The last man on the Titanic survived the sinking in the strangest way possible

Unaware of the danger

It all began on the morning of April 15, 1912. The air of the Atlantic Ocean echoed with chaos as the RMS Titanic disappeared beneath the waves. As the deadly cold water fills the lungs of desperate passengers, a man calmly steps into the icy depths. He is Charles Joughin, the pastry chef aboard the famous ship, and his story is one of the strangest to emerge from that fateful day.

Only a few days earlier, the Titanic left Southampton with great fanfare, embarking on its maiden voyage to New York. Described as “unsinkable” at the time, it carried more than 2,200 passengers and crew members en route to the New World. But soon, they would all find themselves caught up in one of the worst marine disasters in the world.

Stuck at sea

One by one, the lifeboats left the Titanic, leaving men, women and children trapped on the slowly sinking ship. As the hours passed, those remaining on board were forced to accept a harsh reality: no help was on the way and the only way to leave the boat was to jump into the frigid waters below.

Tragically, the Titanic had already disappeared when the RMS Carpathia finally arrived to rescue the survivors floating on the ocean. According to History.com, only 706 people survived the sinking and most had reached the boats well before the ship's final plunge. But Charles Joughin's story is different and it tells how one man survived this tragedy in a completely unexpected way.

Unparalleled luxury

When Charles secured his position on the Titanic, it must have been a prestigious appointment. The jewel of the White Star Line was the largest ship in the world when it was released in 1911. Weighing more than 40,000 tons, the Titanic was apparently almost 300 m long and stood, in some places, up to 53 m in height. And that wasn't even its most impressive feature.

The real appeal of the Titanic was not in its size, but in the absolute luxury that could be found on board. Offering a wide range of libraries, restaurants, smoking rooms and even a swimming pool, the ship offered its first class passengers the opportunity to travel in a unique way. And naturally, the elite had decided to join their first trip.

A long, quiet river at the beginning

Meanwhile, on the lower decks, many of the men and women in third class, with $15 tickets, hoped for a life of opportunity in North America. But these groups from both sides of the social spectrum would soon unite amid tragedy. A tragedy that would steal over 1500 lives… How, then, was a poor pastry chef lucky enough to survive? On April 10, 1912, the Titanic left Southampton, England.

He stopped in the French town of Cherbourg, then Queenstown in Ireland, before heading across the Atlantic to reach New York. And for the next four days, the Titanic's passengers enjoyed an uneventful voyage. However, on April 14, just before midnight, the large ship struck an iceberg 595 km off the coast of Newfoundland.

Grappling with the ultimate nightmare

As water rushed over the front of the ship, Captain Edward Smith received some shocking news: the Titanic would not be able to stay afloat. So the order was given to begin evacuating the women and children into the lifeboats on the upper deck. Unfortunately, there was not enough space for everyone on board.

Just after 2:00, the Titanic's last lifeboat was released, leaving the rest of the passengers to face a terrifying fate. At just 1°C, the Atlantic Ocean was far too cold to survive for long. But as the ship broke in two and began to disappear beneath the surface, those on board realized they had little choice.

An experienced pastry chef

The scene then plunged into horror as hundreds of passengers were plunged into the icy depths. Unfortunately, the cold quickly claimed the lives of many of those in the water. But Charles survived... thanks to his strange choices in the face of disaster.

The man had been a shipboard pastry chef for more than 10 years, according to a 1901 census. Coming from Birkenhead in the north of the country, he had worked in the galleys of many ships before landing on the Pride of the White Star Line. In fact, Charles is believed to have been sailing since the age of 11!

Cold blood

Leaving a wife and two young children in Southampton, Charles joined the Titanic as pastry chef on its maiden voyage. According to the National Archives, he earned the princely sum of £12 a month, one of the highest salaries on the ship at the time. Leading a team of 13 individuals, he was responsible for the production of fresh bread, confectionery, and more.

At the time of the fatal collision, Charles was enjoying his free time, dozing in his bed near the ship's engine. Shaken by the impact, the cook immediately took action. The canoes, he told himself, will need provisions. So he sent his team to provide bread for the departing canoes.

Throw passengers over the railing

His duty accomplished, the National Archives point out that Charles hid in his cabin where he treated himself to a glass of alcohol. Properly refreshed, he made his way to his assigned lifeboat and began helping the women and children. However, many passengers were reluctant to give up the false security of the big ship.

Apparently, Charles used brute force in throwing the women aboard the boats, a move that surely saved their lives. But unlike many male passengers on the Titanic, the pastry chef did not take any seats. Instead, he returned to his cabin where he took another sip of his fortifying liquor.

The water level is rising

At this point, water had started to seep under his cabin door. Visibly unfazed, Charles went to the deck and began collecting chairs and throwing them overboard, creating flotation devices in the frozen ocean. While he was standing at the stern, the pastry chef heard a huge crash: the boat was splitting in two. But even this failed to dampen Charles Joughin's fervor.

Clinging tightly to the railing, the Briton straddled the sinking ship as it sank steeply and simply descended into the ocean. According to the National Archives, he did not even submerge his head beneath the waves. Instead, the pastry chef walked away from the sinking Titanic unharmed to end his run in the history books.

Float for hours

For two hours, Charles floated in the water while others around him succumbed to the cold. Eventually, as dawn broke, he saw an overturned canoe to which a group of men were clinging. Despite the lack of space on board, he splashed alongside them until the crew of a second vessel could pull him from the water.

On April 15, just after 4:00 a.m., the steamship Carpathia arrived and began extricating the frozen survivors. According to the National Post, Charles was not really in bad shape, even testifying later “I did well to take my feet out, they were swollen.” However, how did he accomplish such a feat, while many others remained?

Lucky side effects

It turns out that the secret lies in his numerous visits to his cabin... as well as the furtive sips of liquor he enjoyed throughout the night. But, isn't it true that it has always been said that alcohol in a person's bloodstream makes them more or less susceptible to hypothermia? The truth is a little more complicated.

When we consume alcohol, blood travels from our vital organs to the surface of our skin and this leaves us vulnerable to the harmful effects of extreme temperatures. But Gordon Giesbrecht, a Canadian hypothermia expert and professor at the University of Manitoba, believes that in Charles Joughin's case the cold water may have caused his blood vessels to narrow. And it essentially reversed the effects of his drinking.

Just enough to survive

“At low or moderate doses of alcohol, the cold will win,” Giesbrecht told the National Post in 2019. But if all that alcohol didn't give Charles Joughin a physical advantage, then what was the key to his survival? Interestingly enough, there is a theory that a good old dose of bottled courage may have played an important role, particularly after the sinking.

According to the National Post, the first shock of cold water immersion only lasts around a minute and a half. And with a temperature of around 1°C, the human body can actually survive 60 minutes before running into major problems. Considering that there was less than two hours between the sinking of the Titanic and the arrival of the Carpathia, why, then, did all these people lose their lives?

Limit the shock

Apparently, many of the victims did not survive the initial levels of thermal shock. Panicking, they struggled, drastically lowering their body temperatures and increasing the risk of drowning. Charles, however, remained Olympian calm, partly thanks to the liquor he had consumed. Some experts believe that the relaxing properties of alcohol can help the body avoid shock.

According to a 2012 study from the University of Illinois at Chicago, those who are injured are more likely to survive if they have been drinking. In a statement, author Lee Friedman explains: “After an injury, if you are drunk, it seems to activate a rather considerable protective effect.”

The lucky one

Giesbrecht also shared this opinion in his interview with the National Post. He says: “In the emergency room, cold patients who are very drunk can come in and they're conscious at temperatures where that shouldn't be the case.” So, was it Charles' decision to drink that kept him alive while those around him weren't so lucky?

According to Stephen Cheung, a professor at Brock University, the alcohol in the pastry chef's body gave him the courage to face a terrible situation. He told the National Post: “It would also have reduced the feeling of cold, so he may well have felt more fearless and less frozen and therefore less panicked.”

At the right time

Because he remained calm, Charles was eventually able to make his way to the canoe and survive the disaster that claimed so many lives. But that's not all. During that fateful night, the pastry chef also gained a reputation as the last man to leave the Titanic. And experts believe that this delay also contributed to its success.

According to the National Post, delaying immersion is one of the keys to surviving a shipwreck. And being the last person to dive into the Atlantic that night, and survive to tell the tale, Charles Joughin is certainly the evidence. By staying to help the passengers, he had unwittingly increased his chances of getting through this ordeal.

Celebrity in one night

After a short period convalescing in New York, Charles returned to England where he was able to be reunited with his wife and children. And less than a month after the sinking, he was contacted as a witness in the official investigation into the disaster. Surprisingly, his experience on the Titanic had not put him off a career at sea.

In fact, the man even spent time as a baker on the Titanic's sister ship, the Olympic, before the start of World War I. But clearly, he was not destined for a quiet life. While working as a baker on the SS Congress in 1916, he found himself in another marine tragedy. This time, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Fire and water

According to reports, the boat was en route to Seattle from San Francisco when a fierce fire broke out on board. Just like on the Titanic, the crew began by installing the women and children in the boats. But this time, there was enough room for everyone, although Charles still managed to add drama to the situation.

The Salt Lake Tribune newspaper reported at the time: “Charles Joughin, who was a baker on the Congress, fell into the water while trying to get into a lifeboat.” Fortunately, the lucky man was once again pulled out of the ocean in good health. Still, even that wasn't enough to keep him on dry land for good!

Looking for a new beginning

The Encyclopedia Titanica notes that after the tragic deaths of his wife and newborn son in 1919, Charles left England to start a new life in the United States. There he continued to work as a ship's baker for a number of ships. But, chaos seemed to follow him. On December 10, 1941, he was aboard the SS Oregon when it was accidentally rammed by an American battleship and sank.

Seventeen people lost their lives. Charles Joughin survived once again and even served during World War II. Eventually, in 1944, he retired after spending more than five decades at sea. But despite his exploits, he will always be remembered as that drunken baker on the Titanic and the last man to leave the infamous ship.

His legend continues

But how did the story of Charles Joughin become one of the most enduring legends surrounding the Titanic? A huge reason is due to the work of writer Walter Lord, who published a detailed account of the sinking in A Night to Remember in 1958. As part of the writing process, he interviewed more than 60 survivors, including the ship's baker.

But Charles would not live to see his story immortalized on paper. Having remained in communication with the writer throughout the 1950s, he died in a New Jersey hospital a year before the book's publication. But thanks to his incredible story told in A Night to Remember, he has gone down in history as one of the most famous Titanic survivors.

Other unsinkable heroes

Of course, Charles Joughin was not the only person to emerge from the Titanic tragedy with a story to tell. Take Margaret Brown, for example, who was nicknamed “the insufferable” by the press. A wealthy American society woman, she is said to have been very active during the sinking, requesting that her lifeboat be returned for survivors and even offering to hold an oar. Then there was second officer Charles Lightoller, who found himself trapped under debris underwater before a jet of hot air propelled him out of the water and to the surface.

The story of this shipwreck has been told thousands of times, with famous survivors and victims accepting a series of film roles. And Charles is no exception as he appeared in the film A Night to Remember and the 1997 Hollywood film, Titanic. In fact, the story of the drunken baker is inextricably linked with that of the beautiful ship, proving that survival skills aren't always what you think.