Mystery Crew Man

[Angela Wright]

If you all haven't heard the rumor, maybe I can help. Has anyone heard the one about the cook who drank a bunch of wine while the ship was going down & lived b/c his blood was thinned by it? If you have, is it fact or fiction? (you can e-mail me at [email protected])

 

[Bill Wormstedt]

The man you're talking about is Baker Charles Joughin. He 'claimed' to do what you say - but I have my doubts if things actually happened quite the way he say it did.

See https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/bio/c/v/joughin_cj.shtml
for the short version of what he said at the British Inquiry.

 

[Angela Wright]

Wow, thank you so much. I had been looking for it, but had no such luck in finding him. Thanks again.

Angela

 

[Alex McLean]

Of course, couldn't his reports being faulty have had something to do with the whiskey (not wine) he had consumed, if he actually did drink enough to survive in the water until collapsible B found him?

Oh, and welcome aboard Angela. I look forward to seeing your posts.

 

[Mark Robert Hopkins]

Alex,

That's what's claimed, although there is the ongoing debate over whether or not the liquor actually worked like an antifreeze as they say. There is the argument that the liquor would've and should've had the opposite effect of increasing coldness in the body. Is there a chemist--and not an historian--here?

Also, just as a tidbit, I read somewhere a long time ago that young Jack Thayer was standing by the railing with his new friend, Milton Long, during the sinking and saw the baker wobbling around on deck. Supposedly, he said to Milton, "if I ever get out of this alive, that's one I'll never see again." He recalled later that the baker was the first one he recognized on the Carpathia the next morning.

Just thought I'd share.

 

[Mark Robert Hopkins]

By the way, I did find the thread below on hypothermia, so there's no need to tell me about that. Just thought I'd beat you to the punch.