I do think his youth could have been a factor, Monica - the fact he was a strong swimmer and water confident might have been lurking somewhere in the back of his head. If he thought that far ahead, he might have hoped that, if worst came to worst and he wound up in the water, he could make it to a boat or wreckage. As it was, I think George is probably right - I think he was killed in the turbulent, debris laden waters when the forward end of the boat deck plunged under. We can't be confident that he, like Gracie and
Lightoller in a similar position, had a lifejacket.
He had faced perilous situations before in his career - I've written about his first crossing to NY in an ET article, and one of his ships was once given for lost after the screw shank on the steamer broke and they drifted without power before they were finally able to make land and get word back to the shipping office that they were still alive. He wrote laconically of one extremely bad passage through the Magellan Straits in vessel laden with explosive material that it was a "good job" his will was made out.
His laconic voice may in part have been to either impress or play down the danger for those he was writing to, but the fact that the master of the ship took an early opportunity to promote him to acting Chief Mate and left him in complete charge of the vessel for days at a time in port to deal with both crew and owners indicates that Moody had shown some impressive qualities.
When he last mentioned the teeth he was intending to get them all seen to when he when he could find a decent dentist - hopefully he did so! He doesn't mention them in his last few letters. What he was, however, was exhausted, even before sailing. He wrote of only getting four hours broken sleep between Tuesday and Thursday of the week they arrived in Southampton. Given that he had been on a four-on four-off +dog watches schedule since leaving port, and he was almost at the end of his watch when the collision occured, I wonder just how physically strong he was when he hit the water. Adrenaline would have charged him through those final couple of hours, but there was physical work involved on a cold night - it must have sapped him.
Hmmm...perhaps I should give up the bungy jumping, given that my father is blind in one eye due to a detached retina! Most I felt was a bit of pressure around the ankles where they were bound, but there wasn't even any bruising. I joined with a couple of blokes in our circle who have jumped to give my brother a razzing and challenge him to join the club. He didn't bite - told us bluntly that he liked his retinas
attached, thank you very much, and he was confident enough in his masculinity not to feel the need to jump of a bridge to prove it.