The tragic event surrounding the sinking of the RMS Titanic on April 15th, 1912, in hindsight, was fraught with many flaws. From so-called watertight compartments to the inadequacy of lifeboats. Of the roughly 3,000 aboard, nearly half lost their lives.
Charles Lightoller was a British naval officer in charge of the port side lifeboats. As the ship plunged deeper toward the bottom of the sea, Lightoller swam toward a lifeboat taking charge of some 30 survivors. He was the last survivor taken on board the RMS Carpathia at their rescue.
His and others’ recommendations for ocean safety were adopted by maritime nations. For example; basing lifeboat capacity on the number of passengers and crew instead of ship tonnage. The Titanic’s lifeboat numbers actually exceeded the British Board of Trade’s requirements. And lifeboat drills so passengers know where to muster for their lifeboats ahead of disaster and for the crew to know how to operate them.
A lot of stories can be found about Lightoller, some good and some bad, and probably some true and some not so much. He served in WWI and after retiring he owned his own boat in England.
During WWII and the Battle of France, large numbers of allied forces were cut off and surrounded by the Germans on the beaches of Dunkirk. Lightoller and his son were a part of the 800 vessels crossing the Strait of Dover to evacuate nearly 340,000 troops to safety.
U.S. Army officer George Fielding Eliot wrote “No purely military study of the major aspects of the war could do justice to the skill and the heroism of the evacuation from Dunkirk.”
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