Stewardess Violet Jessop survived three maritime disasters involving Olympic-class ships
The woman known as Miss Unsinkable survived the sinkings of the Titanic and Britannic after being aboard the RMS Olympic during a collision.
Stewardess Violet Jessop survived three maritime disasters involving Olympic-class ships, according to a Times of India report. Jessop was aboard the RMS Olympic during its collision with the HMS Hawke in 1911, survived the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, and lived through the sinking of the HMHS Britannic in 1916.
The RMS Olympic collided with the British warship HMS Hawke in the Solent on September 20, 1911. While the impact caused significant damage, no one died in the incident. Jessop remained with the vessel until April 1912, when she was transferred to the Titanic.
On April 14, 1912, the Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank. Jessop, then 24, was ordered into lifeboat 16 and was later rescued by the RMS Carpathia. In her memoirs, she described being handed a baby by the Titanic's sixth officer, James Paul Moody, while in the lifeboat.
During World War I, Jessop served as a nurse aboard the HMHS Britannic, a hospital ship. The vessel struck a German naval mine in the Aegean Sea on November 21, 1916, and sank within 55 minutes. Jessop survived the sinking but sustained a skull fracture after jumping into the sea.
Jessop continued her maritime career with the White Star Line, Red Star Line, and Royal Mail Line. She eventually retired to Great Ashfield in Suffolk and died in 1971 at the age of 83.