28 Facts About Harold Lowe

Commander Harold Godfrey Lowe was a British naval officer.

Harold Lowe was the fifth officer of the RMS Titanic, and was one of the four ship's officers to survive the disaster.

Harold Godfrey Lowe was born in Llanrhos, Caernarvonshire, Wales, on 21 November 1882, the fourth of eight children, born to George Edward and Emma Harriette Quick.

Harold Lowe's father had ambitions for him to be apprenticed to a successful Liverpool businessman, but Lowe was determined to go to sea.

On sailing day, Harold Lowe assisted in the lowering of two of the starboard lifeboats to satisfy the Board of Trade that Titanic met safety regulations.

When Titanic departed Southampton at noon, Harold Lowe was on the bridge, relaying messages to various parts of the ship by telephone.

Harold Lowe claimed he felt like an outsider while aboard the Titanic as he had never worked with the other officers before, and they had all travelled over the Atlantic before while he had not.

Harold Lowe was assigned to the Port Watch, standing duties with Third Officer Herbert Pitman.

Harold Lowe remained asleep through the collision, but woke up 30 minutes later.

Moody insisted that Harold Lowe should get onto lifeboat No 14 and that he would get on another lifeboat.

Harold Lowe wished to return to pick up survivors but had fears of being swamped by hordes of people due to the lack of experienced crewmen in the boats.

Harold Lowe redistributed the survivors in the group of lifeboats he had gathered into a flotilla, in order to ready one lifeboat for a search for additional survivors.

Harold Lowe's is noted as being one of only two lifeboats to return for survivors.

Harold Lowe remained aboard his lifeboat long enough to ship the mast and make certain everything was properly stowed.

Immediately upon landing Harold Lowe was served with a warrant which called upon him to testify in the American inquiry into the sinking.

In September 1913, Lowe married Ellen Marion Whitehouse, and they had two children, Florence Josephine who was born in 1914 and died in 1999 and Harold William who was born while Lowe was serving in World War I He served in the Royal Naval Reserve during the First World War and saw service in Vladivostok during the Russian Revolution and Civil War, attaining the rank of Lieutenant, RNR.

Harold Lowe died of hypertension on 12 May 1944 at the age of 61.

Harold Lowe's body was buried at Llandrillo-yn-Rhos churchyard in Rhos-on-Sea in North Wales.

In 1979's S O S Titanic Lowe was played by Karl Howman.

Harold Lowe was portrayed by Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd in the 1997 blockbuster movie Titanic.

The film depicted Harold Lowe rescuing first-class passenger Rose DeWitt Bukater from the freezing ocean after she blows a whistle to get his attention.

Harold Lowe was portrayed by Kavan Smith in the 1996 miniseries.

Harold Lowe was played by Ifan Meredith in the 2012 TV miniseries Titanic.

Harold Lowe later received multiple gifts and offers of money 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, gave an interview in which she asserted that through all the years, Harold Lowe had stood out in her memory as one of the finest men she had ever been privileged to meet.

Harold Lowe played a heroic role in the rescue of survivors during the sinking of RMS Titanic on 15 April 1912.

Rescue vessel 14 commanded by Harold Lowe approached the Carpathia under sail, meaning Collyer could not have witnessed the events she described.

Shiel notes that Harold Lowe was known to be respectful of the Chinese, and is reported to have risked his life to save a Chinese sailor from drowning during his early maritime career, diving into the water and keeping his Asian shipmate afloat, despite being on the ship's 'sick list' with blood poisoning at the time of the incident.