Commander Harold Godfrey Lowe (21 November 1882 – 12 May 1944) was a British merchant mariner and naval officer who served as the fifth officer aboard the during its ill-fated maiden voyage, and the most junior of the four ship's officers who survived the disaster.
In charge of lifeboat No. 14, Lowe received praise for his conduct during the sinking and for returning to the wreck site after the ship sank in search for survivors, the only boat which voluntarily returned. Along with a volunteer crew, he rescued four survivors from the water and at least twelve others from the swamped Collapsible Boat A, and took them to safety aboard . Lowe went on to participate in both inquiries into the disaster.
Lowe went on to serve in the merchant naval service until retiring from seafaring in 1931. He served in the Royal Naval Reserve during World War I and, despite his failing health, as an air raid warden in World War II. In retirement, he entered local politics as a councillor in Deganwy, Wales. In 1944, he became the first surviving officer of Titanic to die, following two years of ill-health after a stroke.
Early life
Lowe was born in Eglwys Rhos, Carnarvonshire, Wales, on 21 November 1882, in his paternal grandfather's home Bryn Lupus. He was the third of seven children born to Emma Harriet () and George Edward Lowe. Though he spent most of his shore life in North Wales, Lowe was mostly English by ancestry; his father was from Chester, 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. Lowe learned to speak Welsh fluently, and identified as Anglo-Welsh.
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. He and his siblings lived in Penrallt House – Welsh for "House on the Slope" – which his mother Harriet ran as a hotel. 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."
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, Lowe could swim and managed to make his way back to shore.
Maritime career beginnings Career in sail
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 and had him transferred to Barmouth County Intermediate School in preparation for that career path. However, Lowe was determined to go to sea and wanted to be paid for his work, explaining later on, "I was not going to work for anybody for nothing." 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. Lowe eventually reconciled with his family as he was using his family home, Penrallt, as his shore address by 1901.
Lowe's earliest known registered vessel was the schooner Excel where he signed on as a cook in November 1899 for one voyage to Poole, Dorset. He would then join the Aeron Lass as an ordinary seaman from December 1899 to April 1900. He went on to serve in the same position aboard the William Keith, from May to October 1900, sailing to Dublin and back, and on the British Queen from January to June 1901.
In June 1901, Lowe joined the Cortez, a square-rigged sailing ship, as an able seaman from June 1901, sailing on it to Chile, as well as rounding Cape Horn; it was his first deep-sea voyage and he was with the ship till April 1902. 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.
Early years in steam Lowe made the transition from sail to steam following his RNR training, joining the Blue Funnel Line which made voyages to the Far East 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.
Lowe 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 sailors. During this time, he risked his own life to save a Chinese sailor who had fallen overboard, by jumping overboard himself and holding the man 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.
In January 1906, Lowe failed at his attempt gaining his second mate's certificate. Afterwards, he joined the Ellerman Line, sailing aboard the Justin and then the Fabian to Mediterranean ports. He resat for the certificate again in August 1906, passing it on the second try.
Not wanting to return to sea as an able seaman, Lowe held out for a job as an officer, and soon joined the cargo ship SS Ardeola of the Ardeola Steamship Company as its third officer, sailing to the Canary Islands. Having taken what was seen as an unconventional route to becoming a ship's officer, Lowe was considered a hawsepiper; of the Titanics seven officers, he was the only one not to serve an apprenticeship and the only one who had previously served either as an ordinary seaman or able seaman.
That same year, Lowe joined the Elder Dempster Line, travelling along with West African Coast. His first ship with the line was the SS Charma as fourth officer, before 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; during the voyage, he briefly served as Chief Officer. Lowe contracted malaria during this time and, while he survived, it would become a recurring health issue in his later years.
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. Soon after her death, 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.
In April 1911, Lowe joined the White Star Line. His first assignment with the new line would be with the , a cargo ship on the Australian route. Joining the ship as fourth officer, he was promoted to third officer on sailing day after the original third officer was transferred. After one voyage, a few days after returning to Liverpool, he was assigned as third officer of the , a passenger liner on the Australian route making its first voyage as a White Star Liner. During his tenure aboard, there was a mutiny amongst the firemen and the deck crew which forced the Belgics captain, J. H. Thornton, to issue arrest warrants and later led to a number of crew deserting the ship when it reached. Lowe returned to Liverpool aboard the Belgic on 21 February 1912.
RMS Titanic
Historian Inger Sheil notes that Lowe's transfer to the , the world's largest ocean liner at the time, from small cargo and passenger ships remains "something of a mystery" as, unlike his fellow Titanic officers, he had never served aboard a Royal Mail Ship nor had he any experience of sailing the North Atlantic before. She speculates that Lowe's performance during the difficult voyage aboard the SS Belgic likely impressed company officials and led to him being transferred aboard White Star Line's newest liner.
On 26 March 1912, Lowe reported to White Star's Liverpool offices at nine o'clock in the morning, with orders to join the . 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 crossing of the North Atlantic. He later described himself as being a "stranger to everyone on board" the ship as he had never worked with the other officers before, and they had all travelled the North Atlantic routes before at least once while he had not.
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.
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 crew. 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.
During the 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. In Queenstown, Lowe was photographed aboard the tender America, alongside another officer (likely his watchmate Pitman), overseeing the off-loading of passengers and sacks of mail.
The sinking and evacuation On 14 April 1912, Lowe was relieved at 8:00 PM by Sixth Officer Moody. He was asleep in his quarters when the ship scraped by an iceberg at 11:40 PM, remaining asleep through it as well as Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall's attempt to awaken him. As he explained later, "We do not have any too much sleep, and therefore when we sleep, we die." Eventually Lowe was awakened by noises outside his cabin and found passengers in the officer's quarters who were wearing lifebelts. He got dressed and headed out on deck where he realised the seriousness of the situation due to the ship being noticeably down by the bow. It is not fully known when he got his personal firearm, described by Lowe as a "Browning Automatic." While he implies he took it with him after getting dressed, it is more likely he retrieved it after a few male passengers jumped into a lifeboat as it was being lowered and injured a woman; he was later heard to have said, "I will stop that. I will go down and get my gun."