1943: Frank Noel – “Water.” In January of 1942, photographer Frank Noel was covering British troops in Singapore. The Pacific War was going badly and Japanese planes were beginning to bomb the city. Noel had contracted malaria and was in the process of being shipped back to the United States when the freighter he was traveling on was hit by a Japanese torpedo. The ship went down in the Indian Ocean and Noel managed to escape and board a life vessel with 27 survivors. The group drifted aimlessly for five days in scorching heat. During the disaster, a separate lifeboat of survivors approached the men explaining that they had lost their water supply in the rush to escape from the boat. As they neared Noel’s boat one of the sailors reached out his hand and begged for water. Sadly, they had none to offer.