Drinker, baker, swimmer, survivor. 

Some of you may know his story. The story of how whisky saved a man's life. A drinker. A survivor. His name is Charles Joughlin. A man chosen as the Head Baker on the Titanic, famed for his pastries… and his drinking. 

The 12th of April 1912. That fateful night on that fateful ship, disaster struck as it hit a colossal iceberg calling our man Charles into action; the ‘unsinkable’ ship was sinking. Charles gathered his fellow chefs and bakers and they devised a game plan. For hours and hours, Charles and his colleagues worked tirelessly to carry people to the safety of the lifeboats.

Each time Charles would go below deck, he would quickly glug some whisky to calm his nerves. For hours and hours, he was assisting and drinking. Carrying people to safety. Drinking. Safety. Drinking. Throwing makeshift floating devices into the ocean. Drinking. Saving as many bottles from a watery grave. And drinking. 

At 2:20 AM, the ship had been slowly sinking for over 4 hours and the Titanic was almost fully submerged. Charles Joughlin went down with the ship, only swaying slightly. Charles the baker stood at the tippy top of the stern with one leg out, eyewitness accounts state that he was like a man stepping out of an elevator.

With his soul full of whisky, the shaking panic and scene of horror seemed not to phase him, he must’ve been having a lovely time. Although the drink would have increased his chances of pneumonia, many of those who died on that night, perished from cold-water shock, which alcohol can help prevent. So, with whisky coursing through his body, Charles trod water for over 2 hours, always staying calm. 

As the sun was coming up over that dreadful morning, he managed to find a lifeboat which, although full, helped to keep him partially out of the water. Thankfully, the RMS Carpathia came to bring survivors to safety and as the crew pulled Charles out of the freezing water, he had only suffered swollen feet. 

Charles Joughlin would go on to serve as the baker or chef on many other voyages for the next 40 years and he died in 1956, at the ripe old age of 78. But, let us not forget that he was saved by whisky. More importantly, let us not forget that night. That night to remember.