Chief Baker Charles Joughin

L

Linda Khambekian

Guest
Hi,

We are looking for any information on the Chief Baker, Charles Joughin. He was my Grandmother's Uncle and was a survivor of the Titanic. My daughter is looking for any and all information and/or pictures,interviews for a report she is doing on him for Middle School. My Grandmother was young at the time of the event and does not remeber very many details. Thank you for any help in this matter.
 
Hello Linda,

Charles Joughin was born in Birkenhead, Liverpool on August 3, 1878. In 1912, he lived at Elmhurst Leighton Rd. He had previously served on board the R.M.S. Olympic. He made 12pds.a month.

The night of the sinking, Joughin became very entoxicated. While others left the ship in lifeboats, he stayed on board, throwing deck chairs into the ocean for swimmers to cling to. He then "rode" the stern into the ocean, and later claimed that he didn't even get his hair wet! After the ship foundered, he clung to the side of overturned Collapsible B, half his body in the water; the alcohol kept him from freezing.

Sometime during the voyage, Joughin baked the Titanic's designer, Mr. Thomas Andrews, Jr., a special loaf of bread.

Joughin has been shown in at least two Titanic movies. He is the man who helps Rose to her feet on the stern in James Cameron's "TITANIC". He is also shown in "A NIGHT TO REMEMBER" throwing deck chairs overboard.

He later survived the sinking of the S.S. Oregon in Boston Harbor. He married Nellie Ripely Joughin, and they had a daughter, Agnes Joughin, and a stepdaughter, Henry Rose Stoehr.

Joughin died on December 9, 1956, in Patterson, New Jersey. His wife died sometime in 1943.

I hope this helps and I wish your daughter luck on her report!

-Brandon
 
Linda,
A small correction to the above information--Charles Joughin was married twice. He and Nellie Ripley had no children of their own as his daughter, Miss Agnes Lilian Joughin, was born in 1907 in Liverpool and was by his first wife. He has no living direct descendants.

Regards,
Phillip Gowan
 
There was a nice discussion about Mr. Joughin in the USENET newsgroup alt.history.ocean-liners.titanic. Unfortunately I did not save any of it and the Deja archive is now gone, acquired by Google. Hopefully they will have it back on line one day.

Google USENET archive

Two things that I remember from the discussion. First, Mr. Joughin settled in the US and was a baker in a small town until his retirement (or death, I don't recall which). Second, he strongly denied that he was ever inebriated, as he is usually depicted. I also recall that the "evidence" of his stumbling around drunk is very thin.

At the British inquiry, Joughin testified that he had a tumbler, half full of "spirits". British Inquiry, Day 6, Joughin (beginning at #6247).

I view Joughin as one of the heroes of the Titanic. Rather than stumbling around drunk, he spent what he thought was to be his last hours on earth trying to help others, with no thought to saving himself.

Warm Regards,

Cal
 
I want to thank everyone who helped me out with this information. I just finished reading his testimony and found it very interesting. My daughter will have a great report to turn in thanks to all of you. I have to agree that Uncle Charlie was a hero as were many others I am sure.
If any other info in found please pass it along.
Again, thank you all so much.

Linda
 
"Two things that I remember from the discussion. First, Mr. Joughin settled in the US and was a baker in a small town until his retirement (or death, I don't recall which). Second, he strongly denied that he was ever inebriated, as he is usually depicted. I also recall that the "evidence" of his stumbling around drunk is very thin."

Again, GOOD FOR YOU, Cal! I also concur with your perceptions. Joughin unfortunately seems to have been "utilized" as a vehicle for comic relief in the film version of "A Night to Remember", with little factual basis I can see for the fairly outlandish depiction. At the British Inquiry, he comes across as one of the most level-headed and credible of witnesses. (Doesn't seem as if *they* took him for a lush!)

Joughin's testimony also exhibits an admirable degree of humility. Pushed away initially from the collapsible, he accepts this as understandable. And asked about his chair-throwing, he merely replies to the effect that he was thinking of himself. (All 50 chairs for him??)

I'll be thrilled to find that AHOLT discussion. Sounds like a great one.

Cheers,
John
 
Joughin told family that the word about the ship before it sunk, was that the crew would get paid until they left the ship, and that was his reason for staying aboard as long as he could.

George Joynson, family member
(Joughin's wife's sister married my great grandfather)
 
Hello, George:

Thanks for sharing that information. It sounds a bit tongue-in-cheek, but that would be just like Joughin, at least from how I read him. (He seems to have had a very subtle sense of humor.)

Are you by any chance privy to any other family recollections regarding the chief baker? Would love to hear more -- Charles was quite a unique and interesting character. (I always chuckle at his testimony about that 'Skidoo door'.)

Cheers,
John
 
Joughin owned a parrot into the 1950's, lived on the second floor of his stepdaughter Rose Stoehr's house in Paterson, and was not very large or fat, as some suggested.

George
 
Hi, John:

I'll agree with you that Joughin appears to have had a subtle sense of humor, I had a chuckle over the comment I found posted by Mike Findlay in another thread, where Charles describes to his step-granddaughter just how cold the water was that night. Btw,
The AHOLT thread mentioned above can currently be found @ google, I know it took them a while to sort things out after they took over deja news. If you didn't find it then, here's a link: http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=charles+joughin&btnG=Google+Search&meta=group%3Dalt.history.ocean-liners.*

This is for all mentions of Joughin there, I believe the second thread is the one in question.

Hi, George,

Thanks for sharing the 2 bits of info, I too would be interested in hearing any other family recollections you might want to share, Charles has always been of special interest to me.


Walter
 
Thank you for posting that link, Walter.

In the second one, "Re: The ships chief baker"
posted by Mike Findlay, Findlay mentioned that he had more stories to tell about Charles Joughin, but his email address is not current.

Does anyone have a way to contact Mike Findlay?

George
 

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