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American History

Titanic Survivor’s Stories Are As Dramatic As The Sinking

A young boy with long hair and a wide collar, and a lifeboat from Titanic.
Frank Goldsmith as a young child (l) and a collapsible lifeboat from Titanic, possibly the one carrying Frank Goldsmith. Public domain.

Charles Joughin Escapes – Again

Olympic and Titanic, two vintage ships, one in drydock.
Olympic and Titanic, side by side in March 1912. Joughin would serve on both. Public domain.

Surviving Titanic in the most dramatic manner possible didn’t deter Joughin from a career at sea. He returned to Liverpool and served on Titanic‘s sister ship Olympic. At the onset of World War I, Joughin joined the marines, serving as a baker on the SS Congress. On a short run from San Francisco to Seattle, the ship caught fire about thirty to fifty miles off the coast.

The captain quickly beached the ship, saving all members of the crew, including Joughin, who escaped in a lifeboat this time. But his escape wasn’t without drama. He slipped and fell into the water getting into a lifeboat but suffered no injuries. Despite two disasters, he remained a seafaring baker. In December of 1941, he worked aboard yet another sinking ship, the freighter Oregon that had collided with another ship. Seventeen people died in the incident, but once again, Joughin escaped.

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