How to Pronounce Charles Lightoller
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Mar 30, 1874 Lancashire, England, United Kingdom Died on 08 Dec 1952 (aged 78)
British sailor
AriesCharles Lightoller - Place of Birth, Date of Birth, Age, Wiki, Facts, Net Worth, Birthday, Biography and Family
Charles Lightoller, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Family, Facts, Age, Net Worth, Biography and More in FamedBorn.com
About Charles Lightoller
- Charles Herbert Lightoller, , RNR (30 March 1874 – 8 December 1952) was the second officer on board the RMS Titanic and a decorated Royal Navy officer.
- He was the most senior member of the crew to survive the Titanic disaster. As the officer in charge of loading passengers into lifeboats on the port side, Lightoller strictly enforced the "women and children first" protocol, not allowing any male passengers to board the lifeboats unless they were needed as auxiliary seamen.
- Lightoller stayed until the last, was sucked against a grate and held under water, but then was blown from the grate by a rush of warm air as a boiler exploded.
- He found refuge on an upturned collapsible boat with 30 others, showing his fellow survivors how to shift their weight to avoid being swamped, until their rescue at dawn.Lightoller served as a commanding officer of the Royal Navy during World War I and was twice decorated for gallantry.
- First while in command of a motor torpedo boat he engaged German Zeppelin L31 during a night time raid on Southern England.
- Second whilst in command of destroyer HMS Garry protecting a merchant convoy, Lightoller's ship rammed and sank the German U-Boat UB-110.
- The captain of UB-110 later claimed that some of the German survivors were massacred by Lightoller's crew, an allegation never officially substantiated.
- In his 1935 memoir Titanic and Other Ships, Lightoller wrote of the incident that he "refused to accept the hands-up business", but did not go into further detail on the matter.During World War II, in retirement, he provided and sailed as a volunteer on one of the "little ships" that played a part in the Dunkirk evacuation.
- Rather than allow his motoryacht to be requisitioned by the Admiralty, he sailed the vessel to Dunkirk personally and repatriated 127 British servicemen.
