THE DEPTHS OF COURAGE: Heroes of Titanic Proportions – True heroes don’t have superpowers or fly around wearing capes. A hero is someone who selflessly risks his or her own life to save the lives of others. Courage isn’t lack of fear; it’s doing the right thing even when you’re terrified.
Charles Lightoller was the Second Officer of the RMS “Titanic.” His career began at age 13. He knew every type of ship, from barge to battleship. The brand-new “Titanic” was the world’s largest and most luxurious cruise ship and pride of Britain’s White Star Line. “Titanic” was on her maiden voyage from England to New York. It was prestigious to travel first-class on the “Titanic.” In today’s dollars, a first-class ticket would cost $140,000.
White Star boasted “Titanic” was unsinkable due to an innovative design of 16 watertight compartments that could be sealed off to keep the ship afloat if part of the hull was ruptured.
When Captain Smith received iceberg warnings, Lightoller had great misgivings, especially when he discovered none of the crew had binoculars. Only 10% of an iceberg is visible above water. Detecting icebergs as far away as possible was vital to give a ship time to avoiding hitting the dangerous 90% lurking beneath the surface. Without binoculars, spotting an iceberg at night would be virtually impossible.
Sunday, April 12, 1912, 11:40 PM.
Lightoller was preparing for bed when he felt “Titanic” lurch from a massive collision. He knew it was an iceberg.
Water flooded the ship. Lightoller took charge of loading lifeboats. First-class passengers had priority. His orders were “women and children” only. A young pregnant woman approached as Lightoller came face to face with her husband, John Jacob Astor IV, one of the world’s wealthiest men. Constantly in the press, the Astors were the Kardashians of the day. His first wife, Ava Astor, was the Grande Dame of New York Society during the so-called Gilded Age. Mrs. Astor could make or break anyone’s reputation—and she knew it. John and Ava Astor were the ultimate power couple.
In 1909, Ava filed for divorce, which at the time was unheard of in high society and considered scandalous. Then reporters discovered the Astor divorce file was sealed. Media suspicions were aroused two years later when 47-year-old Astor married 18-year-old debutante Madeleine Force.
Lightoller told Astor men weren’t allowed in the boats. The powerful Astor wasn’t used to being told “no.” Yet he didn’t pull rank. Instead, he got his wife, her maid and nurse and two third-class passenger children into the boat. The children were Lebanese immigrants, 11-year-old Elias Nicola-Yarred and his 14-year-old sister Jamilla. Astor’s sacrifice cost him his life. He was swept into the sea and perished. For their entire lives, Elias and Jamilla credited Astor’s selflessness for their survival.
At the time of the collision, Margaret Tobin Brown was reading in the brass bed of her opulent first-class cabin when suddenly a shock wave flung her to the floor. Through her cabin door, she heard cries of “Get your life saver!”
Margaret was tough and a rags-to-riches story. She and her husband, James Joseph (JJ) Brown, were children of poor Irish immigrants in Missouri. However, after moving to Colorado, they bought stock in a mining company that struck gold, catapulting them to millionaire status.
Snubbed by Denver Society as “New Money,” the gregarious Margaret founded the Denver’s Woman’s Club, which funded charities and advocated for women’s rights. Overtime she and JJ drifted apart. While they never divorced, she moved on and became fluent in Italian, French, German, and Russian. After taking the “Grand Tour” through Europe and Egypt, she booked passage home on the “Titanic.”
Margaret had overcome many obstacles in life but a sinking ship was terrifying. Nevertheless, she leapt into action and helped others into lifeboats until she was ordered by a crewman into lifeboat #6. Infuriated when she saw the lifeboat contained only 24 people when it could’ve held 65, Margaret threatened to throw the crewman overboard if he didn’t turn back to rescue more people. He refused, fearing the lifeboat would be sucked under by the sinking “Titanic.”
Margaret rallied the survivors to row until they were rescued at dawn by the RMS “Carpathia.” Aboard the “Carpathia” the multi-lingual Margaret comforted non-English speaking survivors. Even before reaching New York, she raised $10,000 (equivalent of $325,000 today) from other first-class passengers to help the poorer survivors.
Charles Lightoller was the highest-ranking officer to survive the Titanic. As the ship took its final plunge he dove into the freezing water which he described as “a thousand knives being driven into one’s body”. The suction of the sinking “Titanic” pulled him under. He braced for death when suddenly he was flung to the surface by a huge hot air bubble caused by the last blast from the submerged “Titanic’s” ventilator.
Knowing he had only minutes before freezing to death, Lightoller swam to a capsized lifeboat with survivors clinging to it. Taking command, Lightoller instructed them how to shift their weight to keep it from overturning. At dawn, they were rescued by the “Carpathia.” Lightoller was the last aboard, as he insisted on getting other survivors to safety first.
Was the “Titanic” doomed from the start? There weren’t enough lifeboats for the number of people on board. White Star Line executives felt too many lifeboats were visually unattractive. When “Titanic’s” side scraped along the iceberg, a design flaw in the hull’s rivets caused them to pop off upon impact. This breached the hull, flooding the so-called 16 unsinkable compartments.
Yet in the wake of the “Titanic” disaster, safety standards for ships worldwide changed completely. It became a requirement for there to be enough lifeboats for everyone on board. Perhaps in the long run many lives have been saved because of the “Titanic.”
Of the 2,240 passengers and crew, 1,517 people perished. Only 333 bodies were ever recovered. John Jacob Astor’s body was identified by the initials on the lapel of his jacket. The gold watch found on his body was auctioned in 2024 for $2.2 million.
The “Titanic” sank, but Margaret Brown didn’t. The Press dubbed her “The Unsinkable Molly Brown.” Despite her fame and wealth, The Unsinkable Molly Brown never forgot her humble beginnings. Upon returning to America, she advocated for underpaid miners. During World War I, she organized relief efforts for the people of France and was awarded the French Legion of Honor.
Charles Lightoller served with distinction in the Royal Navy during World War I. Two decades later after he retired, World War II broke out. In May 1940, Hitler’s forces trapped the British Army at Dunkirk in Northern France. Lightoller captained his personal yacht across the English Channel as part of “Operation Dynamo” to evacuate British troops. Despite rough seas and relentless attack by German aircraft, Lightoller rescued 127 British soldiers. Not bad for a yacht designed to carry only 21 people.
Heroism isn’t about fame or glory. It’s about facing fear and risking your own life for others, even though it may cost your own life. Sometimes it does. Heroism is an inner strength that emerges when you least expect it—like it did 113 years ago in the North Atlantic for a sailor, a multi-millionaire, and The Unsinkable Molly Brown. especially when that mom was Rocky, the Mystical Mermaid of Meadow Mountain.
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