Harold Lowe

Lowe was born in Eglwys Rhos, Caernarfonshire, Wales, on 21 November 1882, in his paternal grandfather's home "Bryn Lupus." He was the third of seven children born to Emma Harriet (née Quick) and George Edward Lowe. Though he spent most of his shore life in Wales, Lowe was mostly English by ancestry; his father was from Cheshire, born to a family of prominent jewellers who owned the firm Lowe & Sons, and his mother was born in Liverpool, the daughter of a police superintendent. He spoke Welsh fluently but when he spoke English, he did not speak with a Welsh accent.^[1]

The family moved around North Wales for a time and eventually settled in the seaside town of Barmouth, Merionethshire, in 1891. There, Lowe and his brothers became enthusiastic boatsmen. They were also choir boys at St. David's Anglican Church.^[2] He spent most of his childhood in Penrallt House which his mother Harriet ran as a hotel.^[3] His father George, who was a painter, gained a reputation in Barmouth for being a drunk; Harold's son later said that George Sr. was "fond of the bottle," and one of his brothers later turned to alcoholism as well. This later influenced Lowe to refrain from alcohol completely, once saying, "I am not a teetotaller, I am a total abstainer."^[4]

When Lowe was 13, his older brother George Jr. died in a boating accident. George, aged 17, had disappeared and his body was later found floating in Aberamffra Bay; it is speculated that he went to secure the punt he often sailed in and accidentally fell into the water, could not swim, and subsequently drowned. Lowe himself had a similar accident a year later; he took his father's punt out on the Aberamffra Bay during bad weather and it capsized. However, unlike his brother, Harold could swim and managed to make his way back to shore.^[5]

After the death of his brother, Lowe became the eldest son in the family. His father, in turn, had ambitions for him to be apprenticed to a Liverpool businessman, but Lowe was determined to go to sea and wanted to be paid for his work. As a result, he ran away from his home around the age of fifteen and began his career at sea as a ship's boy aboard Welsh coastal schooners, likely in Portmadoc.^[6][7] Lowe would eventually reconcile with his family as he was using his family home as his shore address again by 1901.^[8]

Lowe's earliest known registered vessel was the schooner William Keith, on which he signed as an ordinary seaman from May to October 1900, sailing to Dublin and back. He served the same position on the schooner British Queen from January to June 1901.^[9] Lowe joined the Cortez, a square-rigged sailing ship, as an able seaman from June 1901 to April 1902, sailing on it to Chile, his first deep-sea voyage. In March 1903, Lowe joined the Ormsary, another square-rigged vessel, on its maiden voyage as an able seaman, sailing on it to Australia and Hawaii. He was on the ship for over a year, and it would be his last sailing ship; he left the Ormsary in May 1904 and joined the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) as a rating some time afterwards.^[10]

Lowe made the transistion from sail to steam following his RNR training, joining the Blue Funnel Line which made voyages to Japan and the west coast of Canada and the United States. His first steamship was the SS Prometheus which he joined as an able seaman in August 1904. In November 1904, he was aboard the ship when it was involved in a collision with the SS Petcan. He was later called to testify in front of a Board of Trade inquiry into the incident.^[11] He later joined the SS Telemachus which notably carried a Chinese crew in addition to the regular British crew. Lowe came to hold his Chinese shipmates in high regard, considering them honest and hard-working. During this time, he reportedly risked his own life to save a Chinese sailor who had fallen overboard, by jumping overboard and holding him afloat until help came for both of them. With the Telemachus, Lowe also made his first visit to Canada and the U.S., stopping over in Vancouver, Seattle, and Tacoma.^[12]

In January 1906, Lowe failed at his attempt gaining his second mate's certificate. Afterwards, he joined the Ellerman Line, joining the Justin and then the Fabian, sailing to Mediterranean ports, before resitting for the certificate again and passing in August 1906. He soon joined the SS Ardeola of the Yeoward Line as its third officer. As he had never been an apprentice, Lowe was considered a hawsepiper, taking what was seen as an unconventional route to becoming a ship's officer.^[13]

That same year, Lowe joined Elder Dempster Line, travelling long with West African Coast. His first ship with the line was the SS Charma as fourth officer, being promoted to third officer aboard the SS Bonny. In 1908, he attained his first mate's certificate on his second attempt and was made second officer for SS Madeira and served in the same role on the SS Oron. Lowe contracted malaria during this time and while he survived, it would become a recurring health issue in his later years.^[14]

Between March 1908 and June 1909, Lowe took an extended leave from seafaring. This is likely because his mother Harriet had fallen ill following a stroke and died in March 1909 after a long illness. He would return to sea on the SS Addah, again as second officer. In 1910, he gained his Master's certificate on a second attempt. From December 1910 to March 1911, he would sail on the SS Zaria, his last ship with the Elder Dempster Line.^[15]

In April 1911, Lowe joined the White Star Line. By that point he had, his own words, "experience with pretty well every ship afloat – the different classes of ships afloat – from the schooner to the square-rigged sailing vessel, and from that to steamships, and of all sizes." His first berth would be with the SS Tropic, a cargo ship, as third officer. He was then transferred to the SS Belgic where he served in the same position.^[7]

On 26 March 1912, Lowe reported to White Star's Liverpool offices at nine o'clock in the morning, with orders to join the RMS Titanic. Along with three fellow junior officers, he travelled to Belfast and signed on the ship the following day. Despite his numerous years at sea, the maiden voyage of the Titanic was to be Lowe's first transatlantic crossing. He later described himself as being a "stranger to everyone aboard" the ship as he had never worked with the other officers before, and they had all travelled the Atlantic before at least once while he had not.^[7]

In Belfast, Lowe and Sixth Officer James Moody were tasked with inspecting the starboard lifeboats and their equipment. On sailing day, 10 April, Lowe and Moody were each put in charge of two starboard lifeboats which were lowered and rowed around the dock to satisfy the Board of Trade officials that Titanic met safety regulations.^[16]

White Star operated a watchkeeping system whereby the three senior officers worked the same four-hour watches in every 12-hour period while the junior officers stood the traditional system of four hours on/four hours off with the rest of the Titanic's deck department. This was divided into two watches, designated Port and Starboard, and pairs of junior officers were assigned to each watch. Lowe was assigned to the Port Watch, standing duties with Third Officer Herbert Pitman.^[17] During delivery trip from Belfast to Southampton, and then again during departure from Southampton, Lowe's departure position was in the wheelhouse, in charge of the bridge telephones; his duty was relaying messages and commands from the captain and harbour pilot to his fellow officers stationed at their respective departure positions.^[18]

The sinking

On 14 April 1912, the night of the sinking, Lowe had been relieved at 8:00 P.M. by Sixth Officer Moody. He was asleep in his quarters when the ship hit the iceberg at 11.40 PM and remained asleep through the collision as well as Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall's attempt to awake him. As he explained later, "We officers do not have any too much sleep, and therefore when we sleep, we die." Eventually Lowe finally awakened to passengers outside the officer's quarters who were wearing lifebelts. He realised the seriousness of the situation, and immediately got dressed and went to work.^[7] It is not fully known when he got his personal firearm, described by Lowe as a "Browning Automatic." It is likely he may have gotten it after a few male passengers jumped into a lifeboat and injured a woman as he was later heard to have said, "I will stop that. I will go down and get my gun."^[19]

Third Officer Pitman charged him with loading lifeboat No. 5. During this time, White Star Line chairman J. Bruce Ismay came along side, getting "trifle excited" and began telling the crew there to, "Lower away, lower away, lower away!" Lowe, who had been helping in lowering the boat, angrily ordered him away: "If you will get to hell out of that I shall be able to do something! Do you want me to lower away quickly? You will have me drown the whole lot of them!"^[20]

Around 1:30 A.M., Lowe engaged in a conversation with Sixth Officer Moody: While launching lifeboats Nos. 14 and 16 on the port side of the ship, the two junior officers felt that this group of boats needed to have an officer with them. Moody insisted that Lowe should get onto lifeboat No. 14 and that he would get on another lifeboat. Able Seaman Joseph Scarrott, also in Boat 14, also recalled Lowe ordering Moody to take charge of Lifeboat No. 16.^[21]

By the time lifeboat 14 was being launched, things were beginning to get precarious on the boat deck as the majority of passengers began to realise that the giant ship was foundering. As lifeboat 14 was descending, Lowe used his pistol to fire three shots along the side of the ship in order to frighten away a group of men attempting to leap into the lifeboat. During the Senate Inquiries, Lowe was emphatic in stating that he had not hit anyone, saying that he had looked where he was shooting.^[22]

After reaching the water, Lowe ordered his lifeboat to be rowed about 150 yd (140 m) away from Titanic. When the ship foundered at around 2:20 AM, Lowe had begun to gather several lifeboats together. He wished to return to pick up survivors and began to redistribute survivors in the group of lifeboats he had gathered into a flotilla, in order to ready one lifeboat for a search for additional survivors.^[23]

In charge of lifeboat No. 14, he took back to the site of the sinking a hand-picked team of crewmen to assist in the rescue operation. They waited until the swimmers had thinned out before returning so that they would not be swamped and capsized by their numbers. It was only well-into the operation that they realised this had been unnecessary; the water being simply too cold for anyone to survive any great amount of time, let alone have the energy to swamp a lifeboat.^[7] In total there were four men taken out of the water, one of whom died later that night. Many more voices could be heard in the darkness, but locating them proved to be a largely fruitless task, despite the best efforts of the crew. Lowe's lifeboat is noted as being the only lifeboat to return to the wreck site for survivors, and one of two lifeboats to pick up survivors from the water, the other being Lifeboat No. 4, which had been near enough to the foundering ship to allow some people to swim up to it.

Lowe had his crew of men raise the mast (he was the only officer to make use of the mast and sail in each lifeboat); using a breeze that had sprung up, he continued on to take Collapsible D, which was having difficulty in rowing due to lack of seamen, in tow. He later spotted the water-filled Collapsible A and rescued around 12 survivors from there into Boat 14.^[24] Lowe and his group of lifeboats were picked up the next morning by the RMS Carpathia. An image taken by passenger Louis Ogden on the Carpathia clearly shows Lowe at the tiller of lifeboat 14 as they approach rescue.^[25] He remained aboard his lifeboat long enough to ship the mast and make certain everything was properly stowed before boarding the ship.

Inquiries

The Titanic survivors arrived at Pier 54 in New York on 18 April. Immediately upon landing Lowe was served with a warrant which called upon him to testify in the American inquiry into the sinking. According to sur Second Officer Charles Lightoller, the surviving officers considered the inquiry 'a farce' and were highly resentful owing to perceived poor treatment by the American authorities. They were especially bemused that an enquiry into the sinking of a ship was being conducted by men with no knowledge of sailing, or the sea.^[26]

Unlike the other officers, Lowe, known for his outspokenness, was vocally critical about the inquiry, telling a journalist from The Washington Post: "We all welcome this inquiry. But you Americans got up against us, and now we Britishers are up against you, and we shall see how it comes out." He also developed an intense dislike towards the American press and their photographers, particularly what he saw as their intrusive behavior.^[27]

During his Day 5 testimony, Lowe was direct and the exchanges between him and Senator William Alden Smith, chair of the Senate inquiry, were noted to have been antagonistic. When Smith asked him what an iceberg was composed of, Lowe responded, "Ice, I suppose, sir." He also admitted to swearing at White Star Line chairman J. Bruce Ismay when ordering him away from one of the lifeboat. When reluctant to repeat his words, Ismay encouraged him to, "Give us what you said," to which Lowe retorted with, "The chairman is examining me."^[7]

Along with other surviving officers, Lowe boarded the RMS Adriatic on 2 May to return to England. At Liverpool, he was met by his father and sister Ada. He went on to participate in the British inquiry where he was noticeably more restrained in his language.^[28]

Upon his return to his home town of Barmouth 1,300 people attended a reception held in his honor at the Picture Pavilion. He was presented with a commemorative gold watch, with the inscription "Presented to Harold Godfrey Lowe, 5th officer R.M.S. Titanic by his friends in Barmouth and elsewhere in recognition and appreciation of his gallant services at the foundering of the Titanic 15th April 1912." He was also presented with a set of nautical equipment from survivor Renee Harris inscribed with "To Harold Godfrey Lowe, 5th Officer RMS Titanic. "The real hero of the Titanic." With deepest gratitude from Mrs Henry B. Harris of New York."^[29]

After the inquiries, Lowe returned to sea aboard the SS Medic as the ship's third officer in July 1912. His presence on the ship attracted the attention of the local Australian newspapers but Lowe refused to discuss the disaster any further, remarking that he was "so sick of it all." During the ship's return voyage in October, he suffered a broken leg and was subsequently confined to bed for the remainder of it. In December 1912, he appointed third officer of the SS Gothic, again on the Australian run.^[30]

In June 1913, Lowe received commission as a Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve.^[31] He was promoted to Lieutenant in July 1915.^[32] In July 1914, he was promoted to senior officer, being appointed as Second Officer aboard the SS Cornishman.^[33]

During the First World War, Lowe was initially aboard HMS Donegal which was part of the Grand Fleet; the ship narrowly missed action in the Battle of Jutland, being sent on detached service in the mid-Atlantic just before the naval engagement. He was soon transferred to HMS Suffolk, and saw service in Vladivostok in the Siberian intervention during the Russian Civil War.^[34]

After the war, Lowe returned to serve with the White Star Line. Though he would reach the rank of chief officer, like his fellow surviving Titanic officers, Lowe never held a command of his own. He went on to serve as senior officer on ships such as the RMS Cedric (including his first voyage to New York since the Titanic disaster, in January 1920), the SS Gallic, the SS Suevic, the SS Laurentic, the RMS Baltic, and the SS Doric. The Doric would be his last ship before retiring from the White Star Line in 1931.^[33]

In 1923, Lowe was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander.^[35] He was released from the Naval Reserves in 1927 with the rank of Commander, having received the Reserve Decoration.^[36][33]

From 1932 to 1938, Lowe was a member of the Conwy Borough Council, representing the Deganwy Ward; he was elected for two terms unopposed before retiring. He also turned down an offer to run for mayor. With the outbreak of World War II, Lowe served as an Air Raid Warden and volunteered his home as a sector post, until a stroke in 1942 obliged him to take to a wheelchair and forced him to abandon his wartime role.^[37]

In September 1913, Lowe married Ellen Marion "Nellie" Whitehouse and began using Colwyn Bay, where his wife's family lived, as his shore address. They had two children together: Florence Josephine Edge (known as "Josie"; 1914–1996), and Harold William George (1918–1999) who was born while Lowe was serving in World War I. Lowe's grandson, John Harold Lowe, son of Josie, was a captain in the British Merchant Navy.^[38]

According to his Board of Trade certification applications, Lowe had a tattoo on his right forearm, of his initials "HGL" in a heart.^[39]

Lowe had six siblings: two sisters, Ada Florence and Annie May; and four brothers, George Ernest, Edgar Reginald, Arthur, and Edward. Two of his younger brothers followed Lowe into the merchant service. Edgar became a captain in the Union Company, after settling down in New Zealand. Edward, who also settled in New Zealand, was lost at sea when he was swept overboard from the SS Waitemata in 1927.

He was initiated as a freemason in the St. Trillo Lodge in 1921.

After retiring from seafaring in 1931, Lowe moved his family from Colwyn Bay to Deganwy. He served as a churchwarden, and spent time fishing on his motorboat Pirate on River Conwy. He was an enthusiastic shooter, and was considered a great shot, once even being invited to participate at the King's Prize in the annual Imperial Meeting competition. Lowe also developed into an avid amateur photographer later in life.^[40]

Lowe was a life-long teetotaler, a life choice likely influenced because of his father's alcoholism. An allegation made during the U.S. inquiries that he was drunk during the night the Titanic sank made him noticeably angry and upset; he had to be persuaded to not take the matter any further after vehemently denying it, saying, "I am an abstainer... I say it, sir, without fear of contradiction."^[41]

On 19 November 1937, Lowe nearly drowned in the Conwy River. He was accompanied by his friend William Parry, a railway clerk, and the pair set out in a dinghy to reach his motorboat, Pirate. While Parry managed to step onto the Pirate, a gust of wind caused Lowe to lose his balance and fall between the two crafts. Parry managed to grab Lowe's coat collar and pulled him into the motorboat despite the fact Lowe's knee-length boots had become waterlogged.^[42] The incident made news in the Liverpool Echo, and caused Lowe much embarrassment.^[43]

A stroke in 1942 left Lowe wheelchair-bound for the remainder of his life. He died of hypertension and chronic malaria on 12 May 1944 at the age of 61; he was the first of the surviving officers of the Titanic to die. His body was buried at St. Trillo's Churchyard in Rhos-on-Sea.^[44]

Lowe is the subject of a biography by author Inger Sheil titled Titanic Valour: The Life of Fifth Officer Harold Lowe. In this biography, the author gathers multiple glowing references from both passengers and crew alike, many of whom credit him with having saved their lives. The author notes not just the volume of feeling shown towards Lowe by the people he helped, but also 'a surprising depth'. His strong leadership, organisational skills and encouragement was credited by numerous passengers as having been decisive in their survival; his actions on the night being described as 'exemplary'. Lowe later received multiple gifts and offers of money (which he always turned down) from grateful passengers, and would respond to such praise with the polite, but humble assertion that it was unnecessary as he had simply been doing his job. Survivor Renee Harris, writing in 1932, asserted that through all the years, Lowe had stood out in her memory as "one of the finest men it has been my privilege to meet."^[45]

In 2004, a menu of the first meal ever served aboard Titanic, which Lowe had sent to his then-fiancée when the ship was docked in Ireland, sold for £51,000, breaking the record for auctioned Titanic memorabilia at that time.^[46]

A small blue plaque, unveiled on 7 April 2012, marks Lowe's final home at 1 Marine Crescent in Deganwy, where he lived until his death in 1944.^[47][48]

A slate plaque in Lowe's memory was hung on the centennial anniversary of Titanic's sinking in Barmouth, Gwynedd, Wales. Memorializing Lowe's service, the plaque is inscribed in both Welsh and English, with pictures of Lowe and Titanic. It reads: "In Commemoration of local hero 5th Officer Harold Godfrey Lowe who left Barmouth aged 14 to go to sea. He played a heroic role in the rescue of survivors during the sinking of RMS Titanic on 15 April 1912." The plaque was unveiled by his grandson, John Lowe and Maddy Matthews.^[49]

An oft-repeated allegation originates from a Semi-Monthly Magazine article ghost-written for Titanic passenger Charlotte Collyer which alleged that Lowe initially refused to save one passenger from the water because he was a "Jap" and was picked up only after passengers pressured Lowe to. This account, published in May 1912, is almost certainly false. For one, the passenger was Fang Lang, one of the Chinese passengers aboard Titanic, not Japanese. Further, Titanic historian Inger Shiel notes that Collyer was not in Lifeboat 14 when it returned, having been transferred to another boat with all other passengers except one – second class Charles Williams volunteered to return with the boat – before Lowe and his crew returned to the wrecksite; this was confirmed by several eyewitnesses, including two crewmembers in No. 14 and Collyer's own daughter. Supporting this are Collyer's further claims that the women in her lifeboat later had to row to the Carpathia once dawn arrived, which happened only to the occupants of boats 10 and 12. Lifeboat 14 approached the Carpathia under sail and with a boat in tow, meaning Collyer could not have witnessed the events she described.^[50]

Shiel also notes that Lowe was known to be respectful of the Chinese, having served with them while with the Blue Funnel Line and held them in high regard. Earlier in his maritime career, he risked his life to save a Chinese sailor from drowning by diving into the water and keeping his shipmate afloat until help came along, despite being on the ship's 'sick list' with blood poisoning at the time of the incident.^[51] Steven Schwankert, author of The Six, a book on the Chinese passengers of Titanic, notes that the story was likely embellished by editors – not an uncommon occurence amongst Titanic newspaper accounts – from whom Collyer accepted payment for publishing her account, after the loss of her husband on Titanic and of all her possessions left her destitute.^[52]