Sole Ranking Member of Crew to Survive Disaster Dies---Aided Dunkerque Evacuation
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Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES
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LONDON, Dec. 8 --- Comdr. Charles Herbert Lightoller, the only officer of the White Star liner Titanic who survived when she struck an iceberg and sank on her maiden voyage, died today at his home in Twickenham, Surrey, at the age of 78. The luxury liner met disaster on the night of April 14-15, 1912, with a loss of 1,517 lives.

Commander Lightoller went to sea when he was 13, served aboard, a square rigger and experienced his first shipwreck when he was 17. He was second officer of the Titanic on her ill-fated trip. In World War I he served in the Royal Navy.

Although Commander Lightoller was too old for active duty in World War II, he skippered crews ferrying ships for the Admiralty. He took his sixty-foot motor yacht to the evacuation at Dunkerque and brought back 130 men on one trip. His only surviving son, Lieut. R. T. Lightoller, was at Dunkerque, but did not know until afterward that his father had taken part in the evacuation. Two other sons died in the service.