Are we ever lost? Or just somewhere new and unknown to us? I mean, if we expand outward in our situation, no matter where we are, we can always say, “I know exactly where I am. I’m in the United States, North America, Planet Earth, Milkway, Universe.”
But sometimes, it feels like we are lost.
Just ask a man named Poon Lim. He was a sailor and worked as a second steward on SS Benlomond, a British merchant ship. Well, that ship was sunk. By U-172, a German U-boat, on 23 November 1942.
Luckily, he found an eight-foot wooden raft with supplies. I imagine it was a result of the wreckage from his own destroyed boat. And that would start a journey for him, one where he was lost at sea for 133 days. Amazingly he was found — on the anniversary of this date — April 5, 1943. Three Brazilian fishermen found him near the coast of Brazil.
He was alone and adrift in the South Atlantic for those 19 weeks. Yes. Nearly five months. When the supplies on the raft ran out, Lim began fishing, catching seabirds, and collecting rain to survive. I imagine it was a lot of sushi and rare seagull.
When that German U-boat came up the Benlomond, they hit it hard with two torpedoes, somewhere in the ocean east of Brazil. As the ship was sinking, smart Lim took a life jacket and jumped overboard before the ship’s boilers exploded. It only took about two minutes for the ship to disappear completely beneath the water’s surface. Initially, there were six survivors who drifted apart. About two hours later, Lim found that raft. He was the sole survivor. The other 54 were lost at sea.
During his ordeal, Lim lost 20 pounds. He spent four weeks in a Brazilian hospital while the British Consul arranged for his return home. Once he got back to the United Kingdom, Lim was awarded a British Empire Medal by King George VI. After the war, Lim moved to the United States.
A reporter told Lim that no one had ever survived longer on a raft at sea. That good old Lim replied, “I hope no one will ever have to break that record.”
Lim died in Brooklyn on 4 January 1991, aged 72.
Since Lim’s experience, others have lived longer when lost at sea. Similarly, José Salvador Alvarenga, a fisherman from El Salvador, was lost for 439 days, floating from Mexico to the Marshall Islands. That’s a long dang time to be adrift.
Sometimes, our own lives can feel a little lost. Maybe we are off-track. Or perhaps the circumstances around us are completely unfamiliar and difficult. But we should always remember that life isn’t really ever from point A to B. It takes twists and turns, ups and downs, zigs and zags. It is a bit like being adrift on the ocean at times. Life is always in motion. There are times when we can no longer see the horizon. The way ahead is always uncertain.
Even still, we are moving in a direction. And while it may feel like we’re lost. We are just in a new place, unknown to our former selves. And we continue, always on our way.
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All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.
— J. R. R. Tolkien
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He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.
— Confucius
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I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.
— Thomas A. Edison
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