Today in History - April 5: Shipwrecked sailor spends 133 days on rickety raft

Three fishermen off the coast of Brazil made a life-changing discovery that made one man, who had been lost at sea for 133 days, an instant celebrity.

Poon Lim, born in China, was a crew member aboard the SS Benlomond, a British Merchant Navy ship which had been torpedoed in November 1942.

Miraculously, Lim found a wooden raft and clambered aboard.

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He spent 133 days - over four months - drifting through the ocean until eventually, he was rescued by fisherman on a family boat on April 5, 1943.

The only person to live through the sinking, Lim's ordeal represents one of the most remarkable stories of survival known to man.

After spending more than two hours in the ocean after the boat sank, clinging to anything that floated by, Lim came across a raft a crew member had deployed but failed to embark.

Onboard the raft were supplies such as biscuits, water and milk.

But it was Lim's ability to catch fish, birds and even a shark that kept him alive.

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The fish he ate raw, while Lim claimed he dried pieces of the poultry and shark and ate them like jerky.

Lim claimed that other sailors, ships and even planes spotted him during the months he spent at sea, but fearing he was an enemy luring them into a trap, let him float by.

He said other racist factors may have played a part.

Once his discovery was made public, he became an overnight celebrity.

Lim died in 1991.

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