Titanic Valour

Book excerpt: 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 fifteen-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.