A novelist whose grandfather survived the Titanic's sinking has revealed a long-held family secret: that the man behind the ship's wheel turned it the wrong way, crashing into an iceberg and causing the ship's demise.
Louise Patten's grandfather Charles Lightoller was second officer on the Titanic's maiden — and only — voyage when it sank in April 1912. He was in his cabin when the boat struck the iceberg, and vowed to stay with the ship rather than go to a lifeboat. As it sank, he jumped into the water and was sucked down into the depths — but then miraculously thrown back to the surface by an underwater explosion, and picked up by a lifeboat.
As the most senior surviving officer, Lightoller testified afterward to official U.S. and British investigative panels, telling them he had no idea why the ship went down. But his granddaughter Patten now says that he was lying and that he told his wife the real story. She told Patten the story after his death.
