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In 9Honey’s series Women Who Survived, we take a look at the remarkable lives of women who contended with extraordinary adversities.
Violet Constance Jessop miraculously survived not one, but three of the most significant ship disasters of the 20th century.
She well and truly earned her nicknames “Miss Unsinkable” and the “Queen of Sinking Ships.”
Violet was one of nine children born to Irish immigrant parents in Argentina. As the eldest daughter, she spent much of her childhood taking care of her younger siblings.
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Her first brush with death came when she battled tuberculosis and wasn’t expected to live.
But, fate stepped in and Violet was clearly meant to face tougher obstacles in her future – and it was a future involving a career on the ocean.
When she was sixteen, Violet’s father died of complications following surgery. Her mother decided to move the family to England where Violet juggled her home duties with her studies at a convent school.
In 1908, at the age of 21, Violet began working for the Royal Mail Line.
But her sea-faring life really began in earnest when she was 23 and managed to get a job as an ocean liner stewardess with White Star Line.
Surviving the Olympic collision
This is where the most fascinating part of her life began. In 1911, Violet was working onboard the luxury ship, the RMS Olympic.
The ship was known as the “sister ship” to Britannic and the Titanic. At the time, the Olympic was the world’s most luxurious liner.
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To much pomp and ceremony, the Olympic embarked on its maiden voyage on June 14, 1911, traveling from Southampton, England, to New York City. The ship was captained by Edward J. Smith, who would later helm the Titanic.
It was on its fifth voyage, on September 20, 1911, that Violet was onboard. The Olympic left Southampton and managed to collide with the HMS Hawke near the Isle of Wight, Southern England.
It was later found that suction from the Olympic had pulled the Hawke into the ocean liner. Both ships suffered major damage, and the Olympic spent the following months undergoing repairs.
She well and truly earned her nicknames ‘Miss Unsinkable’ and the ‘Queen of Sinking Ships’
We know the least about Violet’s experience on this wreck, because she chose to leave it out of her memoirs. There were no deaths and, while the Olympic was badly damaged, the ship managed to make it back to the port without meeting a watery grave.
You’d think that this incident might be enough to chase Violet off the seas for good… but you’d be quite wrong.
Not only did Violet continue working as a stewardess, she clearly had no issues with returning to work on the Olympic once it was ready to take passengers again.
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The Titanic disaster in 1912
This continued until April of the following year, when she was transferred to the Olympic’s sister ship: The Titanic.
We all know the fate of the Titanic, but Violet’s story is a fascinating one. Only four days after setting sail, the Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic.
More than 1500 people died; the tragedy is still the deadliest peacetime sinking of a ship.
Many of the passengers couldn’t speak English, and so Violet was ordered onto the deck to serve as a guide for those who couldn’t understand the directions that were being given as the ship began its terrifying descent into the ocean.
While the crew loaded the lifeboats, Violet stayed on the deck as the orchestra played, and the ship slowly tilted further into the frigid waves.
She stood watching the life boats go down to the water, one after the other. It wasn’t until lifeboat 16 was lowered that Violet was allowed to board.
As she was stepping into the ship, one of the officers gave her a small baby to hold.
Jessop clutched the baby against her chest, doing her best to keep her warm in the freezing cold of the night, as they waited for rescue.
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Both Violet and the baby were rescued by the RMS Carpathia and eventually taken to New York City where the baby was reunited with her mother. As for Violet, she returned to Southampton; now a survivor of two accidents at sea.
Later in life, Violet received a phone call from this same baby, thanking her for saving her life.
Aboard the Britannic
Two years after the sinking of the Titanic, Violet would once again face terror at sea.
During WW1, in 1916, Jessop served as a stewardess for the British Red Cross. She found herself on the youngest sister ship to the Olympic and the Titanic; the HMS Britannic, which had been transformed into a hospital ship.
On the Britannic, Violet was not only a stewardess, she was also a nurse. She split her duties evenly, and focussed on the enormous task in front of her; caring for hundreds of sick and injured people.
On November 21, the largest hospital ship in the world was near the Greek island of Kea, in the Aegean Sea. In the early hours of the morning, the ship was shaken by a terrifying explosion caused by a naval mine of the German Navy.
The once-beloved ship groaned as she tilted forwards, the waves lapping against her. It took the Titanic over two hours to sink, but the Britannic would go down in fifty minutes, killing 32 people.
Many members of the crew made it off the ship and into life boats – but they were not perfectly safe yet.
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Violet found her life boat in mortal peril. The ships propellers were destroying the lifeboats that got too near, killing some of the people onboard.
Violet decided to jump from her life boat at the last minute, and into the water. During this escape, she managed to hit her head hard, suffering a head injury.
The 1036 survivors were rescued and the Britannic became the largest ship lost during WW1. As for Violet, you’d think surviving a third harrowing disaster at sea would be enough to convince her to change her career.
But, once she recovered from her head injury, Violet returned to work as a stewardess at the White Star Line.
Over the years, she also worked at the Red Star Line, and once more at the Royal Mail Line. The sea tried to take Jessop’s life three times. And three times, she survived.
They called her unsinkable – and time after time, she proved that to be true.
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