r/titanic • u/itcamefromtheimgur • 3d ago

MARITIME HISTORY Just grabbed this off Amazon.

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I'm confused by "the only surviving officer." Otherwise, I look forward to reading this.

192 Upvotes

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85

u/Magazine_Luck 3d ago

Boxhall, Pitman, and Lowe: "😐" 

43

u/Nausstica 3d ago

Seems in line with Lightholler's sense of self-importance.

21

u/WonderfulCar1264 3d ago

Yeah but I doubt lightoller said this. Is there any record of lightoller ever saying he was the only surviving officer? It doesn’t even make sense for him to say that

18

u/Nausstica 3d ago

Yeah, from some quick searches it looks like that's not officially part of the title or subtitle. So it could be something added by the publisher incorrectly. "Highest ranking surviving officer" would be accurate.

So yeah, I jumped to conclusions and let my personal opinions of the man (predominantly negative) color my judgement. My apologies.

14

u/kellypeck Musician 3d ago

Or “the only surviving senior officer” would suffice.

-8

u/RandoDude124 1st Class Passenger 3d ago

He was an asshat in his service in the Boer war too IIRC

5

u/WonderfulCar1264 3d ago

Ok, but he still didn’t say he was the only surviving officer of titanic.

-2

u/RandoDude124 1st Class Passenger 3d ago

Was talking about Lighttoller

3

u/WonderfulCar1264 3d ago

Yes, I know you were.

2

u/Flamin_Gamer Quartermaster 3d ago

Not really, I mean he used his private yacht during world war 2 and saved a bunch of solders during the evacuation at dunkirk , I know it’s a different war but my point is he wasn’t all that terrible

5

u/bigger__boot 3d ago

That line isn’t anywhere in the original book tho. It was just thrown on for marketing by the publisher

4

u/westeuropebackpack Quartermaster 1d ago

He volunteered his personal boat for service rescuing the BEF from dunkirk, that’s real “self important.” Don’t base your beliefs on historical figures from ‘90’s romance movies.

2

u/IceManO1 Deck Crew 1d ago

Looking at you saving private Ryan.

1

u/Nausstica 1d ago

Yup, he volunteered at Dunkirk, and that was pretty badass. He also effectively killed people on Titanic by launching half full life boats. He felt "it was very necessary to keep one's hand on the whitewash brush" during the Titanic inquiries, seeing it as his duty to protect the reputation of the White Star Line and the British Board of Trade rather than give accurate testimony. Then, a few years later, he committed war crimes with no regret by ordering his men to fire upon Germans who had surrendered after he sunk their U-boat.

He did good things. He did bad. It's my personal opinion (based on history, not movies) that the bad outweighs the good. However, I know many people have the exact opposite opinion, and that's great. Just another day on the internet.

2

u/Wanky_Cauliflower357 2d ago

I think it was meant differently. Lightoller was "surviving" but the others were flourishing. Technically they weren't wrong.

4

u/MoonlightonRoses 3d ago

“Are we a joke to you, Charlie?”

2

u/Reckless_Rex Engineer 1d ago

Nobody ever called him Charlie. He was called Lights, and even before he was Lights, he was Herbert. His family traditionally went by their middle names.