Violet Jessop
| Violet Constance Jessop | |
|---|---|
 Violet Jessop in her Voluntary Aid Detachment uniform while assigned to HMHS Britannic |
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| Born | 2 October 1887 Bahía Blanca, Argentina |
| Died | 5 May 1971 (aged 83) Great Ashfield, Suffolk |
| Nationality | Argentinian & Irish (British at the time) |
| Occupation | Stewardess, Nurse |
| Title | Miss |
| Children | None |
| Parents | William and Katherine (Kelly) Jessop |
| Website | |
| Violet Constance Jessop at Encyclopedia Titanica | |
Violet Constance Jessop (October 2, 1887 – May 5, 1971) was an ocean liner stewardess and nurse who achieved fame by surviving the disastrous sinkings of sister ships RMS Titanic and HMHS Britannic in 1912 and 1916 respectively. In addition, she had been on board Titanic and Britannic′s other sister ship, RMS Olympic, when it collided with the protected cruiser HMS Hawke in 1911.
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[edit] Early life
Violet Jessop was born to William and Katherine Jessop, Irish emigrants living near Bahía Blanca, Argentina. William Jessop had emigrated from Dublin in the mid-1880s to try his hand at sheep farming in the Argentine. His fiancée, Katherine Kelly, followed him out there from Dublin in 1886. Violet was the first of nine children, only six of whom survived. Violet herself contracted tuberculosis at an early age, and despite doctor's predictions she survived. After her father died, Violet and her family moved to Great Britain, where she attended a convent school. After her mother got sick, she left school to join a high-class liner.
[edit] Olympic
At age 23, Violet Jessop boarded the RMS Olympic on October 20, 1910 to work as a stewardess. The Olympic was a luxury ship that was the largest civilian liner at that time, being nearly 100 ft (30 m) longer than any other ship. Olympic′s first major mishap occurred on September 20, 1911, when she collided with the old protected cruiser HMS Hawke off the Isle of Wight. Although the incident resulted in the flooding of two of her compartments and a twisted propeller shaft, Olympic was able to limp back to Southampton. At the subsequent inquiry the Royal Navy blamed Olympic for the incident, alleging that her large displacement generated a suction that pulled Hawke into her side.
[edit] Titanic
Violet boarded the RMS Titanic as a stewardess on April 10 at noon and four days later on April 14, at around 11:40 PM the Titanic struck an iceberg and began to sink. The iceberg ripped through the hull, causing the first six watertight compartments to flood. Soon, the ship broke in two and the bow sank almost immediately. Violet described in her memoirs that she was ordered up on deck because she was to set a good example to the foreign speaking people (they did not speak English) where she watched as the crew loaded the lifeboats. She was later ordered into lifeboat 16, and as the boat was being lowered, one of the Titanic′s officers gave her a baby to look after. The next morning Violet and the rest of the survivors were rescued by the RMS Carpathia. According to Violet, while on board the Carpathia, a woman grabbed the baby she was holding and ran off with it without saying a word.
[edit] Britannic
During the First World War, Violet served as a nurse for the British Red Cross. In 1916, she was on board His Majesty's Hospital Ship Britannic when the ship apparently struck a mine and sank in the Aegean Sea. While the Britannic was sinking she jumped out of a lifeboat to avoid being sucked into the Britannic′s propellers. She was sucked under the water and struck her head on the ship's keel before being rescued by another lifeboat.[1] She later stated that the cushioning due to her thick auburn hair helped save her life. She had also made sure to grab her toothbrush before leaving her cabin on the Britannic, saying later that it was the one thing she missed most immediately following the sinking of the Titanic.
[edit] Later life
After the war, Violet continued to work for the White Star Line, before joining the Red Star Line and then the Royal Mail Line again. During her tenure with Red Star, Violet went on two around the world cruises on that company's largest ship, the Belgenland. In her late 30s, Violet had a brief marriage, and in 1950 she retired to Great Ashfield, Suffolk. Years after her retirement, she got a telephone call on a stormy night from a woman who asked Violet if she saved a baby on night the Titanic sank. "Yes," Jessop replied. The voice then said "Well, I was that baby," laughed, and then hung up. Her friend, and biographer John Maxtone-Graham said it was most likely some children in the village playing a joke on her. She replied, "No, John, I had never told that story to anyone before I told you now." To this day, the baby she saved has never been positively identified.[citation needed]
Violet Jessop died of congestive heart failure in 1971.
[edit] In Popular Culture
In James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster Titanic, a fictional counterpart to Jessop was written in by Cameron, named Lucy. After the Titanic starts sinking, builder Thomas Andrews (Victor Garber) tells her to put her lifebelt on to "set a good example". These are the same instructions given to Jessop (to set a good example for non-English speaking passengers). Unlike her real life counterpart however, Lucy dies during the sinking of Titanic.
[edit] Note
- ^ Brewster, Hugh and Laurie Coulter (1998). 882½ Amazing Answers to your Questions about the Titanic. Madison Press Book. ISBN 0-590-18730-9.
[edit] External links
- Violet Jessop on Find-A-Grave
- Titanic Crew member profile
- Pay tribute to Violet Constance Jessop
- List with dates of ships Violet served on
[edit] References
- Gowan, Phillip. "Miss Violet Constance Jessop". Encyclopedia Titanica. http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/biography.php?id=1937. Retrieved September 30, 2005.
- "Violet Constance Jessop, Ship Stewardess". http://www.titanic-whitestarships.com/MGY_Jessop.htm. Retrieved September 30, 2005.
