During World War II Waldemer Semenov was serving as a junior engineer aboard the SS Alcoa Guide when mdash nearly three hundred miles off the coast of North Carolina mdash a German submarine surfaced and opened fire on the ship The ship was hit caught fire and began to sink Semenov and his crew lowered a lifeboat into the water and used the vessel rsquo s compass to sail toward the shipping lanes After three days a patrol plane spotted their lifeboat and the USS Broome rescued the men the next day Thanks to that compass Semenov and twenty-six other [... more]