Titanic Valour

The Life of Fifth Officer Harold Lowe

Inger Sheil

The first biography of Welsh hero Harold Lowe, the only officer to return in a lifeboat for Titanic survivors

I have never prided myself upon being a prophet, but of this I am positive: When the Titanic disaster has become a matter of history, Harold G. Lowe will occupy the hero's place.

– Sheriff Joseph E Bayliss, Sergeant at Arms to the United States Senate

20 May 1912

 

Harold Lowe, Fifth Officer of RMS Titanic, was described by another survivor as "the real hero of the Titanic." After taking an active role in the evacuation, Lowe took command of a raft of lifeboats, distributing passengers among them so he could return to the wreckage and look for survivors—the only officer to do so. He succeeded in raising a sail, rescued the drenched inhabitants of a sinking lifeboat, and towed another boat to safety. Lowe had a long and fascinating life at sea. The tragic sinking of the Titanic was only the most notorious incident in a career that took him as a 15-year-old runaway to the coast of West Africa and into action in Siberia during the Russian Revolution. Titanic historian Inger Sheil has worked closely with Lowe's family to compile a gripping biography of this heroic Welshman.

Table of contents

• Title
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• Prologue
• 1 ‘Where Are You Bound?’
• 2 Boatman and Sailor
• 3 In Line of Reserve
• 4 ‘A Good Bridge Officer’
• 5 White Star Line
• 6 A Stranger to Everyone on Board
• 7 Mayhem on the Titanic
• 8 Launching Lifeboat 14
• 9 ‘I’ve Taken Command Here’
• 10 The US Titanic Inquiry
• 11 A British Reckoning
• 12 In Peace and War
• 13 The Bolshevik Business
• 14 Families in Decline
• 15 ‘Before I’m Too Old’
• Epilogue
• Appendix I Affidavit of Harold Lowe
• Appendix II Career History of Harold Lowe
• Plates
• Copyright