Harold Godfrey Lowe

Titanic Survivor. He served as the Fifth Officer on board the RMS Titanic. He was born in Eglwys Rhos, Conwy, Wales. He began his career at sea at the age of 14 after running away from home. He joined the White Star Line in January 1911. Prior to joining the Titanic he served as Third Officer on both the Belgic and the Tropic along the West-African coast. He joined the ship in Belfast and assisted in supervising lifeboat drills prior to the ships departure from Southampton on April 10th. During the afternoon of April 14th he assisted in plotting the Titanic's course for the night's run before retiring to his cabin around eight o'clock in the evening. He was awakened later in the night by voices outside his cabin and on the boat deck. Looking out his cabin's porthole, he noticed passengers milling about wearing lifebelts and being assisted into the ship's lifeboats. Dressing quickly and grabbing his automatic revolver he went directly to the boat deck where he was put to work by Third Officer Herbert Pitman loading passengers into lifeboat five located on the starboard side of the ship. During the lowering of the boat he became involved in a heated confrontation with White Star President Bruce Ismay for interfering with the process. Lowe ordered Ismay away with the remark "Do you want me to lower away quickly? You will have me drown the whole lot of them." Following the successful lowering of lifeboat five he was placed in charge of lifeboat 14 on the opposite side of the ship. As the situation became more desperate, several attempts were made to rush the boat by panicking passengers. He was forced to fire warning shots along the length of the ship to keep the boat from being swamped. His heroic actions earned high praise from the survivors of lifeboat 14 and ultimately prevented the loss of additional lives. He was rescued by the Carpathia and arrived in New York City on April 18th and within days appeared before the United States Senate as a material witness. Following the Titanic disaster he served in the Royal Navy during World War One before returning to a career at sea. He retired with his wife to North Wales where he died at the age of 61.