Land
On April 5, 1943, after 133 days in the life raft, Poon Lim neared land and a river inlet. A few days earlier, he had known that he was close to the land because the colour of the water had changed; it was no longer the oceanic deep blue. Three Brazilian fishermen rescued him and took him to Belém three days later.
During his ordeal, Poon Lim had lost 9 kg, but was able to walk unaided upon being rescued. He spent four weeks in a Brazilian hospital and the British Consul arranged for him to return to Britain via Miami and New York.
When told no one had ever survived longer on a raft at sea, Poon Lim replied, "I hope no one will ever have to break that record." People have lived longer lost at sea, the current record being 10 months for 3 Mexican sailors in a disabled fishing boat. However, as of 2012, no one has broken Poon Lim's record on a life raft.
Read more about this topic: Poon Lim
Famous quotes containing the word land:
“The land of joy, the lovely glades of the fortunate woods and the home of the blest.”
—Virgil [Publius Vergilius Maro] (70–19 B.C.)
“You must not eat with it anything leavened. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it -the bread of affliction -because you came out of the land of Egypt in great haste, so that all the days of your life you may remember the day of your departure from the land of Egypt.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Deuteronomy 16:3.
“The land is the appointed remedy for whatever is false and fantastic in our culture. The continent we inhabit is to be physic and food for our mind, as well as our body. The land, with its tranquilizing, sanative influences, is to repair the errors of a scholastic and traditional education, and bring us to just relations with men and things.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)