Episode 240
Charles Lightoller
Fri, 2017-Dec-29 01:29 UTC
Length - 2:43
Direct Link
Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of a popular Wikipedia page every day.
With 186,962 views on Thursday, 28 December 2017 our article of the day is Charles Lightoller.
Charles Herbert Lightoller, (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 an officer in charge of loading passengers into lifeboats, Lightoller not only enforced with utmost strictness the "women and children first" protocol; he also effectively extended it to mean "women and children only". In pursuance of this principle, Lightoller lowered lifeboats with empty seats if there were no women or children waiting to board. Indeed, Lightoller is known to have permitted exactly one adult male passenger to board a lifeboat, namely Arthur Godfrey Peuchen, who was permitted to board lifeboat no.6, that was otherwise full of women, because he had sailing experience and could help navigate the boat. Lightoller stayed until the last, was sucked against a grate and held until he was under water, but then was blown from the grate from a rush of warm air as a boiler exploded. He clung to a capsized collapsible boat with 30 others until their rescue.
Lightoller served as an officer of the Royal Navy during World War I, and while commanding HMS Garry, rammed and sank the German U-Boat UB-110, for which Lightoller was decorated for gallantry. The captain of UB-110 would later claim that some of the German survivors were massacred by Lightoller's crew, an allegation never substantiated.
Later, in retirement, he further distinguished himself in World War II, by providing and sailing as a volunteer on one of the "little ships" that played a part in the Dunkirk evacuation. Rather than allow his small motoryacht to be requisitioned by the Admiralty for military service, he sailed the vessel to France and back with a small crew, and repatriated over 120 British servicemen.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:29 UTC on Friday, 29 December 2017.
For the full current version of the article, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lightoller.
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