| "As I was going down the decks I knew, or I expected every moment, that my boat would double up under my feet. I was quite scared of it, although of course it would not do for me to mention the fact to anybody else. I had overcrowded her, but I knew that I had to take a certain amount of risk. So I thought 'well, I shall have to see that nobody else gets into the boat or else it will be a case.'"
(US Senate Inquiry) |  |
| As Lifeboat #14 began its descent, a crowd of men lining the ship's rail appeared ready to spring into the boat. It was at this point that Lowe fired his gun - the aforementioned Browning automatic. While reports of gunshots on various locations of the boat deck throughout the evening were recorded, only Lowe publicly admitted to using his firearm in what would eventually prove to be one of the most highly debated aspects of the disaster. "As I went down I fired shots and without intention of hurting anybody and also with the knowledge that I did not hurt anybody." (US Senate Inquiry)
Senator Smith questioned Lowe closely on this matter, and Lowe offered the following explanation: "...I thought that if one additional body was to fall into that boat, that slight jerk of the additional weight might part the hooks or carry away something, no one would know what. There were a hundred and one things to carry away. Then, I thought, well, I will keep an eye open. So, as we were coming down the decks, coming down past the open decks, I saw a lot of Italians, Latin people, all along the ship's rails - understand, it was open - and they were all glaring, more or less like wild beasts, ready to spring. That is why I yelled out to look out, and let go, bang, right along the ship's side." (US Senate Inquiry)
This explanation would cause unintentional insult to the Italian Ambassador to the United States, and Lowe would later file a sworn affidavit apologizing for his choice of words, insisting that he meant no slight against Italians or their nation. The explanation, although somewhat inflammatory in its wording, apparently satisfied Senator Smith and the Italian Ambassador, who did not pursue the issue further.
Although the United States Senate and Lord Mersey, the Wreck Commissioner presiding over the British Inquiry, had concluded that no one was injured when Lowe fired those shots, at least one popular historian/author has questioned the accuracy of his testimony on this matter. In spite of this revisionist view, the following passenger accounts support the veracity of Lowe's version of events: "... as we got down level with the first deck there were a lot of the Immigrant men just ready to spring into our boat, which was already full. The officer drew his revolver and fired to frighten them and yelled at the same time 'if any one of you men jump into this boat I will shoot you like the dogs that you are so stand back' and they did..." (C. Cameron)"Some men in the steerage were going to spring in and he threatened them with his revolver to shoot the first, knowing that another would buckle up the lifeboat. He shot twice, but only at the side, so that the men, who were panic-stricken in the steerage should know that it was loaded and that he meant what he said." (N. Walcroft)
Although the lowering of Lifeboat #14 had probably been the most eventful thus far, she was not safe yet. As they neared the water, the after fall twisted and the boat's descent halted abruptly: "After getting the women and children in we lowered down to within four or five feet of the water, and then the block and tackle got twisted in some way, causing us to have to cut the ropes to allow the boat to get in the water. This officer, Lowe, told us to do this. He was in the boat with us. I stood by the lever - the lever releasing the blocks from the hooks in the boat. He told me to wait, to get away and cut the line to raise the lever, thereby causing the hooks to open and allow the boat to drop in the water." (G. Crowe, US Senate Inquiry)
The boat dropped down to the ocean surface, slapping hard into the water as spray drenched its occupants. The crew began swiftly rowing away from the wreck. The impact with the water caused the boat to develop a leak: "When the boat was released and fell I think she must have sprung a leak. A lady stated that there was some water coming up over her ankles. Two men and this lady assisted in bailing it out with bails that were kept in the boat for that purpose" (G. Crowe,US Senate Inquiry)
Sarah Compton, a passenger who had left her brother behind on the ship, recalled those first minutes in the open ocean vividly:
"He [Mr Lowe] asked us all to try and find a lantern, but none was to be found. Mr Lowe had with him, however, an electric light which he flashed from time to time. Almost at once the boat began to leak and in a few moments the women in the forward part of the boat were standing in water. There was nothing to bail with and I believe the men used their hats. "Officer Lowe insisted on having the mast put up. He crawled forward and in a few moments the mast was raised and ready. He said this was necessary as no doubt with dawn there would be a breeze. He returned to his place and asked the stewards and firemen, who were acting as crew, if they had any matches, and insisted on having them passed to him. He then asked if they had any tobacco, and said: 'Keep it in your pockets, for tobacco makes you thirsty.'" (S. Compton, cited in "A Survivor's Story")
Lowe commenced rounding up the nearby lifeboats- #10, #12, #4 and Collapsible D, and organizing them under his leadership. J. Hardy in Collapsible D (the last boat lowered from Titanic) recalled how "We got clear of the ship and rowed out some distance from her Mr Lowe told us to tie up with other boats, that we would be better seen and could keep better together. " (J. Hardy, US Senate Inquiry)
Although not filled to their nominal capacity, some of those in the boats believed that they were actually over-filled: "The worst thing really during the night was the lifeboat that I was in which was number 14 was so hopelessly overcrowded that in the night they started taking people out of it and putting them in other boats..." (E. Hart)
Irene (Rene) Harris gave an account of tying up the boats, and the encouragement the young officer in command afforded to those under his care:
"Out of the darkness came a voice, strong, ringing, youthful. 'Anybody there?'. The quartermaster answered. 'All right, quartermaster,' came the voice, 'how many have you aboard?' 'Nineteen.' 'How many can you hold?' 'Thirty.' 'All right, tie up to me.' "A boat swung round in front of us and we tied fast. We started off with new strength." (R.Harris)
Lowe saw the ship to which he had been assigned only weeks before gradually slip away. Her stern rose sharply in the air, and her lights blinked out once, came back on, then went out forever. Although he was not questioned as to whether the ship broke up in her final moments, as he did not volunteer this information it would appear he did not see Titanic break in two. "She went down bow first and inclined at an angle. That is, when she took her final plunge she was inclined at an angle of about 75 degrees." (US Senate Inquiry)
1,500 people were left foundering on the surface, and their cries rang out clearly over the water - "all was silent for a moment and then the cries...all were crying for help; it was terrible." (C. Cameron)
Lowe, not a man by nature to passively react to a situation, found himself in what must have been an unbearable situation. He behaved in an entirely characteristic way: "He [Lowe] said he thought it would be best to return to the wreckage and see if we could save any lives. At this time we had not put our people into the other boats" (G. Crowe, US Senate Inquiry)
The suggestion did not meet with universal approval: "Then Officer Lowe wanted to go back to the rescue, but the women begged him not to go. He got about four boats together and distributed his passengers amongst them as many as he possibly could and then went back to the rescue." (N. Walcroft)
AB Frank Evans offers the perspective of a crewman in Lifeboat #10: "He [Lowe] came over in No. 14 boat, and he says, 'are there any seamen there?' We said 'Yes, sir.' He said, 'All right; you will have to distribute these passengers among these boats. Tie them all together and come into my boat to go over into the wreckage and pick up anyone that is alive there.'" (F. Evans, US Senate Inquiry)
The night was illuminated only by starlight, and in tying up the boats the men had lost their bearing: "Endeavoring to get the other boats together, we were making a circle after each other, and consequently we lost our bearing, and we did not know in which direction to go." (G. Crowe, US Senate Inquiry). Lowe was able to bring order to his little flotilla of boats, and execute the plan he had conceived. |
 | The first problem to be tackled was the distribution of the passengers from #14 into the other boats. This gave rise to an incident that would have repercussions for Lowe at the United States Inquiry. First class passenger Daisy Minahan would later declare that "As I came up to him to be transferred to the other boat he said, 'Jump, God damn you, jump.' I had shown no hesitancy and was waiting only my turn. He had been so blasphemous during the two hours we were in his boat that the women at my end of the boat all thought he was under the influence of liquor." Lowe was later confronted with the allegation of intoxication: |
| Senator Smith: Are you a temperate man? Lowe: I am, sir. I never touched it in my life. I am an abstainer. Smith: I am very glad to have you say that. Lowe: I say it sir, without fear of contradiction. Smith: I am not contradicting you, and I congratulate you upon it; but so many stories have been circulated; one has just been passed up to me now, from a reputable man, who says that it was reported that you were drinking that night. Lowe: Me, sir? Smith: That is the reason I asked the question. Lowe: No, sir, this [raising glass of water] is the strongest drink I ever take. (US Senate Inquiry)
At least one writer has suggested that Lowe was amused by the charge of drunkenness. A lifelong total abstainer, Lowe in fact did not find the allegation remotely humorous, certainly not in the context of question of whether he performed his duty on the night Titanic sank. Survivor and historian Colonel Archibald Gracie, who wrote one of the earliest and best accounts of the disaster, specifically included Sarah Compton's letter in his book to counter Minahan's affidavit. He would also further note that: "There is no doubt of it that he [Lowe] was intemperate in his language only. In all other respects he was a first class officer, as proven by what he accomplished...I met Officer Lowe in Washington the time both of us were summoned before the U.S. Court of Inquiry, and I am quite sure that the only point against him is that he was a trifle hasty in speech in the accomplishment of his work." (A. Gracie)
The language of seaman is proverbial ('to swear like a sailor'), and one contemporary story told of how it grieved a parson who was a passenger aboard a ship to hear the men go aloft cursing "every thing up hill and down dale". The Captain reassured the parson, saying "that's all right. When you hear the men cursing like that, you may be sure there is no danger of the ship going down." Lowe had the lexicon of the sea, and was not hesitant in using it. Viewed in context, however, it should be remembered that even the quite phlegmatic Boxhall would, under the pressures of the events of that night, snap at a female passenger to "shut up".
The admiration of other passengers under his care was summed up by Sarah Compton : "Mr. Lowe's manly bearing gave us all confidence. As I look back now he seems to me to personify the best traditions of the British sailor." (S. Compton)
Ms Compton was certainly not alone in these views, as passenger Clear Cameron's private correspondence illustrated: "…If it hadn't been for him I know we should have been drowned." (C. Cameron)
During the reshuffling of passengers, Lowe discovered one male passenger had apparently adopted a disguise of sorts and stowed away - "He had a shawl over his head, and everything else; and I only found out at the last moment." (US Senate Inquiry.) Lowe hurled the man into one of the other lifeboats without a word, declaring later that the stowaway "was not worthy of being handled better."
He then had his men wait on their oars about 150 yards away from the survivors in the water – "If anybody had struggled out of the mass, I was there to pick them up; but it was useless for me to go into the mass…it would have been suicide." (US Senate Inquiry)
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