The Amazing Story of Charles Joughin, The Titanic’s Badass Head Baker

Sure, we all know the story of Titanic, the “unsinkable” ship that indeed sank back on April 15th, 1912. We know about The Unsinkable Molly Brown, the American socialite who unsuccessfully encouraged the crew in Lifeboat No. 6 to return to the debris field to look for survivors, and we know of other people on board like John Jacob Astor IV and Mr. and Mrs. Isidor Strauss, the owners of Macy’s. Oh, and Jack and Rose? You know, from the movie? Totally fictional characters. That’s oddly reassuring because man, there was a lot of room for Jack on that piece of debris Rose was floating on.*

*Newsflash: It wasn’t a door.

Anyway, there was another more fascinating story from the whole Titanic disaster, and that is the story of Head baker Charles Joughin. Joughlin, while most others were going batshit crazy and panicking, began rescue efforts the moment he realized the Titanic was going down. After mustering groups of women and children to board the lifeboats, he ordered his team of chefs to give them all remaining food in the kitchen for their perilous journey ahead. Once the boats were full and he had saved as many people as possible, he went back to his cabin to drink whiskey and await his demise, because of course he did. 

However, Joughin’s retirement from rescue duty didn’t last long. After sitting in his room and hitting the bottle, he realized there was still a chance to help save the passengers and crew swimming in the Atlantic. So, the ol’ Chuck returned to the deck to throw chairs overboard, hoping that passengers could use them as floating devices until rescue boats came. He then went down with the ship, staying at the stern until it was completely submerged in the freezing depths of the ocean.

Folks, Charles Joughin was the very last person to get off the Titanic, and he got off with style. Just as the tip of the ship sunk below the water line, he hopped off. You can actually see him depicted in this painting. He’s right at the very top, calmly and badassly waiting for the right moment to hop from the railing.

“I’ll be down a sec, kids. Don’t bother waiting for me.”

Let me repeat this – instead of dying from fright and a massive heart attack there and then, he rode the ship down like a damn elevator. He merely stepped off of the Titanic, into the water, and by his own account, didn’t even get his hair wet.

Then he paddled around in the water for 3-freaking hours in -2 degree Atlantic Ocean water before finding a lifeboat. 

Sadly, the lifeboat was completely full. Luckily, his friend and fellow chef John Maynard was on board, and Joughin held his hand, floating in the icy ocean next to the lifeboat until a second one came to rescue him. Miraculously, Joughin had helped save passengers’ lives, stayed with the ship until it completely sank, and still survived to tell the tale.

And how did he stay alive, you ask? Experts believe the copious amounts of whiskey he drank helped keep his body warm, allowing him to survive in the freezing water longer than everyone else.

Mr. Joughin, who was English, ended up moving to the United States where he died in Paterson, New Jersey on December 9th, 1956. He was 78.

And that is the story of Charles Joughin, the baker who saved lives, got drunk, and lived to tell the tale of one of the most the infamous shipwrecks in history.