The Boat
is Walter
Gibson's extraordinary account of survival after being lost at sea when the Dutch steamer Rooseboom was sunk by torpedo on 2 Mar 1942. Gibson
survived 26 days afloat in a lifeboat with 135 others. Only 5 made it to shore. Three Javanese sailors were
separated to uncertain fate. A fourth was Doris Lim, who after surviving the boat died tragically under
Japanese interrogation before ever tasting freedom again.
When the story first broke in the news, the world was shocked by the tales of murder and cannibalism that
Gibson witnessed aboard the lifeboat. It is perhaps made even more horrific by the stark, concise manner in
which Gibson recounts
The Boat
(completed for the 10th anniversary of the Rooseboom's sinking).