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How a baker survived the Titanic by getting drunk (2022)

nationalpost.com

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Re: How a baker survived the Titanic by getting drunk (2022)

#21

Post by jvanderbot »

nightowl_games wrote: post #17

> cannot seem to kill I live in a cold Canadian city that has a substantial population with drug addictions. I was talking to a cop one night (he was off duty) and he was telling me about how you eventually learn some of the regular offenders names and stories. He told me how tough some of these guys are. How he'd pick one up for stealing and he's out in -30C with ganggreen on his leg. "Cockroach energy" he called it…

Similar to Crackhead Strength you might encounter in the states. There's videos of sketchy looking folks hauling away anything they can find while riding bikes that were probably stolen too. One guy hoisted a fridge into his shoulder and biked it away.

Re: How a baker survived the Titanic by getting drunk (2022)

#22

Post by nerdponx »

hartator wrote: post #7

Come on. Getting drunk will lower your survival chances for sure. It counterintuitively doesn't warm you up, waste precious energy while the body fights intoxication, and you are more likely to injure yourself in anything requiring body coordination.

The article addresses this. One hypothesis is that the cold shock counteracted the vasodilation, and being drunk allowed him to make it through the cold shock without drowning. How he managed to not go hypothermic is unclear, but maybe paddling around without noticing the fatigue or pain was enough to keep him going until he found the overturned boat.

Re: How a baker survived the Titanic by getting drunk (2022)

#23

Post by jvanderbot »

walterbell wrote: post #3

What did lifeboats of that period stock for emergency rations? > Immediately after hearing the collision with an iceberg, the chief baker leapt out of his bunk and began dispatching his staff to stock the lifeboats with bread and biscuits ... Not only did Joughin refuse his own place in a boat, but he and a few other men began forcibly chucking reluctant women into empty seats, likely saving their lives ... while sch…

I've heard that a strong reason to live can get you through tough situations. E.g. in prison camps. I've also been solo skydiving and first hand experienced the loss of agency that comes from a poor response to life threatening situations:)

So, I'm not optimistic about my own chances in those situations.

Re: How a baker survived the Titanic by getting drunk (2022)

#24

Post by chewz »

brabel wrote: post #6

So the secret is to remain calm and keep hope (both of which are helped by drunkness) besides the obvious "be last to get into the water" and "put on more layers of clothing" (though I didn't know that more clothes help even when wet).

I remember reading about Battle of Atlantic.

Statistically on a sinking ship a sailor who couldn’t swim had better chance of surviving than a sailor who was a good swimmer. In a cold Atlantic water the former had been expending less energy then the later, so he would last longer until being rescued.

Re: How a baker survived the Titanic by getting drunk (2022)

#25

Post by jon-wood »

Glawen wrote: post #9
brabel wrote: post #6

So the secret is to remain calm and keep hope (both of which are helped by drunkness) besides the obvious "be last to get into the water" and "put on more layers of clothing" (though I didn't know that more clothes help even when wet).

The first time I had a serious accident with my car, I saw my life going before me. I was fine but my body was trembling after the accident. I saw a pub, I went there and drank 2 whisky straight. It was just what i needed to stop my body from shaking, and get my ideas clearer again and be able to deal with the situation. Alcohol really is a miraculous substance

Somewhat unfortunate when the police do a routine breathalyser test an hour later though.

Re: How a baker survived the Titanic by getting drunk (2022)

#26

Post by tzs »

dghughes wrote: post #19

I find it difficult to believe. It was April -2C air temp in the open ocean and water temp probably 0C or 1C. Even with clothes on or relaxed you'd be dead in 15 minutes. I live in Canada on the coast and there are many news articles of people drowning after falling into cold water. And those people were in modern cold weather clothing.

Some people do have quite a bit more innate cold tolerance than normal. See for example Wim Hof.

Hof claims his high cold tolerance is due to exercise and lifestyle, but his identical twin brother has similar cold tolerance without having done the things Wim attributes his to suggesting its genetic.

That fits what scientists who have studied Hof found. They found that (1) he really does have very high cold tolerance, and (2) this are not attributable to the specific exercise and lifestyle choices he thinks it is.

Re: How a baker survived the Titanic by getting drunk (2022)

#27

Post by portaouflop »

dghughes wrote: post #19

I find it difficult to believe. It was April -2C air temp in the open ocean and water temp probably 0C or 1C. Even with clothes on or relaxed you'd be dead in 15 minutes. I live in Canada on the coast and there are many news articles of people drowning after falling into cold water. And those people were in modern cold weather clothing.

As the article states:

Even today, the myth persists that the human body cannot withstand more than a few minutes in the ocean. Thus, many people thrown into the sea assume that cold shock is the icy grip of death closing around them. In reality, the cold shock ends after 90 seconds. Even in the winter waters of the North Atlantic, an average-sized adult still has 10 minutes before going numb, and at least an hour before the heart stops.“The average adult is a big chunk of meat and it takes a lot of energy to cool it off”

Apparently most people die because they panic due to the cold shock or just kinda give up.

Re: How a baker survived the Titanic by getting drunk (2022)

#28

Post by kalleboo »

walterbell wrote: post #3

What did lifeboats of that period stock for emergency rations? > Immediately after hearing the collision with an iceberg, the chief baker leapt out of his bunk and began dispatching his staff to stock the lifeboats with bread and biscuits ... Not only did Joughin refuse his own place in a boat, but he and a few other men began forcibly chucking reluctant women into empty seats, likely saving their lives ... while sch…

> What did lifeboats of that period stock for emergency rations

Biscuits and water, but they were in locked boxes on the deck "for fear of theft" so that wasn't reliably transferred to the boats in the chaos

Re: How a baker survived the Titanic by getting drunk (2022)

#29

Post by aaron695 »

> Then, he used the first rays of dawn to spot an overturned lifeboat set adrift in the Titanic’s chaotic final minutes. He paddled over, pulled himself out of the water

This is wrong, it was worse, there was no room for him so he hung on the side in the water

2:20 Titanic sunk. Sunrise was around 5:10am and he found the lifeboat to hang onto, then half a hour later another life boat arrived. So three hours.

You can read his account here -

https://www.titanicinquiry.org/BOTInq/BOTInq06Joughin01.php

Re: How a baker survived the Titanic by getting drunk (2022)

#30

Post by zemvpferreira »

hartator wrote: post #18
speedgoose wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not sure that drinking alcohol wastes energy. It contains a lot of calories, more than sugar. I also haven’t heard about people drinking alcohol to lose weight.

Vomiting won’t retain calories which happens when you are “spectacularly drunk”.

Someone is clearly not an experienced drunk (joke, joke)
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