Did the Surviving Officers Remain in Touch With One Another?
Tim Gerard
Member
There's a photo floating around on Wikipedia of Lightoller with Pitman. That might have been from during the inquiries though.
Julian Atkins
Member
Pitman visited Boxhall in March 1961.
www.encyclopedia-titanica.org
I don't think there was much 'esprit de corps' between the surviving officers of Titanic.
Cheers,
Julian
The Boxhall Letters
I don't think there was much 'esprit de corps' between the surviving officers of Titanic.
Cheers,
Julian
Seumas
Member
Pitman visited Boxhall in March 1961.
The Boxhall Letters
I don't think there was much 'esprit de corps' between the surviving officers of Titanic.
Cheers,
Julian
Thank you for that Julian.
I guess we could chalk up Boxhall and Pitman as one example of the surviving officers staying in touch.
From what I've read about him, Lowe seems to have been the kind of person who just preferred his own company and that of his immediate family. He doesn't seem like one to have kept up a correspondence or arranged to meet and discuss "old times"
Inger Sheil
Member
Lightoller and Boxhall had further contact with each other - Boxhall even took his niece to visit the Lightollers when she was studying in London in the 1930s. Lowe and Pitman also seem to have had some further contact - I'm still working on this angle.
Dave Gittins
Member
Hooray!!! Inger is back, bringing plenty of good sense with her!
Inger Sheil
Member
Thanks Dave - I was hoping you were still hanging out on ET!
Mark Baber
RIP
Inger!
Inger Sheil
Member
Thank you for the WB, Mark! I'm working on a lot of Titanic related projects right now, which naturally brought me back here - home.
Seumas
Member
This is excellent information, Inger !
There we have it, there was indeed a fair amount of contact between these men in the years after the disaster.
As a relatively new poster on ET it's exciting to be able to communicate with you Inger. As board "lurker" for a long time before joining I have read many of your posts from down the years on ET and learned a lot from them.
Now what with you being Harold Lowe's biographer, I can't resist asking a quick question about Lowe if I may ?
As I posted above, from the bits and pieces I've read about the man himself (particularly about his post-White Star life as a harbourmaster in North Wales) he seemed to me to be the kind of person who preferred his own company and that of his immediate family.
Would you agree or disagree with that view ?
Inger Sheil
Member
Hallo Seumas - delighted to meet you too. Lowe did not serve as a harbourmaster - he resigned from the White Star Line in 1931 after his father-in-law passed away, and he and his family retired to Deganwy where he did serve as a town councillor. During WW2 he offered up his home as a command post and was a volunteer Air Raid Warden until ill health confined him to a wheelchair.
He did rather tend to prefer to go home between voyages and spend time with his family in North Wales - I have a copy of a letter from a WSL officer who mentioned that while he knew Boxhall and Lightoller (regarding the latter particularly warmly), he did not know and had often wondered what became of Lowe. This is curious, as Lowe's career closely paralleled that of Boxhall's in the 1920s - the often served on the same ships within months of each other. Lowe certainly wasn't overly fond of cronyism, particularly as it often involved drinking (he said that some of his colleagues obtained promotions by taking a WSL official out and "plying him with gin"), and this may have been a factor in him socialising less in port with colleagues. He did, however, have some very deep friendships around the world - he had good friends both at home and in places like Canada and Australia.
He did rather tend to prefer to go home between voyages and spend time with his family in North Wales - I have a copy of a letter from a WSL officer who mentioned that while he knew Boxhall and Lightoller (regarding the latter particularly warmly), he did not know and had often wondered what became of Lowe. This is curious, as Lowe's career closely paralleled that of Boxhall's in the 1920s - the often served on the same ships within months of each other. Lowe certainly wasn't overly fond of cronyism, particularly as it often involved drinking (he said that some of his colleagues obtained promotions by taking a WSL official out and "plying him with gin"), and this may have been a factor in him socialising less in port with colleagues. He did, however, have some very deep friendships around the world - he had good friends both at home and in places like Canada and Australia.
Seumas
Member
Thanks Inger, that's brilliant information
Sorry about that dud information about him being a harbormaster, can't think where I got that rubbish from.
I had no idea that Lowe was involved in local politics and an ARP warden. I wonder what his "technique" was in dealing with people who had neglected their blackout !
If I recall rightly from what I've read in your old posts, Lowe was also a man of deep Christian faith and (following on from what you said about his distaste for drinking) completely abstained from drinking alcohol ?
Sorry about that dud information about him being a harbormaster, can't think where I got that rubbish from.
I had no idea that Lowe was involved in local politics and an ARP warden. I wonder what his "technique" was in dealing with people who had neglected their blackout !
If I recall rightly from what I've read in your old posts, Lowe was also a man of deep Christian faith and (following on from what you said about his distaste for drinking) completely abstained from drinking alcohol ?
Julian Atkins
Member
I have a clear recollection of Lowe writing a letter to the Model Engineer magazine in the 1950s, but I have been unable to find it. My own collection of Model Engineer magazines (though substantial) has a few gaps, and the online index hasn't helped, but I did have access many years ago to bound volumes of the Model Engineer magazine.
Incidentally, Boxhall was also someone who read the Model Engineer magazine, though he probably read it in his local library rather than buy it!
Incidentally again, Leslie Harrison, in Titanic Myth Part 2, refers to Boxhall applying to the MMSA for financial help.
Cheers,
Julian
Incidentally, Boxhall was also someone who read the Model Engineer magazine, though he probably read it in his local library rather than buy it!
Incidentally again, Leslie Harrison, in Titanic Myth Part 2, refers to Boxhall applying to the MMSA for financial help.
Cheers,
Julian
Seumas
Member
It might have been a wee bit tricky for Harold Lowe to have written a letter to the Model Engineer magazine in the 1950s,. He died in 1944.
Are you sure it wasn't perhaps an article about the Titanic that focused on his particular story or alternatively someone who wrote to the magazine stating as part of their letter that they were a relative of the late Harold Lowe, fifth officer aboard RMS Titanic ?
Inger Sheil
Member
As Seumas says, it would not have been possible for Lowe to have written the letter in the 1950s. Is it possible you saw an earlier edition from the 1920s or 30s? I note that "Model Engineer" magazine was first published in 1898, and Lowe did build models - I don't know of any that are still extant, but during the 1920s he built one that his son remembered "sailed beautifully" (he named it "Half Pay", as it was built when he was temporarily on half pay with the WSL). Boxhall said he'd never built a model because he didn't have the patience.
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