The fins of the shark — specifically the preparation of shark fin as a food, a practice associated with Hainan and southern Chinese culinary tradition — represented, in some accounts, a source of both nutrition and the specific comfort of familiar food prepared in a way that connected him to his home. This cultural detail appears in multiple accounts of his story and is treated here as reported testimony rather than independently verified fact.
The biological detail that requires explicit accuracy: the blood of a shark, like that of most marine animals, contains substantial quantities of urea and salt, which limit its utility as a hydration source. Accounts that present shark blood as a straightforward replacement for fresh water should be read cautiously. What Poon Lim’s testimony records is that he drank blood from the shark as a source of liquid during a specific period of acute water scarcity — not that he subsisted primarily on animal blood, or that this was a reliable or repeatable hydration method. The rainwater collection system remained his primary source of fresh water throughout the ordeal.
## Ships That Passed
Among the most psychologically weighted elements of Poon Lim’s testimony is the account of ships and aircraft that appeared during his ordeal but did not rescue him.
The factual record of these encounters, drawn from his testimony, is that at least one large freighter came close enough to be visible and to have seen him — he was shouting, waving, doing everything that a person in his situation could do to attract attention — and kept sailing. He believed, based on the available evidence of the vessel’s behavior, that the crew had seen him. Whether they had, and what they understood about the figure on the small raft, and why the ship continued on its course, are questions that cannot be definitively answered from the single perspective of the survivor.