Miss Unsinkable

  

  When we hear the phrase "Unsinkable Woman" we think of Molly Brown. She survived the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 and had an amazing life.

   Violet Jessop was in every way the Unsinkable Woman. Violet survived the sinking of two of the White Star Line ships and one collision. The Titanic, the Britannic, and the Olympic. And she didn't know how to swim!

   Violet was born in 1887 to an Irish couple living in Argentina. At a young age, she contracted tuberculosis and was given only a few months to live. However, she recovered and lived a long life. She moved to England at the age of 16 after her father's death. Her mother worked as a stewardess. When Violets mother became too ill to work, she followed in her footsteps.

   At the age of 21 Violet took a job with the White Star Line and her first post was aboard the Majestic before switching to the Olympic, the largest civilian luxury ship of its time. During its fifth journey across the Atlantic Ocean 1911, The Olympic collided with the HMS Hawke near the Isle of Wight. Though the ship was badly damaged, the captain steered the Olympic back to port. He would later captain the Titanic and go down with her.

  In 1912 Violet was working as a stewardess on the Titanic on its maiden voyage. Larger than the Olympic, the Titanic was filled with Luxurious amenities. Violet was a stewardess in first class and met many famous and wealthy people. The night of April 14, 1912, Violet retired for the night and the Titanic stuck an iceberg and began to sink.

  Violet went from room to room, helping with lifejackets, and making sure the passengers had warm clothes. She was instructed to get into a lifeboat to prove to the women passengers it was safe and was handed a baby to look after. She was in Lifeboat 16 and watched the Titanic snap in two and go down. The Carpathia rescued the survivors. Once on board, a woman took the baby and Violet never saw her again.

  Despite the tragedy, Violet continued to work as a stewardess.

  During World War 1, Violet worked as a stewardess with nursing duties. she was assigned to the Britannic, the Titanic's sister ship. It had been converted from a luxury line into a hospital ship. It set sail for Mudros, Greece to pick up patients to take to Great Britain. There were about a thousand people on board when the ship hit a German mine two days later. Only 30 died. After the Titanic tragedy, more lifeboats were added to the Britannic.

  Violet escaped the ship in a lifeboat. The lifeboat was being pulled toward the ships spinning propellers. Violet managed to leap into the water and managed to make her way to a nearby lifeboat.

  She watched the Britannic sink.

  Violet continued working as a stewardess until 1950, when she retired at age 63. The Unsinkable Woman passed away in 1971 at the age of 84. In her memoirs she tells of receiving a call from a woman claiming to be the baby she saved on the Titanic. She knew it wasn't a prank call because she had never told the story to anyone.

  Violet was tougher than I could have been. After the Olympic I never would have worked on a ship again. Plus, I get seasick so probably wouldn't be my line of work anyway. I'll stick to solid ground.