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

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

#91

Post by hughdbrown »

> ... who survived history’s worst maritime disaster ...

Not the worst maritime disaster by loss of life (90K in Second Punic War storm; 100K in Mongol naval invasion typhoon disaster). Not even the worst of peacetime maritime accidents in the 20th century (Dona Paz, 1987, in the Philippines -- 4386 deaths). [0] There are easily forty WWII sinkings with greater loss of life. [1]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_maritime_disasters [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_maritime_disasters_in_...

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

#92

Post by peter_d_sherman »

>"Most Titanic victims understandably succumbed to mortal panic as soon as they hit the icy water, but [Charles] Joughin was so bombed out of his mind that he didn’t seem to care.

Booze didn’t protect Joughin from the cold that night, but it did give him just enough false hope and inflated confidence to think that he could doggy paddle his way out of history’s worst maritime disaster. And in this one case, that turned out to be true."

So, there's the Bear Grylls and Wim Hof and Les Stroud (etc.) survival methods -- do everything you can to survive -- but now there's also apparently the Charles Joughin survival method -- just get completely sh-tfaced drunk! Get completely hammered, get completely sloshed!

And well, that's it!

There's nothing more to do!

Let nature (or in this case, the sinking Titanic!) take care of itself!

All you gotta do is find some (well, technically a lot of) alcohol -- and imbibe it!

And well, that's it!

There's no survival techniques, no preparedness checks, no physical and mental strengthening beforehand, no grit, no training, no exercise, no survival will, no special survial equipment, no nothing required -- just booze!

And the guy actually survived! :-) :-)

Amazing!

(Reminds me of two things: Jackie Chan in "Drunken Master", and the Hitchhiker Guide To The Galaxy's "Don't Panic" advice...

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080179/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrases_from_The_Hitchhiker%27... )

Also, I vote that this is the funniest story that I've read on HN in a long time! :-)

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

#93

Post by dieselgate »

Thiez wrote: post #76
marcosdumay wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you exhale you’ll probably find you sink quite well. That depends on how fat you are. And if there's any salt on the water.

Generally (assuming a healthy weight) women float and men sink, due to women having a few percentage points more body fat. I imagine children sink as well as men though.

> few percentage points

For high school wrestling we got body fat analysis done. The, fit and healthy, women on the team were in the %30s while men down to the single digit %.

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

#94

Post by btbuildem »

bloomingeek wrote: post #54

When I was about eight years old, I went to look for something I left near a motel swimming pool. I slipped into the deep end of the pool, I didn't know how to swim. At first I flailed as fast as I could, instinctively I suppose. This didn't help and I realized two things, I was still sinking and was getting tired. So I stopped and just stared ahead. I can't say I knew I was going to die, I just knew I was in trouble…

Staying calm in water is the absolute number one most important part of surviving being in water.

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

#95

Post by nightowl_games »

wnevets wrote: post #52
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…

Real nice to see that it's not just America that dehumanizes the homeless.

I'm not making light of the pain that man certainly endured, but I've started using Cockroach Energy in my regular lexicon.

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

#96

Post by UomoNeroNero »

1024core wrote: post #71
bloomingeek wrote: post #54

When I was about eight years old, I went to look for something I left near a motel swimming pool. I slipped into the deep end of the pool, I didn't know how to swim. At first I flailed as fast as I could, instinctively I suppose. This didn't help and I realized two things, I was still sinking and was getting tired. So I stopped and just stared ahead. I can't say I knew I was going to die, I just knew I was in trouble…

Recently I was in Hawaii, snorkeling in an area where I could walk around. I don't now how to swim, but I have been in shallow pools before. Unbeknownst to me, I was slowly drifting into a deeper area as I was busy just looking down at the fishies. Suddenly I realized my feet no longer could touch the bottom, and an initial panic set in. Then I quickly reasoned that I would just sink to the bottom (which was, about,…

I live in a seaside tourist town. Here we learn to swim as young children, it is impossible not to know how to swim and now, as a parent, I understand that only the peace of mind of knowing that my children could swim without problems gave me the peace of mind to take them to the sea and be able to (fairly) relax. I often read about people who drown because they were swimming on the seashore without knowing how to swim. Often more than one (the first in difficulty forces others to attempt a rescue). They are often people who know little about the sea, newly immigrated non-EU citizens.

I honestly cannot understand how a sane person can enter the water knowing that any problem, a hole, a higher wave is an almost certain death sentence.

Could it be that in addition to teaching us to swim, our parents taught us to fear and respect the sea? And that this simple precaution "is out of fashion"?

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

#97

Post by vagrantJin »

UomoNeroNero wrote: post #96
1024core wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recently I was in Hawaii, snorkeling in an area where I could walk around. I don't now how to swim, but I have been in shallow pools before. Unbeknownst to me, I was slowly drifting into a deeper area as I was busy just looking down at the fishies. Suddenly I realized my feet no longer could touch the bottom, and an initial panic set in. Then I quickly reasoned that I would just sink to the bottom (which was, about,…

I live in a seaside tourist town. Here we learn to swim as young children, it is impossible not to know how to swim and now, as a parent, I understand that only the peace of mind of knowing that my children could swim without problems gave me the peace of mind to take them to the sea and be able to (fairly) relax. I often read about people who drown because they were swimming on the seashore without knowing how to sw…

I also grew up in a seaside town. Gorgeous place. Beautiful but we grew up with a healthy dose of respect for the sea. maybe we saw too much. But I would postulate the difference is in understanding the sea is moving, constantly in motion. If you do not understand that simple notion, it might be easy to misjudge.

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

#98

Post by matthewdgreen »

rightbyte wrote: post #57
bloomingeek wrote: post #54

When I was about eight years old, I went to look for something I left near a motel swimming pool. I slipped into the deep end of the pool, I didn't know how to swim. At first I flailed as fast as I could, instinctively I suppose. This didn't help and I realized two things, I was still sinking and was getting tired. So I stopped and just stared ahead. I can't say I knew I was going to die, I just knew I was in trouble…

> Then my feet slowing hit the bottom of the pool, this startled me and it occurred to me I could jump and maybe catch the edge of the pool. A really startling story. That is one of my nightmares as a parent. I really need to learn my kids to swim soon. I wonder if you could actually stand on the bottom with your head over water if you tried? Like it is really hard to "jump" under water. And you don't really sink unt…

Many years ago my toddler fell into the deep-end of the pool and just gradually sank into the water, not even making a fuss. I was right there so I grabbed her and pulled her right out, but it's now seared into my memory like a slow-motion video I can never erase. Teach your kids to swim ASAP if there's any chance they'll ever be near a pool.

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

#99

Post by 1024core »

throwaway63467 wrote: post #72
1024core wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recently I was in Hawaii, snorkeling in an area where I could walk around. I don't now how to swim, but I have been in shallow pools before. Unbeknownst to me, I was slowly drifting into a deeper area as I was busy just looking down at the fishies. Suddenly I realized my feet no longer could touch the bottom, and an initial panic set in. Then I quickly reasoned that I would just sink to the bottom (which was, about,…

Snorkeling without knowing how to swim seems like a pretty bad idea in the first place…

Can't argue with that! Lesson learned.

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

#100

Post by 1024core »

mb_72 wrote: post #73
1024core wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recently I was in Hawaii, snorkeling in an area where I could walk around. I don't now how to swim, but I have been in shallow pools before. Unbeknownst to me, I was slowly drifting into a deeper area as I was busy just looking down at the fishies. Suddenly I realized my feet no longer could touch the bottom, and an initial panic set in. Then I quickly reasoned that I would just sink to the bottom (which was, about,…

Might I suggest that swearing to learn to improve your swimming skills may be more beneficial to your long-term survival? Plus a lot more fun once you have more confidence in the water.

I did learn some lessons. My kids are enrolled in swimming classes now! :-D
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