Violet Jessop
Story of the unsinkable woman!
During the spring of 1887 in Argentina, Violet Jessop was born. Four-year-old Violet, was feverish and unable to breathe when she woke up on a Monday morning. Her parents rushed her to the Doctor. “ Your daughter won’t survive more than a few weeks, make her happy all throughout her remaining time”. That was the first time when Violet competed with Death. And she won!
In 1908, when her dearest father passed away and her mother was ill, young Ms Violet Jessop, dropped school and went in search of a job. She applied to be a stewardess in Argentinian maritime. But she got rejected a lot of times, because only middle-aged ladies were selected for the post.
Violet Jessop with her beautiful grey eyes and auburn hair, looked so young. After being rejected a few times, she wore shaggy clothes, covered her hair and appeared the interviews without any make-up. Her first liner was the Majestic, a ship she had sailed on for a long time. In 1911 she joined RMS Olympic.
“She was a beautiful ship and her lines were wonderfully clean for those days. The Olympic proved herself a very comfortable ship and she was sublimely fitted out and her First Class and even her Second Class décor was rather exceptional, in fact she was the most luxurious British liner to be built at that date!” — Violet Jessop
But it took no longer! On her fifth journey, RMS Olympics collided with the HMS Hawke causing considerable damage to both ships. Many passengers were injured, and the journey was called off in the midway. Surprisingly Violet Jessop escaped without a scar!
After a year of the Olympic crash, one day when Violet was taking care of her ill mother, her friends came in. They said, “ Violet, they had built a sister ship for Olympic, why don’t you join the crew? Don’t wait for Olympic to come back”.
And that was the most wonderful ship she had ever seen! “The RMS Titanic”.
“Even the sun did fail to shine so brightly! It only served to emphasize the warmth and luxuriousness within her.” — Violet Jessop
On the fourth day, this beauty was in depths of despair. Titanic crashed into an iceberg. But as a stewardess, she stood out to rescue everyone. When the Titanic was sinking, Violet had to explain and demonstrate non-English people what they had to do.
She watched and helped as the crew loaded the lifeboats. An officer approached her. “ Carry this baby with you, she is lost. Make sure she is alive”. Violet looked at the baby. She asked other women to carry this baby with them in lifeboats. But no one cared a bit! Violet herself jumped on to Lifeboat 16, with the infant in her hand.
The next morning, Violet and the rest of the survivors were rescued by the RMS Carpathia. While she entered the Carpathia, a woman pushed Violet and grabbed the baby she was holding and ran off with it without even saying a “Thank you”. She was the actual mother of the child, whom she forgot while saving her own life!
During World War I, she served the British Red Cross as a nurse. She was then ordered to serve on the medical ship, HMHS Britannic, who was the sister of Titanic and Olympic. On November 1916, the great Britannic struck a mine and started to sink. Violet’s lifeboat, was unable to move and was about to go under the running propellers. Violet hit her head on the keel and was totally blank. She was surprised to wake up in the morning and see the sun again. She served as a stewardess till she was 63.
Years passed and in 1950, On a windy night, her phone rang. “ Did you save a baby while the Titanic sank?” a woman asked. “Yes,” Violet said. The woman said “I was that baby”, laughed feebly and hung up. Her friend, biographer and husband said it was some children, in the family or neighbourhood playing a joke on her. She replied, “No, I had never told that story to anyone before I told you all now.”
Her Irish parents never knew their daughter, Violet Jessop would be one of the luckiest person ever lived. She brushed with Death, quite a lot of times! And she always won. She is called Miss Unsinkable by the historians! She magically survived three major Maritime disasters that shook the world! She united with death at the age of 83, in 1971.
Love,
Dona
