2nd Officer RMS Titanic Passed away peacefully on 8th December.

He first went to sea at the age of 13 and endured the first of his four shipwrecks only two years later.

Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller was the senior surviving officer of the Titanic in 1912, he took charge of upturned lifeboat collapsable B and was the last of those rescued to board the Carpathia.

In the first World War, he served with the Royal Navy Reserve, commanding three MTB/Destroyers in the Dover Patrole and the North Sea. He rose to the rank of Commander RNR. He won the DSC in 1916 for attacking a Zeppelin and was awarded a bar in 1918 after sinking a U-Boat.

“There used to be a fine picture in the front of old Todd and Whall's Seamanship (a book familiar to all apprentices) when first I went to sea. It was a picture of the S.S. Celtic, the old Celtic of the White Star Line, driving her way to westward. A big fourmaster with twin funnels and somehow I got to look on her as the height and summit of my ambition.

Years passed. Ships came and ships went. Now one Company and now another. Off on the trail and back to sea. The war blazed up and burned out. Yet it was a curious coincidence that for my last ship I should find myself in the modern edition of my boyhood's ambition; the R.M.S. Celtic. And it was in my cabin on board this ship that I finally wrote my resignation and said good-bye to the Sea”.

In 1928, he bought the Sundowner, a discarded Admiralty steam launch which he converted into a diesel motor yacht.

Please consider joining our friendly and informed community as an Associate Member. You will have a unique opportunity to get involved in our 2012 Anniversary Commemorative Events & your support will really help us achieve our goals.

To learn more about our unique commemorative Titanic First Day Covers

For more information on how YOU can get involved click here The Titanic Heritage Trust