Lightoller ordered the crew to go down and open the forward gangway door on the port side. This may have played a significant role in the speed and angle of the sinking.
He was asked if the Titanic had broken in two. He responded - "It is utterly untrue. The ship did not and
could not have broken in two.....Absolutely intact.....Intact, sir!"
His infamous orders 'women and children only' may have cost a number of lives.
He believed it was too dangerous to lower the lifeboats full, and his intention was to have the boats lowered down and have them stay close to the gangway doors and the passengers below decks would climb down rope ladders and enter the boats from a safer height. This was his primary reason why the boats were not filled up from the top decks.
He told the Inquiry that he spoke to the ship's lookout Fred Fleet on the
Carpathia and he was told that the ship was already turning "distinctly before the report" from the lookout. This means the bridge saw the iceberg before Fleet had even reported it, and casts doubt on Hichens' account as he claimed the alleged order to turn the ship away was given after the report from the lookout.
Lightoller published a book in the 1930's which detailed his life experiences, and he described the official Inquiry as a "whitewash" and how "I felt more like a legal doormat than a mail boat officer" as every effort was made to protect the reputation of the company and the board of trade.
If Lightoller had perished then all of the above would have left open many questions, the primarily one being the "woman and children only" order. Lightoller said he dived off the ship when the bridge went under. If this was witnessed by survivors then this would dispel any theories that he shot himself. The breaking of the ship might also have been believed, but the Inquiry naturally wanted to suppress this fact as Lightoller called it a "whitewash" so even without his "absolutely intact" statement the Inquiry would still disbelieve the survivors who saw her break in two. The other surviving officers said she did not break in two, or did not see her break in two, so the Inquiry would have taken their word that she sank intact.
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