The unsinkable Violet Jessop, who survived three of the largest shipwrecks of the XX century

For a long time it was believed that a woman on a ship brings bad luck. But, it turns out, there are examples of individuals who can be called a real disaster for shipping. One of these ladies, without a doubt, is Violet Jessop, who survived three major maritime disasters of the early XX century.

It is safe to say that Violet Constance Jessop was unlucky from birth. She was born on October 2 , 1887 in Argentina and became the youngest child in a family where she already had 8 children. Violet's parents were Irish immigrants and lived very poorly.

Poor nutrition and poor living conditions led to the fact that in childhood the girl fell ill with tuberculosis and almost died. Doctors gave her a few months of life, but Violet, contrary to her diagnosis, not only did not die at a young age, but also lived a long, eventful life.

After the father of the family died, Violet's mother, along with her children, moved closer to her homeland, to the UK. There she managed to get a job as a stewardess on a sea passenger liner, where they paid well. Alas, misfortunes pursued the unfortunate Irish and soon the girl's mother fell ill during one of the flights and died.

Violet Constance had to leave the convent school and follow in her mother's footsteps, getting a job on an ocean steamer. It should be noted that at the beginning of the XX century, a 21-year-old pretty girl was not easy to find a place on a ship. The profession of a flight attendant at that time was considered the lot of middle-aged women, and youth and appearance were the last qualities that could be useful for employment.

But the girl's perseverance bore fruit and after a long ordeal and unsuccessful interviews, she was accepted on the liner "Orionto" of the company "Royal Mail Line". Jessop worked on this steamer quite a bit, but almost got married. Family happiness was prevented by the fact that Violet's chosen one did not want to marry without her mother's blessing, and she considered him too young to marry.

As a result, the romance ended in nothing, and soon after that, the young stewardess left the Orionto and got a job at a large company, White Star Line, engaged in transatlantic passenger transportation. The first vessel of this company, on the ladder of which Violet stepped, was the steamer "Magestic".

After a while, having gained work experience, Jessop transferred to Olympic, which was one of the three giants of the beginning of the century. The company in the three monsters of the steamer were the famous "Titanic" and "Britannic". It is thanks to the steamers of this class that the name Violet has not sunk into oblivion, but has been preserved in history.

At the Olympic, a young flight attendant received a meager salary, only 2.10 pounds a month, which today is comparable to 200 pounds. But, despite such remuneration, the girl really liked what she was doing and she would never have exchanged her liner for a quiet job on the shore.

But after a year of work at the Olympic, the first water disaster in Jessop's life occurred — her ocean liner, having performed an unsuccessful maneuver, collided with the Hawk cruiser. The accident occurred on September 20, 1911 and, by a lucky chance, there were no fatalities. The steamer received a 14-meter hole in the side, but at the same time remained afloat and was even able to return to port.

The vessel turned out to be unsuitable for further operation, and its crew, in full force, was written off on shore. It was a great chance for Violet Jessop to change her destiny, but she didn't take it. A few years after the disaster, the girl, who had already forgotten her fear during the accident, was again offered to go sailing on the liner of the White Star Line company.

It was a new premium class vessel, the name of which is "Titanic", is familiar to everyone today. It is known for sure that Jessop, who had an unpleasant experience of wrecks, initially refused the carrier's offer, but after a while, succumbing to the persuasions of friends, she still accepted it.

It is known that the Titanic collided with an iceberg and sank, taking the lives of 1,500 passengers with it. Violet Jessop managed to escape — she found a place in the lifeboat number 16. Years later , the woman talked about boarding boats like this:

Violet also recalled that at the very last moment, when she was ready to get into the boat, a man ran up to her and gave her his child, asking her to take care of him. The stewardess complied with the stranger's request and did not let the baby out of her hands until her foot stepped on the deck of the steamer Carpathia, which arrived to rescue the victims of the crash. Here the child was taken from her arms by her own mother, who was in another lifeboat.

This child has remained a mystery to the stewardess herself and to history. It is known that there were 128 children on board the Titanic, half of whom survived. But neither the name, nor even the sex of the child, whom she delivered to the Carpathia, could be found out. Judging by the records, only Assad Alexander Thomas, 5 months old, was in the boat with Violet, but it is known for sure that Edwina Celie Trott was holding him in her arms. Most likely, the name of the "unaccounted" baby will never be known.

Oddly enough, but the second shipwreck, accompanied by huge casualties, Violet survived easier than the first. The woman admitted that when the danger passed, she only regretted the new toothbrush that went down with the liner.

A couple of years later, Jessop again decided to connect her life with the Olympic-class liner, which bore the proud name "Britannic". The stewardess got a job on the ship despite the fact that the First World War began and the Atlantic turned into the most dangerous region of the planet for navigation.

It is not difficult to guess that with Mrs. Jessop on board the huge steamer there was not a single chance. Indeed, on November 21, 1916, the Britannic was blown up by a German mine in the Aegean Sea and began to sink rapidly. The woman was unlucky with the lifeboat this time — the liner was overloaded and not everyone had a chance to escape.

But, being an experienced and determined woman, Violet decided not to wait for the huge steamer to pull her to the bottom and jumped overboard herself. Despite the fact that the stewardess did everything as expected, she had a very hard time:

Together with other passengers who escaped by swimming, Violet was picked up by a ship that arrived to help the Britannic. The cheerful wreck participant accepted her third rescue in a row with humor — she told that this time she had not forgotten her toothbrush in her cabin.

It could be assumed that the third catastrophe in a row in a few years is a kind of pattern and the sea adventures of the restless Jessop should be stopped. But the woman did not know how to do anything but serve passengers on long-haul flights, so she went sailing again.

From the passenger "White Star Line" the woman moved to the company "Red Star Line", offering tourist cruises in different parts of our planet. It is noteworthy that after the crash of the Britannica, the evil fate left Violet and she finished her retirement without much shock, which she retired at the age of 61. An unusual witness of three crashes died on May 5, 1971 from heart failure. She was 84 years old