Not only did Violet Jessop survive the sinking of the Titanic and the Britannic, but she was also aboard the Titanic's other sister ship, the Olympic, when it collided with a cruiser in 1911.
Public DomainViolet Jessop, the woman who survived disaster on the Titanic — and its two sister ships.
Violet Jessop was a survivor from the beginning. Though three of her siblings died young, and though Jessop contracted a near-fatal case of tuberculosis as a child, she managed pulled through. But Jessop is best known for surviving a different kind of catastrophe.
In 1912, Jessop was working as a stewardess on the RMS Titanic when the ship struck an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic. Not only did Jessop survive the Titanic, however, but she’d also survived a disasterous collision on its sister ship, the Olympic in 1911 — and she would go on to survive the sinking of its other sister ship, the Britannic, in 1916.
This is the remarkable story of Violet Jessop, “Miss Unsinkable” who survived disaster on the Olympic, the Titanic, and the Britannic.
Life As A Stewardess For White Star Line
Born on Oct. 2, 1887, to an Irish couple living in Argentina, Violet Constance Jessop began her sea career at a relatively young age. She moved with her mother to England as a child after her father’s death, where her mother worked as a stewardess. When Jessop’s mother became too ill to work, Jessop followed in her footsteps and became a stewardess as well.
After working with the Royal Mail Line for two years, Jessop took a job with White Star Line. Her first posting was aboard the RMS Olympic, a luxury ship, and the largest civilian liner of its time. But just a few months after its maiden journey in June 1911, the Olympic met disaster at sea.
Library of CongressThe RMS Olympic, the Titanic’s sister ship.
Jessop was onboard the ship on Sept. 20, 1911, when the Olympic collided with the HMS Hawke, a cruiser, near the Isle of Wight. Though the ship was badly damaged, its captain Edward Smith — who would later lose his life while captaining the Titanic — was able to steer the Olympic back to port.
Though perhaps a frightening incident, the collision didn’t seem to leave much of an impression on Jessop, and she didn’t even mention it in her memoirs. Rather, Violet Jessop would spend much more time recounting her next disaster at sea: the sinking of the RMS Titanic.
How Violet Jessop Survived The Sinking Of The Titanic
On April 10, 1912, the RMS Titanic set sail on its maiden voyage to great fanfare. Larger than the Olympic, and filled with luxurious amenities like swimming pools, a squash court, and even a gym, the Titanic drew both wealthy celebrities and immigrants hoping for a fresh start.
ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty ImagesThe Titanic in Southampton, just before its doomed maiden voyage.
One of the most famous passengers aboard was John Jacob Astor IV, one of the richest men in the world, who had recently caused a society scandal by marrying his second wife, 18-year-old Madeleine Astor. Violet Jessop, catching a glimpse of Madeleine, was less than impressed.
“Instead of the radiant woman of my imagination,” Jessop wrote in her memoirs, “I saw a quiet, pale, sad-faced, in fact dull young woman arrive listlessly on the arm of her husband.”
But Jessop had little time to study the passengers. As a stewardess in first class, her responsibilities ranged from making beds to arranging flowers to running errands. The days could be long, and Jessop developed the habit of ending her night on deck, taking a breath of sea air, before going to bed.
But on the night of April 14, 1912, shortly after Jessop had retired for the night, the Titanic struck an iceberg and began to sink.
After the “awful grinding crash,” Jessop went to work right away. After passengers were ordered to the lifeboats, she went from room to room, helping them with their lifejackets, and making sure they had warm clothing. All the while, she was in a state of shocking, thinking, “Of course Titanic couldn’t be sinking! She [was] so perfect, so new.”
Ordered up onto deck, Jessop recalled watching passengers milling about, and women clinging to their husbands as they were ordered into lifeboats. A ship’s officer then instructed Jessop and other stewardesses to get into a lifeboat, and handed Jessop a bundle — a baby — to look after.
She and the others in Lifeboat 16 watched as the Titanic snapped in two with a “thundering roar of underwater explosions,” and slipped beneath the waves, leaving them stranded in the cold, dark ocean.
National ArchivesSome of the Titanic lifeboats.
The next morning, Jessop and the other Titanic survivors were rescued by the RMS Carpathia. They were the lucky ones — 1,500 people had died.
As for the baby that the ship’s officer had handed to Jessop? Jessop writes that she was still “frozen and numb” when a woman rushed up to her, grabbed the child, and ran off without so much as a “thank you.”
Yet, despite witnessing the tragedy of the Titanic, Violet Jessop continued to work as a stewardess. And just a few years later, she would survive another sinking ship.
The Sinking Of The Britannic In 1916
During World War I, Violet Jessop worked as a stewardess with nursing duties. She was assigned to the HMHS Britannic the Titanic’s sister ship, which had been converted from a luxury cruiser to serve as a hospital ship.
Public DomainThe Britannic was refitted as a hospital ship during World War I, but struck a mine and sank in 1916.
On Nov. 19, 1916, the Britannic set sail for Mudros, Greece, where it planned to pick up patients. There were roughly 1,000 people onboard, including the crew, doctors, and nurses, when the ship hit a German mine two days later. Catastrophically damaged, the Britannic quickly began to sink.
Jessop escaped the ship in a lifeboat, only to find that her lifeboat was being pulled toward the ship’s still-spinning propellers. Thirty people were killed, but Jessop managed to leap into the water. She hit her head on the ship’s keel, but survived, and managed to make her way to a nearby lifeboat.
Then, she watched as the Britannic sank.
“She dipped her head a little, then a little lower and still lower,” Jessop wrote. “All the deck machinery fell into the sea like a child’s toys. Then she took a fearful plunge, her stern rearing hundreds of feet into the air until with a final roar, she disappeared into the depths, the noise of her going resounding through the water with undreamt-of violence…”
Though she had survived disaster at sea three times, Violet Jessop was undeterred. She continued working as a stewardess until 1950, when she retired at the age of 63.
Jessop spent the rest of her life firmly on land, raising chickens, and died in 1971 at the age of 84.
After reading about Violet Jessop, the stewardess who survived disaster on the Titanic and both its sister ships, discover the reasons behind the Titanic’s catastrophic sinking. Or, learn the heartbreaking stories behind this collection of Titanic artifacts.
