A stunning archive that belonged to the ‘true hero of the Titanic’ is being put on sale by his family 108 years after the disaster for £60,000.
Harold Lowe helped scores of women and children into lifeboats and was the only officer to go back for survivors after the famous liner sank.
In the 1997 blockbuster movie, one of those in the water Lowe was portrayed as saving was Kate Winslet’s character Rose.
Harold Lowe saved scores of women and children from death during the Titanic disaster after he skippered his lifeboat back to collect survivors from the water
Mr Lowe, pictured with the Titanic’s surviving officers on the SS Carpathia which rescued survivors from the 1912 tragedy
This certificate was for Mr Lowe’s competency as Master of a ship and is among items for sale
Mr Lowe’s personal belongings include a poignant telescope given to him by real-life survivor who had it inscribed with the words ‘To Harold G. Lowe….The Real Hero of the Titanic.’
There is also his officer’s whistle that he may well have used on board Titanic to organise people into the lifeboats.
His archive includes a very rare photograph of all of the officers on the RMS Carpathia, the ship that rescued all of the survivors hours after the 1912 tragedy.
Clearly, the fate of Titanic played on Mr Lowe’s mind for years afterwards as he painted a superb watercolour picture of the ‘unsinkable’ ship that was cherished by his family.
A stunning officer’s whistle that belonged to Mr Lowe is also among the items being sold by his family for the sum of £60,000
This is a painting of the Titanic by Mr Lowe himself, showing he was a man of many talents
Mr Lowe was the fifth officer on Titanic and was played by the British actor Ioan Gruffudd in James Cameron’s film Titanic.
The moment the officer defied requests from people in his lifeboat not to go back for survivors in case they swamped the small vessel featured in end of the film.
The archive now belongs to a direct descendant of Mr Lowe who has decided to sell it through Henry Aldridge and Son of Devizes, Wiltshire.
It is expected to sell for £60,000.
Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: ‘These items have never been seen or auctioned before having remained in the Lowe family since 1912 and has been inherited by the vendor.
Mr Lowe was played by Ioan Gruffudd (left) in the blockbuster film about the tragic event
Another of the treasures for sale is Mr Lowe’s Royal Naval Reserve Ceremonial Bicorn hat
The Titanic set off from Southampton on her maiden voyage in 1912 but never returned after the ship struck an iceberg and sunk in the Atlantic
‘Harold Lowe was a career seaman and spent 35 years in the merchant navy and amassed this superb archive during that time.
‘He was without doubt one of the heroes of the Titanic disaster. He is venerated by the Titanic community as the officer who went back.
‘Eyewitness accounts at the time and his own account to the official inquiry into the sinking led to him being portrayed in numerous books and films.
‘After Titanic’s collision with the iceberg, he displayed a cool and calm demeanour under pressure.
‘As he loaded women and children in the lifeboats it is said he ordered J.Bruce Ismay, the managing director White Star Line, to get out of his way, telling him ‘you will have me drown the lot of them’, if he didn’t.
‘He left Titanic on lifeboat 14. After his crew rowed about 150 yards from the sinking, Lowe herded five lifeboats together and redistributed passengers.
‘He then went back to the wreck site to pick up any survivors, the only lifeboat to do so with the others believing it to be too dangerous as the survivors would overwhelm the boats.
The Titanic — which sank on April 15, 1912, after a collision with an iceberg — lies on the seafloor around 350 nautical miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. The liner made two short stops en route to her planned Atlantic crossing — one at the French port of Cherbourg, the other at Cork Harbour, Ireland, where smaller vessels ferried passengers on and off board
‘The telescope is very emotive as it comes from a woman called Irene Harris whose husband Henry died in the disaster. Harold Lowe recovered her from a collapsable lifeboat and evidently she was incredibly grateful to him.
‘The watercolour painting his very rare. I don’t know of any other example by an officer on Titanic.
‘We don’t know when he painted it but is likely to have been soon after the disaster.’
Mr Lowe, from Barmouth, Gwynedd, ran away from home aged 14 to join the Merchant Navy and started his career as a ship’s boy.
In 1908 he gained his first mate’s certificate and served as third officer on the White Star Liner vessels SS Belgic and the SS Tropic before being transferred to Titanic as fifth officer in 1912.
This is a telescope which was given to him by Mrs Henry Harris, a survivor of the disaster, and it is inscribed with the moving words: ‘To Harold G. Lowe….The Real Hero of the Titanic.’
He is regarded as a true hero of the Titanic and was the only officer to go back and save people
THE TITANIC DISASTER TIMELINE
Ned Parfett, the ‘Titanic paperboy’, outside of the White Star Line offices in London
April 10, 1912 (12:00):
The Titanic sets sail from Southampton to New York, calling at Cherbourg and Cork en route.
April 14 (09:00–22.30, ship’s time):
Marconi Company radio officers on the Titanic received a total of six warnings of ice in the vicinity, not all of which were passed on to the crew.
April 14 (23:39):
Lookout Frederick Fleet, in the crow’s nest, spots an iceberg dead ahead of the ship. Turning to port, the vessel managed to avoid a direct collision, but suffered a ‘glancing blow’ instead.
April 15 (00:05):
Captain Edward Smith orders abandon ship and has radio operators issue distress signals.
April 15 (02:05):
The Titanic’s final lifeboat is launched. Ten minutes later, the liner’s angle in the water increased rapidly, ultimately reaching over 30 degrees, as water reached previously unflooded parts of the ship through deck hatches.
April 15 (02:20):
The Titanic finally disappeared beneath the waves, some two hours and forty minutes after striking the iceberg.
When the ship struck the iceberg on the night on April 14, 1912, Mr Lowe was off-duty and asleep in his cabin.
He went up on deck and began assisting people into lifeboats 5 and 3 and then 14 which had 58 people in.
As this boat was lowered into the water he was forced to fire several warning shots to stop frantic people jumping onto it from the listing ship.
After rowing 150 yards from the ship, they were forced to watch it sink before going back to pick up four survivors.
He later managed to rig up a sail to lifeboat 14 and proceeded at a speed of five knots towards Carpathia.
On the way he came across the collapsable boat containing Mrs Harris and took it under tow. Upon his return to Barmouth 1,300 people attended a reception held in his honour.
He married wife Ellen in 1913 and they had two children. He served in the Royal Naval Reserve in the First World War and during WWII he volunteered his home as a sector post and served as an air raid warden.
The RMS Titanic was a staggering piece of engineering at the time but suffered a grim fate
This is another angle of the ‘Acme Thunderer’ whistle that Lowe used on board the Titanic
His archive is being sold off separately with the telescope estimated at £20,000. The 15ins by 10ins watercolour painting is valued at £3,000.
The photo of the Carpathia’s officers that was presented to him after his rescue if estimated to sell for £10,000.
His certificate of competency as a master of a ship that replaced the original which was lost on the Titanic is worth £3,000 as is his officer’s whistle.
And his Royal Naval Reserve ceremonial bicorne hat is valued at £3,000.
The sale takes place on June 20.