Sunken Treasure

we're looking for when we're looking for something else. Search for our missing keys might unearth a pair of glasses we thought we had lost forever, or a child's hunt for his favorite toy could lead to the rediscovery of a toy he'd previously abandoned. In those situations, the original search leads to serendipity, what a popular artist on television would have described as a happy accident. Though one man set out to find more than his keys, he was

looking for something that had gone missing decades earlier. His plan was to find the proverbial needle in a haystack, but in this case, the haystack was the entire ocean. Born in nineteen two, Robert had been fascinated by the sea from a young age. He grew up in San Diego, California, before earning a bachelor's degree in geology and chemistry from UC Santa Barbara, followed by a graduate degree in geophysics

from the University of Hawaii in nineteen sixty six. Robert was also a member of the Army's Reserve Officers Training Program r OTC and was called to serve. In nineteen sixty seven, he requested to join the Navy, where he assisted in several underwater expeditions over the years. As part of his doctoral thesis, he even mapped out the ocean

floor in the Gulf of Maine. Robert practically lived at sea, which made him the perfect person to lead a team to the bottom of the ocean in five During the summer of that year, the U. S. Navy asked Robert to take a small submersible to the bottom of the

Atlantic to find a pair of lost nuclear submarines. The U. S. S. Scorpion and the USS Thresher had both gone missing in nineteen The circumstances surrounding their disappearances were of the utmost importance to the government, who wanted to know what had happened to the sub's nuclear reactors. There was also concern

about the effect of their radioactivity on the underwater environment. Now, a few years prior, Robert had asked the Navy about financing the development of the deep sea technology that he had been working on. It was an unmanned submersible fitted with cameras that could scour the ocean floor for debris. He called it Argo. The Navy hadn't been interested in Argo at the time, but now they realized just how useful the little robot might be. In late August of

that year, Robert deployed his submersible. He and his team tracked the field of debris left behind by the subs after they had exploded, figuring that if they followed the trail, it would eventually lead them to the missing vessels, and their plan worked. The Thresher had suffered a mechanical failure that had led to its sinking. The fate of the Scorpion, though, was less obvious. Several theories were posed as to what had caused it to implode. One suggested it was the

accidental explosion of a torpedo inside the sub. Another theory claimed that hydrogen had built up in the ventilation system and had exploded. Whatever the case, the Navy was satisfied with the results of the expedition, but Robert wasn't done. In fact, he had made a deal with the military as a condition of his research. In the event that he was able to find the missing subs, the Navy would allow him to pursue a personal project of his

own with any remaining time on the mission. And the only reason they allowed it was because they didn't think that he would find what he was looking for. You see, Robert had a hunch that a missing shipwreck was located near where the Scorpion and Thresher had been found. He had already learned an important lesson from studying their trail of debris, too, the heaviest pieces sunk quickly, while the

currents carried the lighter remains away. So Robert's team combed the ocean floor with argo It's cameras, sending back gray, grainy footage of smooth terrain two miles below the surface. He was looking for a much larger debris trail than that of the two submarines, something so big that it would lead him straight to the wreck of one of the most famous ships of all time. And then on September one, is hard work paid off. The cameras picked up something massive, a boiler, the image of which caught

everyone off guard. It was as big as a house, and sure enough it was sitting mere feet from the ship's majestic bow. Seventy three years earlier, a brand new vessel had pulled out of Southampton, England, bound for New York City. Sadly, it never completed its journey. In the early morning hours of April fifteenth that struck an iceberg and sunk into the depths of the North Atlantic. The Titanic was advertised as many things luxurious, safe, and of

course unsinkable. Well history would prove otherwise, but the ship's final resting place would have remained unknown had it not been for Robert Ballard's obsession and his keen negotiating skills. Despite the Titanic's short lived existence, it's made in voyage spawned countless tales, many of which were based on the lives of those on board. Hundred souls were lost when the ship sank, in nine hundred stories that would never get their happy endings. However, there was one story that

did go on to have a happy ending. In fact, it had about one thirty of them. Charles Lightsoler was the second officer on the Titanic. He grew up as part of a working class family in a small town in Lancashire, England called Chorley. Charles's mother died soon after giving birth to him, and his father remarried, moving him to New Zealand ten years later. As a result, young Charles was raised by other family members until he was

old enough to find work on his own. Charles was only thirteen when he set out to pave his own way, but he didn't want to end up in a factory like his parents. Instead, he enlisted as an apprentice with the sailing vessel known as the Primrose Hill. He traveled for years aboard different ships, going to far away places like India. By the time he was twenty one, he

had earned his second mate certificate. Charles tried his hand at other professions, including gold prospector in the Yukon, as well as a cowboy in Canada, but the sea continued to call to him. At the turn of the century, he returned to the ocean, this time as an employee of the British shipping company White Star Line. Charles had worked his way up, functioning as fourth officer on the s s Medic before moving to the s S Majestic

a few years later. The Majestic happened to be captain by one Edward J. Smith, who would go on to lead another White Star ship, the ill fated RMS Titanic. Charles boarded the Titanic in Belfast, roughly one week before its maiden voyage was set to begin. He was made second officer behind first officer William McMaster Murdoch. Charles was

thorough in his duties as second officer. He was in charge of the last bridge watch shift on the night of April fourteenth of nineteen twelve, and made sure other lookouts on duty kept an eye out for ice in the water. Murdoch then relieved him for the nights, allowing Charles to get some shut eye for a few hours. At least that was the plan. The second officer hadn't even crawled into bed when the Titanic brushed against the side of a massive iceberg, and the rest, as they

always say, is history. Charles was instrumental in evacuating passengers off the ship and followed the captain's commands to the letter, perhaps to the detriment of himself and others. Smith had ordered the lifeboats to be filled with women and children. Charles seemed to believe that meant only women and children, and so he began lowering lifeboats that were partially filled when no other women or children could be found. Even leaped aboard a lifeboat full of male passengers and aimed

his unloaded revolver at them. He called them cowards for not staying to help the others. The ashamed men then disembarked back onto the Titanic's deck. In a last ditch effort before the water overtook the bow, Charles attempted to launch a collapsible boat that had been stored on the roof of the officers quarters. It landed upside down. As the front of Titanic slipped below the waves, the water rushed the deck and Charles dove off the roof into

the icy North Atlantic to save himself. He tried to swim away from the ship as quickly as possible, knowing the suction would pull him under as it sank, but he was still too close, and Charles was pulled against the ventilation shaft as Titanic continued its descent. He was unable to break free and believed he would drown until suddenly in eruption from below forced a wave of hot air through the vent, launching him back to the surface. It was a boiler that had exploded from inside the ship.

Charles got his bearings and caught of the collapsible lifeboat he had tried to launch earlier. He tried pulling himself on board using a rope hanging from its side, only to see one of the Titanic's funnels collapse close by. It landed inches away, and the ensuing wave sent him and the lifeboat flying fifty yards from the ship, but he was able to climb on top of the collapsible, along with several other survivors, as they watched the Titanic

disappear into the murky depths below. After that, he helped to keep the people in the boat calm during the night, showing them how to shift their weight to prevent ocean swells from tossing them back into the water. Hours later, the RMS Carpathia, a passenger steamship that had received Titanics distress calls, arrived on seeing to rescue Charles and over seven d other survivors. The Titanic second officer had been given a second chance, one he made sure to use

to help others for the rest of his life. He went on to fight in World War One, serving in the Royal Navy Reserve on board another White star ship, the RMS Oceanic. At end of the war, he retired from service as a commander. Charles lived a fairly quiet life after that, writing a book about his time at sea and what he had encountered aboard the Titanic, and then in nineteen forty he got the opportunity to jump

into action one more time. Charles sailed to northern France in his motor yacht Sundowner, along with his son Roger. Charles refused to let the military requisition his boat against his will, so he chose to sail it himself where it was needed. Sundowner had a maximum capacity of twenty one passengers. That didn't stop Charles and his son from

loading one seven British servicemen on board anyway. The battle and subsequent evacuation of Dunkirk saw the deaths of thousands of Allied soldiers, and thanks to one perfectly timed boiler explosion, Charles Lightholer was there to help as many as he could, just as he had done on board the Titanic thirty years before. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided to were of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast

dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can learn all about it over at the World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Ye