John W. Lowe

John W. Lowe was born in Exton, England, November 18, 1854. He is a son of John and Mary Ann (Chester) Lowe, natives of England who always lived in that country, Mrs. Lowe still surviving her husband, who died in 1857. She has been visited twice by her son John W., who has traveled to some extent throughout Great Britain.

At the age of three years Mr. Lowe moved with his parents to Rugby, where he lived until he reached his twelfth year. At this time he went to sea as boy on the schooner Mistletoe, and remained on her part of a season, then going as engineer's messroom boy on the steamer Siloth, with which he remained eight months. The following year he shipped on the Helvetia as butcher's mate, and then acted in the same capacity on the Celtic, running between New York and Liverpool. At this time he came to Detroit and entered the employ of Hull Brothers, by whom he was engaged one year, after which he shipped on the Superior as fireman, continuing thus for three seasons. Following this he served as fireman upon the Fred Kelley and the E.B. Hale, and as oiler on the Wallula, later holding the berth of second engineer on the Columbia, tug Goodnow, Smith Moore, A.E. Everett, George Spencer, and J.H. Devereux. In 1889 he went on the Elfinmere as chief, and after two seasons transferred to the Republic to occupy the same position, in which he is still retained.

Mr. Lowe was married, September 18, 1882, to Miss Fannie McRae, of Pomeroy, Ohio. They have one child, Bessie, who is attending school at the present time.

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Volume I

This version of Volume II is based, with permission, on the work of the great volunteers at the Marine Captains Biographies site. To them goes the credit for reorganizing the content into some coherent order. The biographies in the original volume are in essentially random order.

Some of the transcription work was also done by Brendon Baillod, who maintains an excellent guide to Great Lakes Shipwreck Research.