DID A BOTTLE OF BRANDY KEEP TITANIC BAKER FROM FREEZING?

Sep 03, 2023

The Titanic may not conjure up any pleasant thoughts, but mention Charles Joughin to Titanic historians, and they’ll probably chuckle.

Joughin was the ship's chief baker. When word spread that the Titanic was sinking, he and some of the other bakers rushed to the kitchen to fetch bread for those lucky enough to make it onto lifeboats. While in the kitchen, he grabbed a bottle or two of brandy, taking nips whenever he could.

After the bakers distributed all of the bread, Joughin threw wooden deck chairs overboard so those bobbing in the water could hang on to them and keep from drowning. After that, he couldn't think of any other way to help, and he realized, as did the other crew members, that the lifeboats were for the passengers. So to make himself as comfortable as he could, he pulled out his brandy and drank it down.

Joughin, who drank for an hour and a half before he hit the frigid waters, told Titanic investigators he was the last person to jump off the ship. (In the movie, "Titanic," he is the one, dressed in white, seen drinking from a flask just before the last of the ship sinks below the surface of the water.) He swam to a lifeboat, but there was no room on it for him. A cook in the boat held on to Joughin's hand. After several minutes, someone on the boat died, and that person's body was placed overboard, creating room for Joughin.

Some say the brandy served as Joughin's antifreeze and helped keep him alive in the water.

"Who says drinking isn't good for you?" joked Mariners’ Museum Director Claudia Bennington.

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