Charles John Joughin It was the bakery leader on the Titanicand survived the shipwreck of April 15, 1912. Joughin said he was among the last to abandon the ship, and to be survived for 2 hours In frozen water thanks to whiskey who had drunk and who would have it protected by the cold. In reality, his testimony is likely to is not entirely reliablebecause the human body can survive in frozen water only for a few minutes and alcohol does not have the ability to warm the body. However, a “drop” may have attenuated the shock, or the baker head may not have been in the water all that time, but only exposed to the air.
Who was Charles Joughin, bakery head on the Titanic
Joughinborn in Birkenhead, Liverpool, on August 3, 1879, had already worked as Bowl garment for the White Star Line On the Titanic twin ship, Olympic. At the time he had enlisted, he was 30 years old and was residing in Elmhurst. From the analysis carried out thanks to the 1911 census we know that he had one wife named Louise, 31 years old, originally from Douglas, on the island of Man, one Daughter called Agnes, three years old, born in Kirkdale near Liverpool, and the son Roland, one year, born in Southampton instead, the city from which April 10, 1912 at 12.06 SaPò Titanic. Joughin, as a baker head, was Responsible for a group of 13 people.
After the shipwreck of the transatlantic, Joughin returned to England and participated as a witness toBritish investigation On the misfortune, which was held from 2 May to 3 July 1912. Subsequently, he worked again on cruise ships.
Joughin’s testimony: as he survived during the shipwreck
Joughin, during the testimony, says that, at the time of the impact with the iceberg, occurred at 11.40 pm on 14 Aprilhe was out of service and was in his berth. He realized the incident and sent his bakers to supply with 50 loaves The passengers who climbed the lifeboats of rescue, then retired to drink something alcohol.
Later, he went to the bridge and reached the lifeboat that had been assigned to him as responsible, being a member of the crew: Joughin remembered that it was the lifeboat number 10but it didn’t go up to give the good example. He preferred to help Women and children To save himself and then, after the lifeboat left, he returned and drank of the whiskey again.
When he returned to the ship’s bridge, all the rescue boats had already started, and therefore Joughin decided to go down to the lower bridge and launch deck chairs into the sea To allow those who were in the water to cling to something.
When around 2 in the morning the Titanic broke into two sections And Joughin could no longer maintain the erect position due to the slope of the ship and remained attached vertically: it will be one of the Latest peopleif not the last one, to remain attached to the transatlantic who filed at 2.10. A few minutes later he found himself in the water, and said he didn’t even wet his hair.
In the testimony, he then said he simply had started swimming and, around 4 to have managed to spot the folding raft B Belonging to the Titanic, but there was no place for him, so he still remained in the water. After more time, a colleague of the crew, the cook Isaac Maynard recognized him and helped him get on the Zattera B of the carpathia shipwho would save him. Joughin will say that he only realized that he has his feet swollen. He came to New York On April 16, 1912, in a general state of good health.
The doubts and inconsistencies about Joughin’s testimony
Charles Joughin said he has yes accused the coldbut perhaps thanks to the alcohol he had in his body he did not suffer much so nor did he stop by it. In the testimony of Joughin, compared with stories of other witnesses, were found different inconsistencies.
First of all, the survival time in waters with temperatures around 0 °, it is of a few minutes: It is therefore almost impossible that he swam 2 hours without dying for hypothermia. As regards the possibility that it has saved itself thanks to the “protection” of thealcohol Being, since it is a vasodilator, the death immersed in the water would have occurred in a hurry, no longer slowly.
It would have been different if he had been alone exposed to the frozen air: alcohol could have been to protect it – in part – from the ventricular fibrillation to which our heart meets at low temperatures that from injuries due to the cold but also by shock and terroranother cause of death of many people.
That the titanic bakery chief has colored his story? Or did the memories altered, perhaps because of the great emotional impact of the matter? Or maybe he wanted to give us a somewhat different story, perhaps fictionalized, how things really went? Surely We are in front of a tenacious characterjust think that after the First World War, Charles Joughin enlisted in the merchant Navy and still worked as bakery in several ocean crossings, and then moved to America, New Jersey, where he died due to a bad lung on December 9th 1956. Before dying, he was called to leave his testimony in the bookA night to remember Of Walter Lordtext on the market still today.
The true story of Charles Joughin is wrapped in mystery, as well as many other passenger events – both survivors and unfortunately disappeared – in the most famous shipwreck of the last century.
