time. He ended up being the only survivor from his ship. I don’t think words can describe how terrible his ordeal was.
He was alone in the water after the torpedoing when he spotted the empty raft. He managed to climb aboard. It was a typical British raft made of wood and supported by 6 watertight drums. It looked like a big crate. It was provisioned with:
6 boxes of hardtack.
2 pounds of chocolate.
10 cans of pemmican (a concentrated preparation of dried beef, flour, molasses, and suet). I have read that it tasted quite nasty and most really disliked it.
1 bottle of limejuice.
5 cans of evaporated milk.
10 gallons of water.
He also found 4 poles and a tarpaulin, a canvas piece to cover the recessed area in the middle of the raft, some paddles, signal flares, smoke pots, a can of massage oil, a flashlight, and some rope.
The supplies were stored in the drums used for flotation. The food and water wouldn’t have lasted very long with a raft full of men as was frequently the case but he had it all to himself.
When his food ran low he improvised some fishing gear. He made a small fishhook from the spring out of the flashlight but it was only good for very small fish. He made a better fishhook out of one of the nails holding the raft together which he had to pull out with his teeth! The small hook was used to catch fish he could use for bait on the big hook and he was soon landing 20 pounders. He laid them out to dry in the sun and when birds came to steal them, he caught the birds and ate them too. He set the canvas up on the poles for shelter with one end tipped so any rainwater would flow into a container.
Finally, his raft was spotted by a Brazilian fishing boat 10 miles off the Brazilian coast and he was rescued. Three days later they made land. Poon walked ashore under his own power!
The exceptional courage, fortitude and resourcefulness of this man stands as an example for all of us.
Paraphrased from: Wise, James E. Sole Survivors of the Sea. Baltimore, Maryland: Nautical & Aviation Publishing Company of America, Inc., 1994. ISBN: 1-877853-29-1. Copyright: James E. Wise, 1994.
As a side note, after getting out of the hospital Poon was flown to the U.S. where he tried to join the U.S. Navy. He was rejected because he had flat feet! We have to have our standards now – don’t we? That’s pretty much like telling Mother Teresa she needs a character witness.
Regards,
Ken Dunn</HTML>
