Continued from Dec. 24, 2012.
After the war, Lightoller couldn't find a seagoing job because of the Titanic. He wrote his autobiography "The Titanic and Other Ships." It was selling well, but pulled because of a comment on the Marconi operator.
To fill his time, he purchased his own private yacht and named it the Sundowner on which he made lots of cruises on the 58-foot long and 12.6 beam ship.
On May 31, 1940, the Sundowner was requisitioned by the Admiralty. Lightoller , age 66, captained the ship to Dunkirk where he avoided enemy shells and rescued 130 soldiers. He later recalled that the small boat's biggest threat was from the wakes of destroyers.
Lightoller died in 1952 and the boat was turned over to Ramsgate Maritime Museum where it was turned into a museum ship.
His wife Sylvia was at the helm when the Sundowner led an armada of little ships on the 25th anniversary of Dunkirk.
Quite a Story and There Is More to Come. --Cooter
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