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Commander C.H. Lightoller R.N.R.
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Charles Herbert Lightoller was born in Chorley in Lancashire on 30
March 1874. In February 1888, at the age of 13, he began a four-year
seagoing apprenticeship working on sailing ships. On only his second
voyage he was shipwrecked on an uninhabited island in the middle of
the Indian Ocean. On another trip the cargo of coal caught fire and
for his successful efforts in fighting the fire he was promoted to Second
Mate. In 1895 he obtained his Mate’s Ticket and left sailing ships for
steamships. After 3 years on the West African coast he nearly died from
a heavy bout of malaria.
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Lightoller left the sea in 1898 and went to the Yukon to prospect for
gold in the Klondike Gold Rush. Unsuccessful in this, he worked as a
cowboy in Canada for a while before working his passage back to England
on a cattle boat. Back in England he obtained his Master’s Certificate,
and in 1900 he joined the White Star Line, working on passenger liners
to Australia and the USA. On the Atlantic run to New York he served
on the ‘Majestic’ and the ‘Oceanic’, pride of the White Star Line, and
eventually became First Officer on the ‘Oceanic’.
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He sailed on the maiden voyage of the ‘Titanic’ as Second Officer.
On Sunday 14 April 1912, having been on watch from 6pm - 10pm, he was
just nodding off to sleep in his cabin at about 11:40pm when he felt
a grinding vibration. He ran onto deck in his pyjamas, initially nothing
appeared to be wrong so he returned to his cabin to await orders. Ten
minutes later another officer entered his cabin and informed him that
the ship was taking water. Pulling on his clothes over his pyjamas he
went onto deck.
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R.M.S. Titanic.
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Lightoller took charge of the lifeboats on the port side of the ship,
and as soon as he received orders he started loading the first boat. He
continued supervising the lowering of the boats, strictly enforcing the
code of “women and children” first. At about 1:30 am the officers were
issued with revolvers and ammunition, Lightoller at the time doubted the
need for this. Shortly afterwards, however, the need became clear when
a group of men took over one of the lifeboats, he jumped in the boat and
threatened them with his empty gun driving them all out.
At around 2:00 am all the lifeboats had been lowered,
save for four collapsible boats with canvas sides lashed to the roof of
the officers quarters. Lightoller had just managed to cut one of these
free when the ‘Titanic’ took a great plunge forward. He dived into the
water but was sucked against the grating of one of the ventilator shafts.
Fortunately the blast, caused by the cold water hitting the still hot
boilers, blew him back to the surface. As the ‘Titanic went under, the
forward funnel broke loose and toppled his way narrowly missing him. He
climbed onto the overturned collapsible lifeboat and along with 30 other
men, from where he was rescued the next day by the ‘Carpathia’. |
H.M.S. Falcon in 1917.
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In 1913 Lightoller returned to sea as First Officer on the ‘Oceanic’.
When the First World War broke out in 1914 the ‘Oceanic’ became HMS
‘Oceanic’ and he became Lieutenant Lightoller of the Royal Navy. Just
before Christmas 1915 he got his own command, the torpedo boat HMTB
117, and in July 1916 attacked the Zeppelin L31 with the ships guns.
For this Action he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and was
promoted to commander of the torpedo-boat-destroyer ‘Falcon’ with the
Dover Patrol. Lightoller
moved his family to Dover, renting a house at 8 East Cliff. In July
1918 his new command, the destroyer ‘Garry’, rammed and sank the German
submarine U-110, for which action he was awarded a bar to his D.S.C.
and promoted to Lieutenant Commander.
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After the war he returned to the White Star line as Chief Officer on the
liner ‘Celtic’, having been passed over for a post on the ‘Olympic’. The
new management of the White Star Line wanted to forget the ‘Titanic’ and
everyone associated with her, and none of the surviving officers ever
got their own commands. Lightoller was not interested in remaining the
Chief Officer of the ‘Celtic’ indefinitely so, after more than 20 years
of service he resigned from the White Star Line. The first few years were
hard, he and his wife opened a guesthouse, and after a few years had some
minor success in property speculation.
In 1929 the Lightollers purchased an old Admiralty steam
launch, refitted her with a diesel engine and christened her ‘Sundowner’.
Throughout the 1930s she was used by the Lightoller family for trips around
England and Europe. In July 1939 Lightoller was approached by the Royal
Navy and asked to perform a survey of the German coastline. They did this
under the guise of an elderly couple on holiday in their yacht. Then in
the closing days of May 1940, with the British Expeditionary Force trapped
on the beaches at Dunkirk, the
Admiralty again called on Lightoller. They asked him to take the ‘Sundowner’
to Ramsgate, where a navy crew would take her over and sail her to Dunkirk.
He informed them that nobody would take ‘Sundowner’ to Dunkirk except
him.
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On 1 June 1940, the 66 year old Lightoller, with his eldest son Roger
and an 18 year old Sea-Scout named Gerald, took the ‘Sundowner’ and sailed
for Dunkirk. Although the ‘Sundowner’ had never carried more than 21 people
before, they succeeded in carrying a total of 130 men from the beaches
of Dunkirk. In addition to the three crew members, there were two crew
members who had been rescued from another small boat. There were three
Naval Ratings rescued from the sea off Dunkirk, plus 122 troops taken
from the destroyer HMS ‘Worcester’. Despite numerous bombing and strafing
runs by German aircraft, they all arrived safely back in Ramsgate about
12 hours after they departed.
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"Sundowner" off Dunkirk.
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Following Dunkirk, Commander Lightoller joined the Home Guard, but the
Royal Navy engaged him to work with the Small Vessels Pool until the end
of the War. After the War he went on to run a boatyard on the Thames building
motor launches for the London River Police. He died, aged 78, in December
1952.
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