Ruthanne Lum McCunn

Sole Survivor Ruthanne Lum McCunn

On November 23, 1942, German U-Boats torpedoed the British ship Benlomond. It sank in the Atlantic in two minutes. The sole survivor was a second steward named Poon Lim who, with no knowledge of the sea, managed to stay alive for 133 days on a small wooden raft. Based on three years of interviews, Sole Survivor reconstructs Poon's remarkable ordeal. We learn of a ship's crew that saw him but refused to pick him up; his ingenious ways of trapping water and catching fish (later used in US Navy training films); and his arrival at land, only to find it an impenetrable jungle. When he was finally rescued at the mouth of the Amazon River, Poon was hailed as the "World's Champion Survivor." He still holds the Guinness World Record for survival at sea. His story is an amazing tale of a young man's fortitude in the face of overwhelming odds.