Editing Poon Lim (section)

==Shipwreck==
{{main|SS Benlomond (1922)#Loss}}
{{maplink|from=Poon Lim 133 days adrift.map|frame=yes|zoom=3|frame-lat=0.17578097424708533|frame-long=-43.72558593750001|text=Approximate voyage of Poon Lim}}
In 1942 Lim was Second Mess Steward on the [[Ben Line Agencies|Ben Line]] cargo ship ''Benlomond'',<ref name=Crew>{{cite web |url= https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/crews/ship2462.html |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |title=Crew list: Benlomond |work=uboat.net |access-date=5 June 2023}}</ref> which was en route from [[Suez]] to [[Port of New York and New Jersey|New York]] via [[Port of Cape Town|Cape Town]] and [[Paramaribo]].<ref name=Benlomond>{{cite web |url= https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/2462.html |last=Helgason |first=Guðmundur |title=Benlomond |work=uboat.net |access-date=31 March 2019}}</ref> Her officers were British, but most of her crew was Chinese.<ref name=Crew/> ''Benlomond'' was capable of about {{convert|12|kn|km/h}}.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?16688 |last=Allen |first=Tony |title=SS Benlomond (+1942) |work=Wrecksite |date=21 December 2018 |access-date=5 June 2023}}</ref> She was [[Defensively equipped merchant ship|defensively armed]], but her voyage was unescorted.

On 23 November, ''U-172'' intercepted and hit ''Benlomond'' with two [[torpedo]]es at position {{Coord|00.30|N|38.45|W|display=inline|scale:10000000}}, about {{convert|250|mi|km}} north of the coast of Brazil.<ref name=Benlomond/> Lim, who was in his cabin, took his [[Personal flotation device#Life jacket|life jacket]] and went to his boat station, where two officers and a [[Ordinary seaman|seaman]] were trying to launch one of the lifeboats. They had raised the boat off its chocks, and were about to lower it, when Lim was washed overboard. The ship sank within about two minutes of being hit, and Lim was dragged underwater. When he resurfaced, he found only a few planks floating, one of which he used for extra buoyancy.<ref name=Blake>{{cite book |last=Blake |first=George |author-link=George Blake (novelist) |year=1956 |title=The Ben Line |place=London, Edinburgh |publisher=[[Thomas Nelson (publisher)|Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd]] |pages=155–158}}</ref>

Lim was spotted by the crew of ''U-172'' but instead of rescuing him, they laughed at him and waved him away.<ref name="Blake" /> After about two hours in the water, Lim found and boarded a wooden [[Lifeboat (shipboard)#Liferaft versus lifeboat|life raft]]. In the distance he saw another raft, carrying four or five men, who waved to him to join them. Lim thought they were some of the ship's [[Defensively equipped merchant ship|DEMS]] gunners. But Lim had no means to propel his raft, and the two rafts drifted apart.<ref name=Blake/>