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| parents = | spouse = Sylvia Hawley-Wilson | children = }} Charles Herbert Lightoller DSC & Bar, RD, RNR (30 March 1874 – 8 December 1952) was the second mate (second officer) on board the , and the most senior officer to survive the Titanic disaster. As an officer in charge of loading passengers into lifeboats, Lightoller not only enforced with utmost strictness the principle of "women and children first" but 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 a lifeboat (no.6) otherwise full of women because he had sailing experience and would 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 and clung to a capsized collapsible boat with 30 others until their rescue. Lightoller was decorated for gallantry as a naval officer in the First World War and later, in retirement, further distinguished himself in the Second World War by providing and sailing as a volunteer on one of the "little ships" during the perilous Dunkirk evacuation. ==Early maritime career== Charles Herbert Lightoller was born in Chorley, Lancashire, on 30 March 1874. His mother, Sarah Lightoller, died shortly after giving birth to him. He was born into a family that had operated cotton-spinning mills in Lancashire since the late 18th century.〔Heyes J. ''A History of Chorley'', Lancashire County Books, Preston, 1994, ISBN 9781871236316; cited at (Chorley Mills ) page of Chorley Historical and Archaeological Society. Accessed 10 December 2014〕 His father, Fred Lightoller, abandoned young Charles and left for New Zealand. At the age of 13, not wanting to end up with a factory job like most of Britain's youth at the time, young Charles began a four-year seafaring apprenticeship on board the barque ''Primrose Hill''.〔Lightoller, Charles H. ''(Titanic and Other Ships )'' Chapters 1-12: eBook at Gutenberg of Australia〕 On his second voyage, he set sail with the crew of the ''Holt Hill'', and during a storm in the South Atlantic, the ship was forced to put in at Rio de Janeiro. Repairs were made in the midst of a smallpox epidemic and a revolution. Another storm on 13 November 1889 in the Indian Ocean caused the ship to run aground on an uninhabited four-and-a-half-square-mile island now called Île Saint-Paul. They were rescued by the ''Coorong'' and taken to Adelaide, Australia. Lightoller joined the crew of the clipper ship ''Duke of Abercorn'' for his return to England.〔 Lightoller returned to the ''Primrose Hill'' for his third voyage. They arrived in Calcutta, India, where he passed his second mate's certificate. The cargo of coal caught fire while he was serving as third mate on board the windjammer ''Knight of St. Michael'', and for his successful efforts in fighting the fire and saving the ship, Lightoller was promoted to second mate. In 1895, at the age of 21 and a veteran of the dangers at sea, he obtained his mate's ticket and left sailing ships for steamships. After three years of service in Elder Dempster's African Royal Mail Service on the West African coast, he nearly died from a heavy bout of malaria. Abandoning the sea, Lightoller went to the Yukon in 1898 to prospect for gold in the Klondike Gold Rush. Failing at this endeavour, he then became a cowboy in Alberta, Canada. In order to return home, he became a hobo, riding the rails back across Canada. He earned his passage back to England by working as a cattle wrangler on a cattle boat, arriving home penniless in 1899. He obtained his master's certificate and joined Greenshields, Cowie & Co, for whom he made another trip on a cattle boat, this time as third mate of the ''Knight Companion''. In January 1900, he began his career with the White Star Line as fourth officer of the . 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Charles Lightoller」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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