must-have ! Sole Survivor by Ruthanne Lum McCunn

On November 23, 1942, within two minutes of being torpedoed, the Benlomond sank in the Atlantic. The sole survivor was a second steward who had no knowledge of the sea. Dependent on his wits, he existed for 133 days on a wooden raft. His courage and endurance earned him the British Empire Medal, and he continues to hold the Guineas World Record for survival at sea.
Based on three years of interviews with the survivor and his family, SOLE SURVIVOR reconstructs Poons ordeal, including the ship that changed course to come to his rescue and then refused to pick him up; his search for a means to catch fish and trap water when his supplies ran out; the plane that sighted him and dropped a marker but was prevented from picking him up by the onset storm; his endurance through a period without food or water when he was forced to drink his own urine; his survival at land only to find it impenetrable jungle.