In 1907, the home port of Oceanic was switched from Liverpool to Southampton. Lightoller had been promoted to Second Officer, and then was transferred to the Majestic where he would serve as First Officer. His stay aboard Majestic was a brief one, and he was transferred back to Oceanic, to serve as First Officer. He remained on Oceanic until being transferred to Titanic. Lightoller boarded Titanic on March 20, 1912, just two weeks before the maiden voyage, and served as First Officer during the sea trials in Belfast Lough. His responsibility during the sea trials was to make sure that the compasses and other navigational instruments were functioning correctly. Just before the maiden voyage, Henry Tingle Wilde was transferred to Titanic where he would serve as Chief Officer. Wilde's previous berth was Olympic, but at Captain Smith's request he was moved to Titanic for the maiden voyage, possibly because of the amount of experience he had aboard vessels of this size. This caused a temporary, albeit frustrating rearrangement in the ranks of the senior officers already aboard the vessel. Chief Officer William McMaster Murdoch was bumped down to First Officer, Lightoller was bumped down from First Officer to Second Officer, and Second Officer David Blair was bumped off the ship altogether. Lightoller had served with Blair while aboard Oceanic, and the two were friends. After a few days, everyone had settled into their new duties. Lightoller seemed to resent Wilde, possibly because he had arrived after most of the preparations for the maiden voyage had been made, or perhaps he was upset that his arrival had caused David Blair to be transferred off the ship. On April 10, 1912, Lightoller and Chief Officer Wilde supervised Titanic’s departure from Southampton from positions on the forecastle deck. The first four days of the voyage were relatively uneventful, with the exception of a near collision with the steamer New York, and the numerous ice warnings which were filtering in. Only one of these warnings, from Caronia, would be posted prominently in the chart room. On the night of April 14, 1912, Lightoller came on duty just before 6:00 pm. He was scheduled to stand watch until 10:00 pm, at which point First Officer William Murdoch would relieve him. The air had been chilly all day, but Lightoller noticed that the air temperature had dropped even further since the sun had set. At approximately 8:55 pm, Captain Smith left the Widener’s dinner party and visited the bridge. Lightoller and he had a brief conversation about the weather conditions. The following conversation is recreated based on Lightoller’s testimony of what was said (from the US and English Inquiries, and “Titanic and Other Ships” by Charles Lightoller): Lightoller: “Good evening sir.” Smith: “Good evening Mr. Lightoller.” Lightoller: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a flat calm.” Smith: “Yes, like a mill pond. Not a breath of wind.” Lightoller: “It is a pity that the wind has not kept up with us. It will make the bergs harder to see, with no breaking water at the base.” Smith: “Mmmm.” (nodding in agreement) Lightoller: “Of course, there should be a great deal of starlight reflected off the ice.” Smith: “Yes. Well, I’m off. Maintain speed and heading Mr. Lightoller.” Lightoller: “Yes sir.” Smith: “If the situation becomes in the slightest degree doubtful, let me know.” Smith then left the bridge, in what would turn out to be the most crucial part of the voyage, navigationally speaking. At 9:30 pm, Lightoller instructed Sixth Officer James Moody to telephone the crow’s nest and tell the lookouts to keep a sharp eye out for “bergs, growlers and field ice.” Moody followed the order, but forgot to tell the lookouts to keep an eye out for growlers. Lightoller made him phone the crow’s nest again and correct the message: “I told Mr. Moody to ring up the crow's nest and tell the look-outs to keep a sharp look out for ice, particularly small ice and growlers. Mr. Moody rang them up and I could hear quite distinctly what he was saying. He said "Keep a sharp look out for ice, particularly small ice," or something like that, and I told him, I think, to ring up again and tell them to keep a sharp look out for ice particularly small ice and growlers. And he rang up the second time and gave the message correctly.” He also told Moody to advise the lookouts to pass his message along to subsequent watches. At 10:00 pm, Lightoller was relieved by First Officer Murdoch, and he relayed the ship’s course, heading, and speed to him. Lightoller then made his rounds, inspecting the length of the ship to see that the Quatermasters were standing watch, and that everything looked in order. It took Lightoller around an hour and twenty minutes to inspect the ship. After completing his rounds, Lightoller returned to his cabin and turned in. At 11:40 pm, he was just falling asleep when he hear a grinding noise and felt a slight jar: “I was just about ready for the land of nod, when I felt a sudden vibrating jar run through the ship...Not that it was by any means a violent concussion, but just a distinct and unpleasant break in the monotony of her motion.” Lightoller leapt up out of his bunk, and raced on deck to see what had happened: “I instantly leapt out of my bunk and ran out on deck, in my pajamas; peered over the port side, but could not see anything there; ran across to the starboard side, but neither was there anything there, and as the cold was cutting like a knife, I hopped back into my bunk.” Lightoller laid back down, but was unable to fall back asleep. About twenty minutes later, Fourth Officer Joseph Groves Boxhall opened the door to his cabin and quietly said, “We’ve hit an iceberg.” Lightoller sat up in his bunk and said, “I know you’ve hit something.” Boxhall turned and said, “The water is up to F deck in the Mail room.” That was all that needed to be said. Lightoller jumped up, closed the door, and grabbed his shoes. He threw on his trousers, a pullover sweater, and grabbed his greatcoat and hat and left the room in a hurry. Titanic had been running at nearly full steam, and every safety valve was venting off the steam which had built up in the boilers. This resulted in a tremendous roar that made it hard for the officers to communicate on the boat deck. Lightoller had to use hand gestures to convey messages. Although he was convinced that the situation was quite serious, he did not believe that the vessel would actually sink. None of the other officers had been informed that the ship would actually founder. Because of this, he sent away some of the earlier boats less than half full for fear that the weight would cause them to buckle. Later, during the US Inquiry, he was asked about this: Senator Smith: “In a great emergency like that, where there were limited facilities, could you not have afforded to try to put more people in the boats?” Lightoller: “I did not know it was urgent then. I had no idea.” As soon as the lifeboats were swung out and readied for launch, Lightoller wanted to begin loading the women and children. However, Chief Officer Wilde thought that they should wait for Captain Smith to give the order before filling the boats. Lights usurped Wilde’s authority and asked Smith, “Hadn’t we better get the women and children in the boats, sir?” Smith nodded in agreement, and Lightoller wasted no time in getting started. As soon as he received the orders, Lightoller began loading women and children into Lifeboat #4. He had planned on lowering the boat down to the A-deck promenade, and loading the passengers from there, but the windows were locked. Lightoller wasted no time fooling with the windows, and preceded on to Lifeboat #6. Just as he was yelling out “Women and children only”, the steam valves shut off. Now that he could be heard, Lightoller managed to persuade a handful of people to board Lifeboat #6. Among them were Molly Brown, Quartermaster Robert Hichens, and Lookout Frederick Fleet. Lightoller helped a few more women into the boat, then decided 25 people was enough. He gave the order to lower away. As the boat was being lowered, someone cried out that there was only one seaman in the boat. In reality, there were two (Hichens and Fleet), only one of which would row or help in any way during the night. Lightoller recognized the need for another seaman to be loaded into #6, and cried out for “any sailors.” Major Arthur Peuchen volunteered, stating that he was only a yachtsman, but he would help if needed. Lightoller told him, “If you’re seaman enough to get out on those falls and climb down into the boat, then you may go.” Peuchen did just that, and became one of the few male passengers that Lightoller would let into a lifeboat. He interpreted the order “women and children first”, as “women and children only.” Lightoller also ordered his friend, Able Bodied Seaman Samuel Hemming to go with the boat. As Lightoller turned away, Hemming climbed back onto the boat deck so that he could stay and help load the boats. Lifeboat #6 was launched by 12:55 AM. Lightoller then proceeded to load Lifeboat #8, with Captain Smith, Chief Officer Wilde, and Sixth Officer Moody helping at different times. They filled the boat with approximately 28 people. Captain Smith told the men in the lifeboat to “row over to that steamer there and drop off these passengers, and then return to pick up more as soon as possible.” Lightoller repeated the order, and at 1:10 AM, the boat was lowered away. Lifeboat #8 never came close to reaching the steamer sitting on the horizon, nor did it come back to pick up more passengers. It was at this boat that Ida Straus refused to leave her husband. After loading this boat, Lightoller began to realize the seriousness of the situation. The slant of the deck was noticeably steeper, and people began to get alarmed. Lightoller now began to take bigger risks, putting more passengers in the boats: “It had now become apparent that the ship was doomed, and in consequence I began to load the boats to the utmost capacity that I dared.” Part III Part I Main Page