Harold Godfrey Lowe grave
(21st
November 1882 to 12th May 1944)
On the way home
from Llanfairfechan in Wales I pulled in by a quaint
churchyard at Rhos-On-Sea. I was here to find the
grave of Harold Lowe who was an officer on the Titanic. Only a quarter of the
crew survived and Harold was one of the lucky souls. In all about 2200 people were
on board and about 700 people lived to tell the tale (but Harold rarely did.) The
cemetery was quite sprawling but I knew his grave was next to the perimeter
wall so I soon found it.
He was born
here in Rhos-On-Sea in 1882, the fourth of eight
children. He ran away from home aged 14, joined the Merchant Navy and sailed
around the African coast. Aged 19 he was back and gained more sailing
certificates. Aged 30 he was working for White Star which owned the Titanic liner
and he got a job on it. He reported to White Star’s offices in Liverpool then
travelled to Belfast to board the liner to make his first Atlantic crossing.
Two days after
the liner set sail he was off duty and asleep in his bunk. He remained sleeping
when the liner struck an ice berg at about 11.40pm. He woke about half an hour later and realised
the liner was in trouble. He dressed, grabbed his revolver and went up onto
deck to find the bow was tipping about fifteen degrees. He saw groups of passengers
in lifejackets and began helping launch lifeboats.
By 1:30am
panic was rife among the passengers. He spoke with fellow Officer James Moody and
they both felt the boats needed officers with them. Harold boarded Lifeboat 14
and as it was being lowered he fired three warning shots into the air to stop frightened
people trying to jump aboard. When the boat reached the water he ordered it to
be rowed about 140m away from the doomed liner. About twenty boats were
launched. For fifty minutes the people in these boats witnessed the luxury liner
slowly sliding under surface of the sea. By 2.20am it had gone. Before it had
sank two miles to the seabed Harold began to gather several lifeboats together.
He helped to spread the people more evenly over the boats (you can get 45
people in one.) Using light from a lantern he took a lifeboat across to the
location where the liner sank shouting, "Is there anyone alive out there?"
He picked up only four men but one died later on. He spotted a man who had
lashed himself to a door which must have torn off the liner as it sank. The man
was facing down and did not answer to calls. Sensing a breeze Harold had his
crew raise the small mast and they rescued more people from Lifeboat Collapsible
A which was sinking. The next morning they were picked up by RMS Carpathia. When Harold returned home 1,300 turned out to a
reception held to honour him and he was presented with a gold watch.
I thought
there may be some kind of wreath on the grave but there wasn’t - only small pots
with dead flowers in them. Harold lies here with his wife (they had two
children) with a view of the sea he loved. Not much is known about him. He
served in both World Wars and retired at 49. Ill health forced him into a
wheelchair and he died aged 61 of hypertension (high blood pressure.) Before
the liner sailed Harold had posted his fiancé a menu of the first meal ever
served. This was sold at an auction for £51,000 in 2004. I did a hearty salute
and left.
Harold in the
famous film...
