On 1 June 1940, after the British Admiralty put out the call for every small craft to help stage an emergency evacuation from Dunkirk, a 66-year-old retiree named Charles Lightoller set out at speed across the English Channel ahead of the other vessels. German bombers attempted to strike the boat throughout its voyage, but Lightoller managed to cram more than 120 soldiers on his 58-foot yacht. Then he piloted the dangerously overloaded vessel back across the Channel, dodging bombs and bullets all the way.
Perhaps his zeal to rescue as many men as possible was driven in part by memories of an April night in 1912, when he was the second mate on board the RMS Titanic. More than 900 people perished in the icy North Atlantic that night.
一九四零年六月一日，英國海軍部呼籲所有小船出動協助敦克爾克緊急撤軍之後，六十六歲、業已退休的查爾斯．萊托勒率先出航，迅速渡過英倫海峽。一路上，德國轟炸機想把他的小船擊沉，但未能阻止他把一百二十多名士兵塞到五十八英尺長的遊艇上。萊托勒駕着危險超載的遊艇，開回英國，途中還須躲避炸彈、子彈。
萊托勒致力救人，能救多少就多少，原因之一，應是未能忘卻一九一二年四月的一晚。那一晚，他是英國郵輪鐵達尼號的二副。那一晚，超過九百人在苦寒的北大西洋喪生。