Walter Karmazyn
Guest
Hi All,
I just signed up on the board last week, and in my post under "Introduce Yourself" I mentioned I had come across what I believed to be a mistake in one of the passenger bios, asking how to go about confirming if I'm right and perhaps getting it updated. One suggestion was to post it here which seemed like a good idea, in case there is more to the story than I've found.
As my subject header says, the passenger in question is Jack Thayer. I came across his bio when I typed the name "Joughin" into the search engine on the main page. Chief Baker Charles Joughin has been my favorite shipboard person since I read ANTR in my teens, and I thought I'd see what new info I could find on him here. I was intrigued because I hadn't heard of any Thayer account mentioning Mr. Joughin. The Bio, which is really good, gives this mention:
. Another man Jack saw lurched by drinking from a bottle of Gordons gin, he said "If I ever get out of this there is one man I'll never see again" in fact Charles Joughin was one of the first survivors that Thayer did meet!
I had always thought the only info on Joughin's drinking came from his own testimony at the British Inquiry. I have also read Thayer's account in Logan Marshall's 1912 book and a newspaper interview from the 30's, neither of which mention this episode. I didn't dismiss it as out of hand, just something new to digest. It wasn't until a few weeks back when I (finally) came across a copy of Thayer's memoir "The Sinking of the SS Titanic", originally published in 1940, in a used book store that I found reason for doubt. This btw, is a 1998 copy published by Academy Chicago Publishers, in a volume also containing Archibald Gracie's "Titanic: A Survivors Story (now I have 3 copies of that one on the shelf)
Thayer's account can be found on p 341. While he doesn't identify the person by name, he clearly leaves the impression that this individual was a passenger rather than crew, American rather than British, probably traveling first class. Thayer's description: "Someone told me afterwards that he was a State Senator or Congressman from Virginia or West Virginia." Hardly sounds like a description of Joughin, imo.
So my question is if anyone knows of any other version of this story Thayer told that would lead one to believe Joughin was the person in question, or perhaps I am on to something here?
Thanks
W
I just signed up on the board last week, and in my post under "Introduce Yourself" I mentioned I had come across what I believed to be a mistake in one of the passenger bios, asking how to go about confirming if I'm right and perhaps getting it updated. One suggestion was to post it here which seemed like a good idea, in case there is more to the story than I've found.
As my subject header says, the passenger in question is Jack Thayer. I came across his bio when I typed the name "Joughin" into the search engine on the main page. Chief Baker Charles Joughin has been my favorite shipboard person since I read ANTR in my teens, and I thought I'd see what new info I could find on him here. I was intrigued because I hadn't heard of any Thayer account mentioning Mr. Joughin. The Bio, which is really good, gives this mention:
. Another man Jack saw lurched by drinking from a bottle of Gordons gin, he said "If I ever get out of this there is one man I'll never see again" in fact Charles Joughin was one of the first survivors that Thayer did meet!
I had always thought the only info on Joughin's drinking came from his own testimony at the British Inquiry. I have also read Thayer's account in Logan Marshall's 1912 book and a newspaper interview from the 30's, neither of which mention this episode. I didn't dismiss it as out of hand, just something new to digest. It wasn't until a few weeks back when I (finally) came across a copy of Thayer's memoir "The Sinking of the SS Titanic", originally published in 1940, in a used book store that I found reason for doubt. This btw, is a 1998 copy published by Academy Chicago Publishers, in a volume also containing Archibald Gracie's "Titanic: A Survivors Story (now I have 3 copies of that one on the shelf)
Thayer's account can be found on p 341. While he doesn't identify the person by name, he clearly leaves the impression that this individual was a passenger rather than crew, American rather than British, probably traveling first class. Thayer's description: "Someone told me afterwards that he was a State Senator or Congressman from Virginia or West Virginia." Hardly sounds like a description of Joughin, imo.
So my question is if anyone knows of any other version of this story Thayer told that would lead one to believe Joughin was the person in question, or perhaps I am on to something here?
Thanks
W
