Holiday Auction Closing December 7 ,2019
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/7/2019
Charles Lightoller was the second officer on board the RMS Titanic. He was the most senior member of the crew to survive the disaster. As the officer in charge of loading passengers into lifeboats on the port side, Lightoller strictly enforced the "women and children first" protocol, not allowing any male passengers to board the lifeboats unless they were needed as auxiliary seamen. Lightoller stayed until the last, was sucked against a grate and held under water, but then was blown from the grate by a rush of warm air as a boiler exploded. He found refuge on an upturned collapsible boat with 30 others, showing his fellow survivors how to shift their weight to avoid being swamped, until their rescue at dawn
This swiss made pocket watch has the name “Charles H Lightoller” engraved on the reverse with “2nd Officer” shows oxidization and rust that could certainly be attributed to being under water. The face of the watch has a crack and the hands remain frozen in time reading 2:20 which certainly could have been the time the watch entered the near freezing water on the night of April 14th, 1912. The last lifeboat left the sinking Titanic around 2:05 AM and the last radio message from the Titanic was recorded at 2:17 AM both consistent with the theory. The watch comes sourced directly from renowned Oceanic expert Ken Schultz and the original purchase receipt from Schultz to our consigner is included with the watch.
About Ken Shultz: Mr. Schultz was regarded as a pioneer and leader in the field of ocean liner memorabilia. He was featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and several books on ocean liner collectibles. His Oceanic Catalogs are still used as references and he was a world-renowned antiques dealer. As an expert in ocean liner memorabilia, he was a highly regarded consultant and sought-after speaker and often quoted in leading media publications such as Antiques and the Arts Weekly. He also served as an advisor on the film Titanic and was curator of the Hoboken Historical Museum’s “Destination Hoboken: The Great Ocean Liners of Hamberg-American and North German Lloyd” in 2002.
Additional Information: The watch has received a Geiger testing and has tested positive for radium which was used in Maritime watches of this period. The radium would cause the watch to glow allowing for more visibility during night voyages.