Emily Chan
In 2020, a collection of items that belonged to an officer on the RMS Titanic went up for auction. The items were the property of fifth officer Harold Lowe, one of the heroes of the tragic shipwreck who survived the event.
The Titanic sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean after hitting an iceberg in April 1912, resulting in the deaths of over 1,500 people. Lowe commanded the 14th lifeboat and saved survivors from the icy waters.
He possibly even served as the whistleblower, alerting passengers to the maritime disaster. A whistle was found among his personal effects, which was one of the items that went up for auction.
Once he had helped the passengers on his lifeboat get to safety, Lowe was the only officer to return to the wreck to pull more survivors out of the water.
Lowe was born in North Wales. At the time of the Titanic’s sinking, he was 29 years old. After the incident, he remained a sailor. He died in 1944 at the age of 61.
In James Cameron’s 1997 film Titanic, he was portrayed by a Welsh actor named Ioan Gruffudd, who rescued Kate Winslet’s character Rose.
“Harold Lowe was without a doubt one of the heroes of the Titanic disaster,” said Andrew Aldridge, the auctioneer of the British auction house Henry Aldridge & Son.
“As he loaded women and children in the lifeboats, it is said he ordered J. Bruce Ismay, the managing director of White Star Line, to get out of his way, telling him, ‘You will have me drown the lot of them,’ if he didn’t.”
The other officers would not risk going back to the wreck because they were afraid that the desperate survivors would overwhelm the lifeboats. Lowe’s bravery stood out from the others, and he has been remembered with respect ever since.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
