At 14, he ran away from his home in Barmouth where he had attended school and joined the Merchant Navy, serving along the West African Coast.

On sailing day (10 April), Lowe assisted (among other things) in the lowering of two of the starboard lifeboats to satisfy the Board of Trade that Titanic met safety regulations.

By the time lifeboat 14 was being launched, things were beginning to get precarious on the boat deck as the majority of passengers began to realise that the giant ship was foundering.

He wished to return to pick up survivors but had fears of being swamped by hordes of people due to the lack of experienced crewmen in the boats.

It was only well-into the operation that they realised this had been unnecessary; the water being simply too cold for anyone to survive any great amount of time, let alone have the energy to swamp a lifeboat.

His testimony in the American Senate Hearing was direct, often to the point of being flippant; when asked what an iceberg was composed of, Lowe responded, "Ice, I suppose, sir.

After the war he returned to serve with International Mercantile Marine ships and the White Star Line, retiring in 1931 to Deganwy with his family.

[8] During World War II he volunteered his home as a sector post and served as an Air Raid Warden until ill health obliged him to take to a wheelchair.

The film depicted Lowe rescuing first-class passenger Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) from the freezing ocean after she blows a whistle to get his attention.

In this biography, the author gathers multiple glowing references from both passengers and crew alike, many of whom credit him with having saved their lives.

Lowe later received multiple gifts and offers of money (which he always turned down) from grateful passengers, and would respond to such praise with the polite, but humble assertion that it was unnecessary as he had simply been doing his job.

Survivor Renee Harris, writing in 1932, gave an interview in which she asserted that through all the years, Lowe had stood out in her memory as one of the finest men she had ever been privileged to meet.

[9] A small blue plaque, unveiled on 7 April 2012, marks Lowe's final home at 1, Marine Crescent in Deganwy, Conwy, where he lived until his death in 1944.

[10][11] A slate plaque in Lowe's memory was hung on the centennial anniversary of Titanic's sinking in Barmouth, Gwynedd, Wales.

It reads: "In Commemoration of local hero 5th Officer Harold Godfrey Lowe who left Barmouth aged 14 to go to sea.

[12] A 2018 opinion piece in the Huffington Post titled "Here's Why You've Never Heard of the Titanic's Chinese Survivors", was less favourable to Lowe, who allegedly initially refused to save one man because he was a "Jap".

The man, Fang Lang – who is actually supposed to have been one of the 8 Chinese on board the Titanic – was picked up from floating wreckage after passengers pressured Lowe.