February 5, 2024 • 19 mins
In this captivating episode, we embark on a thrilling journey through the extraordinary life of Violet Jessup, the indomitable woman who defied the odds and survived not just one, but three maritime disasters, including the infamous sinking of the Titanic. Join us as we uncover the remarkable tale of "Miss Unsinkable," from her challenging early years in Argentina to her daring escapades on the high seas. With a dash of humor and culinary curiosity, we also explore the flavors of the Titanic era, whipping up a stew that transports us back in time. Prepare to be amazed by Violet's resilience, her unwavering spirit, and her enduring love for the ocean that shaped her life.
In this chapter, we delve into the heart-pounding moments when Violet Jessup faced the unimaginable - surviving the sinking of not just one, but two ships: the Titanic and the Britannic. From her near-death encounter with a lifeboat's propeller to her inspiring recovery, we witness the sheer strength and determination that made Violet a true survivor. Alongside her incredible resilience, we delve into her decision to remain single post-divorce, celebrating her independence and the luxury and danger of ocean liner travel. Join us as we reflect on the enduring human spirit and the extraordinary life of "Miss Unsinkable.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Smart against Hell's.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
History.
Alright, enough with the Echoand Fanfare.
You're here for history, right,and not that boring crap you
learned in high school.
This stuff's actuallyinteresting, like things you've
never heard about the Civil War,cleopatra, automobiles,
monopoly, the Black Plague andmore Fascinating stories,
interesting topics and somedownright weird facts from the
(00:27):
past.
It's a new twist on somestories you may know and an
interesting look at some thingsyou may have never heard.
So grab a beer, kick back andenjoy.
Here's your host, smarticus.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Smarticus
Tells History.
I am your host, smarticus,accompanied by my co-host
Phoenix.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Hey.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Today we have a fascinating story to explore the
incredible life of VioletJessup.
She was a woman who survivednot one but three shipwrecks
during the early 20th century,earning her the nicknames Queen
of Sinking Ships and MissUnsinkable.
So buckle up as we dive intothe remarkable life of Violet
Jessup.
But first we have food Food.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Now, as we discussed earlier, we've already done a
stew, so don't be too surprisedthat we're doing stew yet again,
but this is a stew that's morelike what they were serving on
the Titanic, which was one ofthe ships that she survived the
wrecking of.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
It was Yep, yep, she survived the Titanic, and then
we'll get more into detail later.
Yeah, so I made the same stew.
It's just.
I mean, it's hard to mess upstew.
It's like it's almost like apot roast.
(01:47):
You throw it in the pot.
It's mainly the sameingredients as a pot roast, only
I think it just has more waterin it or more beef broth or
vegetable, you know, whateverliquid you put in it.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
And there's also a little bit of booze.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
There's a little bit of booze.
I also added in Lowry'sseasoned salt.
Oh, I put on.
I put that on everything 25%less sodium.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I saw that.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
It was.
It was 25% less sodium.
Also, my other bottle that Ibought because that one's almost
empty is just regular.
It's got all the salt, all thesodium in me yeah, all the
sodium and but it's really good.
I don't know if you've ever I'msure you've had it Lowry's
seasoned salt.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Oh yeah, I've had it.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Yeah, I lately I've been putting it on everything
because it just, it just makeseverything taste better.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Go for it, I get it.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
That's, that's what I've been doing, but this is
just.
Yeah.
We just did a regular andanother stew.
Yeah, Next time we'll dosomething different.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Probably yeah, but this one, this particular stew
that I picked, was more likelywhat was served to the lower
class people on the ship.
I was not going to try my handat foie gras because I'm a snob
and that stuff scares me.
If it's gray, I don't want toeat it.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
So Caviour, I'm not into.
I'm not into trying caviareither.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
There's a part of me that wants to, but at the same
time I don't want to.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
I don't.
I can live without fish eggs.
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
But it could be fun.
I figured this is probably moreclose to what she was eating.
Just a violet was eating whenshe was on the ship.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
I was just going to say maybe if I put some season
salt on it it might like Wasthat Rodney Carrington says
something about uh, maybe youjust need a little ketchup on it
or something.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yeah, Maybe I just need some ketchup, who knows?
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Uh that's all we did this time.
Yeah, nothing Super fancy oranything, so um.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
We did contemplate possibly doing um arepas,
because violet Jessup was bornin Argentina.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
But Stu was a lot easier yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
And for one I already had some made.
Um and uh we were going to needwell, we had to, we were going
to have to look up recipe.
We kind of did this later inthe late again.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Sorry about that.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Well, let's go ahead and get into Violet's story.
Violet Jessup was born onOctober 2, 1887 in Argentina to
Irish Catholic immigrant parents.
They immigrated to SouthAmerica to become sheep farmers,
which I'm going to go ahead andsay it because these people are
gone.
Why would you leave IrelandOkay, where everyone's a sheep
(05:13):
farmer anyways to go toArgentina to be a sheep farmer?
The only thing I can think isthat if someone needed a drier
climate, they were sick of therain.
Maybe I'm so confused aboutthat.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Maybe they just wanted to I don't know get away
from Ireland for whatever reason.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Maybe, 1887.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Was it around the?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
potato famine era.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Well, that's what I was wondering.
Maybe something, something wasgoing on in Ireland at that time
.
I'm not sure.
My Irish history is none Okay,it's nil, it doesn't exist.
So.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Right, well, anyway, her childhood, sadly enough, was
full of illness.
The poor girl not only got hitby typhoid, but tuberculosis as
well.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
And that last one nearly killed her.
John Maxden Graham, the editorof her memoirs, wrote about her
miraculous recovery.
That quote Violet Stubborn,almost fierce will to live,
healed her end quote.
And considering the cure fortuberculosis wasn't found until
1945, there's no arguing that,aside from life-threatening
(06:28):
disease, it all went swimminglyuntil Mr Jessup died in 1903,
when Violet was 16 years old.
I'm assuming that was herfather.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yes Start.
With an impressive number ofchildren to take care of, mrs
Jessup, violet's mother, decidedthey would move back to England
.
Along the way, she became aship's stewardess.
This set the tone for Violet'sfuture career.
When her mother became very illAt the age of 21, violet went
to work as a stewardess herself,and even though she was
considered too young for such ajob, her pleasant personality
(06:59):
and ability to speak English,Spanish and French made sure she
got it.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
That's pretty impressive.
All right, I went to a bankwhen I was in the military One
of the I was getting a loan, asmall loan for something, and
the loan officer there she spokefive languages, Dang, and I was
geez, and I was like I was likeyou're, you're fluent in all
(07:28):
those.
She's like, oh yeah, she's likeI have relatives that are from
France, I have relatives thatare from Germany, and there was
she spoke I think she spokeSpanish, just because she wanted
to learn.
You know, she wanted to learnit.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
That's wild.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
But she spoke English , spanish, french, german and
something else.
Probably it was probablyJapanese, because we were in
Japan, right?
So I was thinking probably youprobably spoke Japanese.
I don't remember 100 percentwhat the fifth one was, but I it
was probably Japanese, soprobably I was just like that's
(08:07):
very impressive.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah, I knew a girl who Couple years ago she had
what was it?
She'd taken Spanish in highschool and then kind of she kind
of grew up around people whowere speaking Spanish quite a
bit as well, and then she wentdown to I think it was Brazil
and lived down there and learnedhow to speak it, the way they
(08:29):
speak it, and then she alsolearned Portuguese, which was
how she was able to tell mebecause Portuguese isn't, I
guess, very, very different fromregular South American Spanish,
other than it sounds Sorry,mexican Spanish sounds like
they're drunk.
She said so that it's kind oflike they're slurring their
(08:50):
words.
That's so ridiculous.
But then her family is alsofrom Italy.
So she went to visit somefamily in Italy, like during the
time I knew her, and she saidonce you know the first two,
pretty good, you can kind ofmuddle your way through Italian.
And then she met someone whospoke Italian and French and so
they combined all theselanguages together to have a
(09:12):
full conversation for hours.
Oh wow, that's crazy.
I was like that's ridiculous,but it makes sense because it's
all Latin based, right, so it'sgot a lot of stuff in common.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Yeah, wow, that's crazy, yeah.
Anyways, at the age of 24,violet's first major nautical
encounter with disaster came in1911, when she was on board the
RMS Olympic, the largest luxuryliner of its time and the first
of three from the White StarLine Company and for all of you
Leonardo DiCaprio fans, thatname is probably ringing a bell.
(09:42):
The Olympic was a sister shipto the ill-fated RMS Titanic.
The Olympic collided with theBritish warship HMS Hawk.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Remarkably, violet survived this collision with
little more than a scare, whilethe Olympic limped home with a
rip just above the waterline.
While it was being fixed, shetransferred to the ship that
would bring her one of the mostfamous and tragic events in her
life she became a stewardess onthe RMS Titanic.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Four nights out from the harbor of Southampton,
england.
Violet had just gotten donesaying her prayers in her birth
and was climbing into bed whenshe heard low-rending crunching
ripping sound.
She wasn't too sure what itcould be, but as she was on the
ship that had been dubbedunsinkable, she was sure it
wasn't anything to be concernedabout.
However, three hours later shewas sitting in a live boat
(10:33):
watching the huge vessel do justthat Sink.
We all know the story theTitanic sank and over 1500
people lost their lives.
Violet, for her part, watchingthe horror show play out, kept
thinking to herself surely it isall a dream Now.
You'd think that her escapefrom the Titanic was already a
remarkable tale.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
but it didn't end there.
War broke out in Europe in 1914and she worked as a nurse on
land hospitals for several years, until 1916, when she went back
to sea on the RMS BritannicInterestingly enough, it was the
third and last ship from theWhite Star Line that had been
(11:10):
requisitioned by the BritishAdmiralty for the war effort.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
The Britannic was converted into a hospital ship
with a big red cross on the side.
It traveled to the island ofLimnos in Greece and took on
sick and wounded soldiers allrather standard for warfare
until November 21, 1916.
While navigating the GNC, theship struck a German mine and
began to sink.
This time, once, aware of thesituation, she rushed to her
(11:36):
birth, collected her prayer bookand her toothbrush, she said in
her memoirs a friend of hershad told her quote Never
undertake another disasterwithout first making sure of
your toothbrush.
End quote.
Violet also wrote that again.
Quote there had always beenmuch fun at my expense after the
Titanic when I complained of myinability to get a toothbrush.
(11:58):
End quote.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
This is that great, I thought it was hilarious.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Yeah, I feel like I've heard that before too.
Something to make sure youalways have your toothbrush.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
I know that I'm thinking of a hitchhiker's guide
to gals to make sure you alwayshave your towel.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Yes, that's what.
I'm thinking of Ford knows whathe's talking about.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Yeah, so now I know, to make sure you always have
your towel and your toothbrushyeah, and you should be okay for
safe for space in the sea.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
That's right, you'll be good.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Horrifically enough, this time she was not safe in
the lifeboat, as the stillspinning propeller of the
Britannic was drawing it closer.
Try as they might, the peoplemanning the boat couldn't get
away, and the blades from theirpropeller chopped it into
splinters.
Along with many people, violet,along with many others, jumped
into the sea to escape.
She survived, but with amassive skull fracture and a
(12:51):
deeply gashed leg.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
I'm assuming she also got hit.
Well, maybe not with.
She might not get hit by thepropeller, but from the no, she
would have died from that, but Ithink probably some of the
debris, the flying debris.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Man, that'd be scary.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
That would be terrifying.
Yeah, not really terrifying.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Later, after being rescued by a British destroyer,
violet found herself eye to eyewith two doctors who had been on
the Britannic.
Funny enough, she had kneltnext to them at mass just hours
before.
Being members of the same faithand from the same down vessel.
They were a happy sight.
One of them, according to hermemoirs, said I know what saved
(13:34):
you today, young lady.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Sounds like a threat.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
I know, I know what saved you today, young lady.
I'm assuming he means God, butyes, yes.
I mean, you know, it wasn't thepropeller.
Yeah, it wasn't the propeller.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
I mean I feel like the way you said.
It is like the guy was wagginghis finger.
I know, I know, I know whatsaved you, young lady.
That's right, and I'm going tolet everybody know, Three years
it took Violet to recover fromher injuries, and by then the
war was over.
Ocean liners were once again onthe waters going across the
(14:16):
Atlantic, and with that luxuryback in everyone's life, there
was a need for stewardesses oncemore.
Now you might think that, aftersurviving three major maritime
disasters, violet would havedecided to give up life at sea.
But no, her adventurous spiritprevailed.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
She continued her career working on various ships
throughout her life, went on twoworld cruises after joining the
Red Star Lines, the Belgianland.
At the age of 36, she finallygot married to a man named John
James Lewis.
He was also a steward for theRed Star Line.
Unfortunately, they divorced ayear later and she kept going
until 1950 when she retired togreat Ashfield, suffolk.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yeah, I was just impressive.
I mean, really You're justgonna keep on keeping on.
Maybe she wanted to die at sea,I don't know.
I don't know, maybe it was agood living Back then.
It probably was a good living.
It was, yeah, I mean even today.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
I mean it's not terrible.
I mean right If you don't havea family or anything.
I mean fishermen and stuff.
I mean they make a lot of money.
So yeah, well, they can.
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
But the thing was one of the things that always kind
of blew my mind when I wasresearching this was she married
one guy, stayed married to himfor a year, decided it was not
her bag and then never getsmarried again.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Yeah, I was just thinking I was like I guess she
didn't have children or anything.
No, she had nieces and nephewsbecause she had that whole mess
of siblings.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
But that was it and she was just like no, I'm good,
I like being a little old lady.
Yeah, I don't want no manmessing up my stuff.
He needs to go away, yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
She's that lady on the Titanic.
She was in the Titanic.
Yeah, yeah she was.
She probably met that lady.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
She probably served that lady.
You know her food, or?
Speaker 3 (16:04):
whatever, that's right.
Yeah, I was just thinking of Ithink I saw her on the movie.
I was just.
Yeah, I was just thinking youknow there's something about her
that she's not going to be ableto do.
I mean, I think she's going tobe able to do that.
I think you know they'resitting there saying you know
these people are, you know themovie Titanic.
You know they're sitting thereand they're searching for this
(16:26):
heart or whatever, and she'stelling them the whole story
about it.
She's got it, she's wearing itright there in front of them and
you know behind her cleavageand everything you know under
her shirt and stuff.
And she's just sitting thereand she's just telling it.
And then what does she do?
She throws it in the water.
I'm like what a bitch.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
I remember watching it for the first time and going
why, why would you do that?
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
There is no reason for that.
That's just rude.
It really was.
You know what I mean.
I'll give you something to lookfor.
I'm going to give you somethingto look for.
Geez Rose, could you be alittle more hateful?
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Her name.
I don't think her name wasreally Rose either.
I think they made that up forthe movie.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Rose doesn't exist.
That woman doesn't exist.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
That's what I'm saying.
Yeah, rose doesn't exist.
I was like the lady that theyhad there was a real person from
the Titanic, but Rose herselfdoesn't exist.
That's what I was getting at.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Yeah, they made her up, some people don't know that
Right, but I still don'tunderstand why in the world they
insisted on adding into thestoryline that's that little
heart of the ocean thing.
The story is dramatic enough.
You could swing a cat and hit500 other people on that ship
who had an interesting story totell, right, and you had to go
(17:47):
and make up this nonsense.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
That's Hollywood for you.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
That's an interesting choice there, Cameron Good job?
Speaker 3 (17:55):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
All right.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
So back to the show.
Sadly, Violet passed away fromcongenital heart failure on May
5th 1971, at the age of 83.
She left behind an incrediblelegacy, not only as a survivor
of historic shipwrecks, but alsoas a pioneer for women in the
maritime industry.
Violet's incredible resilienceand the seemingly supernatural
(18:19):
ability to survive childhooddiseases and multiple shipwrecks
have left historians andmaritime enthusiasts astounded.
Her life is a testament tocourage and the human will to
persevere even in the face ofthe most challenging and
harrowing circumstances.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
We conclude the remarkable story of Violet
Jessup, where it is remindedthat history is filled with
stories of ordinary people who,when faced with extraordinary
challenges, show incredibleresilience and strength.
Thank you for joining us onthis episode of Smarticus Tells
History.
If you enjoyed this episode,please subscribe and leave us a
review.
We will be back with morestories from the past.
Until then, keep exploring.
Welcome to.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Smart against Hell's.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
History.
Alright, enough with the Echoand Fanfare.
You're here for history, right,and not that boring crap you
learned in high school.
This stuff's actuallyinteresting, like things you've
never heard about the Civil War,cleopatra, automobiles,
monopoly, the Black Plague andmore Fascinating stories,
interesting topics and somedownright weird facts from the
(00:27):
past.
It's a new twist on somestories you may know and an
interesting look at some thingsyou may have never heard.
So grab a beer, kick back andenjoy.
Here's your host, smarticus.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Smarticus
Tells History.
I am your host, smarticus,accompanied by my co-host
Phoenix.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Hey.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Today we have a fascinating story to explore the
incredible life of VioletJessup.
She was a woman who survivednot one but three shipwrecks
during the early 20th century,earning her the nicknames Queen
of Sinking Ships and MissUnsinkable.
So buckle up as we dive intothe remarkable life of Violet
Jessup.
But first we have food Food.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Now, as we discussed earlier, we've already done a
stew, so don't be too surprisedthat we're doing stew yet again,
but this is a stew that's morelike what they were serving on
the Titanic, which was one ofthe ships that she survived the
wrecking of.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
It was Yep, yep, she survived the Titanic, and then
we'll get more into detail later.
Yeah, so I made the same stew.
It's just.
I mean, it's hard to mess upstew.
It's like it's almost like apot roast.
(01:47):
You throw it in the pot.
It's mainly the sameingredients as a pot roast, only
I think it just has more waterin it or more beef broth or
vegetable, you know, whateverliquid you put in it.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
And there's also a little bit of booze.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
There's a little bit of booze.
I also added in Lowry'sseasoned salt.
Oh, I put on.
I put that on everything 25%less sodium.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I saw that.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
It was.
It was 25% less sodium.
Also, my other bottle that Ibought because that one's almost
empty is just regular.
It's got all the salt, all thesodium in me yeah, all the
sodium and but it's really good.
I don't know if you've ever I'msure you've had it Lowry's
seasoned salt.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Oh yeah, I've had it.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Yeah, I lately I've been putting it on everything
because it just, it just makeseverything taste better.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Go for it, I get it.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
That's, that's what I've been doing, but this is
just.
Yeah.
We just did a regular andanother stew.
Yeah, Next time we'll dosomething different.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Probably yeah, but this one, this particular stew
that I picked, was more likelywhat was served to the lower
class people on the ship.
I was not going to try my handat foie gras because I'm a snob
and that stuff scares me.
If it's gray, I don't want toeat it.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
So Caviour, I'm not into.
I'm not into trying caviareither.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
There's a part of me that wants to, but at the same
time I don't want to.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
I don't.
I can live without fish eggs.
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
But it could be fun.
I figured this is probably moreclose to what she was eating.
Just a violet was eating whenshe was on the ship.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
I was just going to say maybe if I put some season
salt on it it might like Wasthat Rodney Carrington says
something about uh, maybe youjust need a little ketchup on it
or something.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yeah, Maybe I just need some ketchup, who knows?
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Uh that's all we did this time.
Yeah, nothing Super fancy oranything, so um.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
We did contemplate possibly doing um arepas,
because violet Jessup was bornin Argentina.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
But Stu was a lot easier yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
And for one I already had some made.
Um and uh we were going to needwell, we had to, we were going
to have to look up recipe.
We kind of did this later inthe late again.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Sorry about that.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Well, let's go ahead and get into Violet's story.
Violet Jessup was born onOctober 2, 1887 in Argentina to
Irish Catholic immigrant parents.
They immigrated to SouthAmerica to become sheep farmers,
which I'm going to go ahead andsay it because these people are
gone.
Why would you leave IrelandOkay, where everyone's a sheep
(05:13):
farmer anyways to go toArgentina to be a sheep farmer?
The only thing I can think isthat if someone needed a drier
climate, they were sick of therain.
Maybe I'm so confused aboutthat.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Maybe they just wanted to I don't know get away
from Ireland for whatever reason.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Maybe, 1887.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Was it around the?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
potato famine era.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Well, that's what I was wondering.
Maybe something, something wasgoing on in Ireland at that time
.
I'm not sure.
My Irish history is none Okay,it's nil, it doesn't exist.
So.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Right, well, anyway, her childhood, sadly enough, was
full of illness.
The poor girl not only got hitby typhoid, but tuberculosis as
well.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
And that last one nearly killed her.
John Maxden Graham, the editorof her memoirs, wrote about her
miraculous recovery.
That quote Violet Stubborn,almost fierce will to live,
healed her end quote.
And considering the cure fortuberculosis wasn't found until
1945, there's no arguing that,aside from life-threatening
(06:28):
disease, it all went swimminglyuntil Mr Jessup died in 1903,
when Violet was 16 years old.
I'm assuming that was herfather.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yes Start.
With an impressive number ofchildren to take care of, mrs
Jessup, violet's mother, decidedthey would move back to England
.
Along the way, she became aship's stewardess.
This set the tone for Violet'sfuture career.
When her mother became very illAt the age of 21, violet went
to work as a stewardess herself,and even though she was
considered too young for such ajob, her pleasant personality
(06:59):
and ability to speak English,Spanish and French made sure she
got it.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
That's pretty impressive.
All right, I went to a bankwhen I was in the military One
of the I was getting a loan, asmall loan for something, and
the loan officer there she spokefive languages, Dang, and I was
geez, and I was like I was likeyou're, you're fluent in all
(07:28):
those.
She's like, oh yeah, she's likeI have relatives that are from
France, I have relatives thatare from Germany, and there was
she spoke I think she spokeSpanish, just because she wanted
to learn.
You know, she wanted to learnit.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
That's wild.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
But she spoke English , spanish, french, german and
something else.
Probably it was probablyJapanese, because we were in
Japan, right?
So I was thinking probably youprobably spoke Japanese.
I don't remember 100 percentwhat the fifth one was, but I it
was probably Japanese, soprobably I was just like that's
(08:07):
very impressive.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah, I knew a girl who Couple years ago she had
what was it?
She'd taken Spanish in highschool and then kind of she kind
of grew up around people whowere speaking Spanish quite a
bit as well, and then she wentdown to I think it was Brazil
and lived down there and learnedhow to speak it, the way they
(08:29):
speak it, and then she alsolearned Portuguese, which was
how she was able to tell mebecause Portuguese isn't, I
guess, very, very different fromregular South American Spanish,
other than it sounds Sorry,mexican Spanish sounds like
they're drunk.
She said so that it's kind oflike they're slurring their
(08:50):
words.
That's so ridiculous.
But then her family is alsofrom Italy.
So she went to visit somefamily in Italy, like during the
time I knew her, and she saidonce you know the first two,
pretty good, you can kind ofmuddle your way through Italian.
And then she met someone whospoke Italian and French and so
they combined all theselanguages together to have a
(09:12):
full conversation for hours.
Oh wow, that's crazy.
I was like that's ridiculous,but it makes sense because it's
all Latin based, right, so it'sgot a lot of stuff in common.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Yeah, wow, that's crazy, yeah.
Anyways, at the age of 24,violet's first major nautical
encounter with disaster came in1911, when she was on board the
RMS Olympic, the largest luxuryliner of its time and the first
of three from the White StarLine Company and for all of you
Leonardo DiCaprio fans, thatname is probably ringing a bell.
(09:42):
The Olympic was a sister shipto the ill-fated RMS Titanic.
The Olympic collided with theBritish warship HMS Hawk.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Remarkably, violet survived this collision with
little more than a scare, whilethe Olympic limped home with a
rip just above the waterline.
While it was being fixed, shetransferred to the ship that
would bring her one of the mostfamous and tragic events in her
life she became a stewardess onthe RMS Titanic.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Four nights out from the harbor of Southampton,
england.
Violet had just gotten donesaying her prayers in her birth
and was climbing into bed whenshe heard low-rending crunching
ripping sound.
She wasn't too sure what itcould be, but as she was on the
ship that had been dubbedunsinkable, she was sure it
wasn't anything to be concernedabout.
However, three hours later shewas sitting in a live boat
(10:33):
watching the huge vessel do justthat Sink.
We all know the story theTitanic sank and over 1500
people lost their lives.
Violet, for her part, watchingthe horror show play out, kept
thinking to herself surely it isall a dream Now.
You'd think that her escapefrom the Titanic was already a
remarkable tale.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
but it didn't end there.
War broke out in Europe in 1914and she worked as a nurse on
land hospitals for several years, until 1916, when she went back
to sea on the RMS BritannicInterestingly enough, it was the
third and last ship from theWhite Star Line that had been
(11:10):
requisitioned by the BritishAdmiralty for the war effort.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
The Britannic was converted into a hospital ship
with a big red cross on the side.
It traveled to the island ofLimnos in Greece and took on
sick and wounded soldiers allrather standard for warfare
until November 21, 1916.
While navigating the GNC, theship struck a German mine and
began to sink.
This time, once, aware of thesituation, she rushed to her
(11:36):
birth, collected her prayer bookand her toothbrush, she said in
her memoirs a friend of hershad told her quote Never
undertake another disasterwithout first making sure of
your toothbrush.
End quote.
Violet also wrote that again.
Quote there had always beenmuch fun at my expense after the
Titanic when I complained of myinability to get a toothbrush.
(11:58):
End quote.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
This is that great, I thought it was hilarious.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Yeah, I feel like I've heard that before too.
Something to make sure youalways have your toothbrush.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
I know that I'm thinking of a hitchhiker's guide
to gals to make sure you alwayshave your towel.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Yes, that's what.
I'm thinking of Ford knows whathe's talking about.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Yeah, so now I know, to make sure you always have
your towel and your toothbrushyeah, and you should be okay for
safe for space in the sea.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
That's right, you'll be good.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Horrifically enough, this time she was not safe in
the lifeboat, as the stillspinning propeller of the
Britannic was drawing it closer.
Try as they might, the peoplemanning the boat couldn't get
away, and the blades from theirpropeller chopped it into
splinters.
Along with many people, violet,along with many others, jumped
into the sea to escape.
She survived, but with amassive skull fracture and a
(12:51):
deeply gashed leg.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
I'm assuming she also got hit.
Well, maybe not with.
She might not get hit by thepropeller, but from the no, she
would have died from that, but Ithink probably some of the
debris, the flying debris.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Man, that'd be scary.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
That would be terrifying.
Yeah, not really terrifying.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Later, after being rescued by a British destroyer,
violet found herself eye to eyewith two doctors who had been on
the Britannic.
Funny enough, she had kneltnext to them at mass just hours
before.
Being members of the same faithand from the same down vessel.
They were a happy sight.
One of them, according to hermemoirs, said I know what saved
(13:34):
you today, young lady.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Sounds like a threat.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
I know, I know what saved you today, young lady.
I'm assuming he means God, butyes, yes.
I mean, you know, it wasn't thepropeller.
Yeah, it wasn't the propeller.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
I mean I feel like the way you said.
It is like the guy was wagginghis finger.
I know, I know, I know whatsaved you, young lady.
That's right, and I'm going tolet everybody know, Three years
it took Violet to recover fromher injuries, and by then the
war was over.
Ocean liners were once again onthe waters going across the
(14:16):
Atlantic, and with that luxuryback in everyone's life, there
was a need for stewardesses oncemore.
Now you might think that, aftersurviving three major maritime
disasters, violet would havedecided to give up life at sea.
But no, her adventurous spiritprevailed.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
She continued her career working on various ships
throughout her life, went on twoworld cruises after joining the
Red Star Lines, the Belgianland.
At the age of 36, she finallygot married to a man named John
James Lewis.
He was also a steward for theRed Star Line.
Unfortunately, they divorced ayear later and she kept going
until 1950 when she retired togreat Ashfield, suffolk.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yeah, I was just impressive.
I mean, really You're justgonna keep on keeping on.
Maybe she wanted to die at sea,I don't know.
I don't know, maybe it was agood living Back then.
It probably was a good living.
It was, yeah, I mean even today.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
I mean it's not terrible.
I mean right If you don't havea family or anything.
I mean fishermen and stuff.
I mean they make a lot of money.
So yeah, well, they can.
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
But the thing was one of the things that always kind
of blew my mind when I wasresearching this was she married
one guy, stayed married to himfor a year, decided it was not
her bag and then never getsmarried again.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Yeah, I was just thinking I was like I guess she
didn't have children or anything.
No, she had nieces and nephewsbecause she had that whole mess
of siblings.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
But that was it and she was just like no, I'm good,
I like being a little old lady.
Yeah, I don't want no manmessing up my stuff.
He needs to go away, yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
She's that lady on the Titanic.
She was in the Titanic.
Yeah, yeah she was.
She probably met that lady.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
She probably served that lady.
You know her food, or?
Speaker 3 (16:04):
whatever, that's right.
Yeah, I was just thinking of Ithink I saw her on the movie.
I was just.
Yeah, I was just thinking youknow there's something about her
that she's not going to be ableto do.
I mean, I think she's going tobe able to do that.
I think you know they'resitting there saying you know
these people are, you know themovie Titanic.
You know they're sitting thereand they're searching for this
(16:26):
heart or whatever, and she'stelling them the whole story
about it.
She's got it, she's wearing itright there in front of them and
you know behind her cleavageand everything you know under
her shirt and stuff.
And she's just sitting thereand she's just telling it.
And then what does she do?
She throws it in the water.
I'm like what a bitch.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
I remember watching it for the first time and going
why, why would you do that?
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
There is no reason for that.
That's just rude.
It really was.
You know what I mean.
I'll give you something to lookfor.
I'm going to give you somethingto look for.
Geez Rose, could you be alittle more hateful?
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Her name.
I don't think her name wasreally Rose either.
I think they made that up forthe movie.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Rose doesn't exist.
That woman doesn't exist.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
That's what I'm saying.
Yeah, rose doesn't exist.
I was like the lady that theyhad there was a real person from
the Titanic, but Rose herselfdoesn't exist.
That's what I was getting at.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Yeah, they made her up, some people don't know that
Right, but I still don'tunderstand why in the world they
insisted on adding into thestoryline that's that little
heart of the ocean thing.
The story is dramatic enough.
You could swing a cat and hit500 other people on that ship
who had an interesting story totell, right, and you had to go
(17:47):
and make up this nonsense.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
That's Hollywood for you.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
That's an interesting choice there, Cameron Good job?
Speaker 3 (17:55):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
All right.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
So back to the show.
Sadly, Violet passed away fromcongenital heart failure on May
5th 1971, at the age of 83.
She left behind an incrediblelegacy, not only as a survivor
of historic shipwrecks, but alsoas a pioneer for women in the
maritime industry.
Violet's incredible resilienceand the seemingly supernatural
(18:19):
ability to survive childhooddiseases and multiple shipwrecks
have left historians andmaritime enthusiasts astounded.
Her life is a testament tocourage and the human will to
persevere even in the face ofthe most challenging and
harrowing circumstances.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
We conclude the remarkable story of Violet
Jessup, where it is remindedthat history is filled with
stories of ordinary people who,when faced with extraordinary
challenges, show incredibleresilience and strength.
Thank you for joining us onthis episode of Smarticus Tells
History.
If you enjoyed this episode,please subscribe and leave us a
review.
We will be back with morestories from the past.
Until then, keep exploring.
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