Charles Lightoller
Charles Lightoller had led an exciting life. By the time he was appointed the third officer on Titanic, he had been shipwrecked, caught in a fire and a cyclone at sea and even spent a brief time as a gold prospector and cowboy. So he took the sinking of an unsinkable ship in his stride. At 11:50 pm, just as he was drifting off to sleep, Lightoller was informed there was water in the mailroom. Dressing quickly, he made his way to the deck and began to supervise the port side lifeboats.
Although he did not expect Titanic to founder, as a veteran of a shipwreck, Lightoller knew the importance of evacuating the passengers as quickly as possible. Very soon, First officer Wilde had armed him with an empty pistol as a means of controlling the panicking crowds. Lightoller was reluctant to use it, but when a group of men tried to take over one of the lifeboats, he called their bluff with the unloaded gun. The men left the boat, and 36 women and children took their place. By 1.30 am, Lightoller had seen off six lifeboats.
By 2 am, only the collapsible boats were left. Lightoller now began to allow men to board as there were few women left. During the launch of collapsible lifeboat B, Lightoller was clawed overboard by a wave. He was sucked down and held against the grating of one of the ventilator shafts until the blast created by the hot ship hitting cold water sent him back to the surface. He narrowly missed being hit by the forward funnel and then joined 29 men, including Bride and Philips in the boat.
With Lightoller in charge, the people later transferred to lifeboat 12- the last boat to reach the Carpathia. Lightoller would not board the rescue ship until he had seen the others safely aboard- making him the last Titanic survivor to reach safety. In 1920, Lightoller retired and opened a boarding house with his wife. But his sea adventures were not yet over. Just before the outbreak of World war II, he used the family steamship to spy on the Germans for the British navy. That same boat, manned by Lightoller and his son, later helped rescue 130 men from the beaches of Dunkirk.