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- [00:00]
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- [01:01]
Lost Travelers
It feels like we're going round in circles. I'm gonna ask that man for directions. Hi there. We're trying to get to the state fairgrounds.
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Local Helper
Well, you're going to take a left at the old oak tree at this here road. Nah, I'm just kidding. Let me get my phone out.
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Lost Travelers
How is there signal out here?
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Local Helper
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- [01:30]
Lost Travelers
Actually, can you pull up the way to a T Mobile store?
- [01:33]
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- [01:58]
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- [02:48]
Katy Charlwood
Hello, delicious friends, and welcome to who did what Now? The history podcast. That is not your history class. With me, your host, Katy Charlwood, history harlot and reader of books. You know, I'm really trying to be positive about everything, Anything. But my God, the world is on fire. And it seems like some people are intent on just not only lighting the match, but dousing the place in accelerant. You know, it just, it just seems to be happening more and more and my patience just seems to be wearing thinner and thinner. Like, it's gotten to the point that my bullshit tolerance is so low, it's doing shots with Beelzebub in Hades. Like, I'm trying, I'm trying to talk about the Titanic, but people keep bringing up the movie like it's fact. And it's, it's, it's not. It is a work of fiction that is based around historical events. Like, historical events are the backdrop. And there's so much misinformation actually, that even comes from the movie itself that it's perpetuated. Like, and it doesn't even just come from that. Like, from A Night to remember in 1958. Like, from that. Like, there's a lot of borrowed parts. You can even see it in the James Cameron movie. But I'm not here to dissect, you know, movies about maritime wreckages. However, it's not, it's not a documentary. Okay? That's my point. That being said, I have actually had some really, really lovely, like, emails this week. Like, I've had a lot of nice, nice comments and emails and a very, very fun interaction in my comment section that was just Monty Python quotes, but in conversation and obviously some really fun gifts. I'm not saying, Jeff. Guys, I'm not doing it now. I do feel, I do feel like I need to be more positive, like, actively. Like, I think I need more positivity in my life and to help sort of breed that. So that, that's my goal. My goal is to kind of focus on that and to try and not fall into a swirling whirlpool of despair. But anyway, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, katie, quit your jibble jabber and fact me and Fact you, I will. But first, we've got to get our source on. Our sources are Titanic, the Memoirs of Violet Jessop by Violet Jessop Lost Voices from the Titanic by Nick Barrett, Titanic A Night Remembered by Stephanie Barchowski, the Night the Ship Went down by Andrea Brumfield, Women in the Great War by Women in the Great War by Tanya and Stephen Wynne, the Investigation into the Loss of the Titanic, 1912 by Lord Mersey, the Titanic Experience in Belfast, and Encyclopaedia Titanica. Yes, that is a real thing. Of course, we have a lot of newspaper reports from the Times, you know, a lot of them shockingly unreliable. And we also have our old favorites, hairstory.com and biography.com. but are you sitting comfortably? Good. Then let's begin. When it came to talking about the Titanic for Titanic Month, because I decided to make it this month's theme, I keep calling it a block. I'm like, it's a block. And someone was like, honey, theme. The word you're looking for is theme. And I'm like, oh, to you, it's a theme. Okay, I get it. So one thing I really wanted to talk about when it came to Titanic was because it is very clear to see that quite a lot of people, the information they have regarding the Titanic literally comes from, you know, the movie in 1997. Is it 1998? Whenever it was the Titanic movie by James Cameron. Jim. Jiminy Jim. Jiminy Jim Jim. You know, and YouTube conspiracy theory videos. Okay, it seems to be that that's a lot of that. And so that is something that I want to, like, dispel and I want to talk about people, because I think that's far more important. Although I will be talking at one point about technical stuff about the ship because I need to dispel some myths. But, like, I don't. I don't like having to talk about physics. It's not my jam or my butter. So, without further ado, let us start on a member of staff. Like, we always talk about the, you know, passengers on the Titanic, but a lot of the time it's like, oh, there was, like, 2,200 people on board. But it's always lumped in a very weird way because there wasn't 2,200 passengers on it. There were passengers and then, like, 900 crew members. Like, it takes a lot of bodies to get the ship running in the manner in which it had to run. And so today we are talking about Miss Unsinkable Violet Jessup. Violet Constance Jessup was born on the 2nd of October, 1887 in the Pampas near Bahia Blanca in Argentina, she was the first child to Irish immigrants Catherine Kelly and her husband, William Jessop. Like millions before and after, the Jessops had left Ireland in search of a better life across the Atlantic. The Jessops were originally from Dublin and emigrated during the mid-1880s, which really isn't all that surprising. Ireland suffered three famines in less than 50 years. And Gorta Mor, which was the one that most people have heard of, which was between 1845 and 1852. Now, you might hear about Black 47, which is 1847, which was the very worst year of Angortemor, the Great Hunger. And so what happened here is this is when you had that highest level of devastation, the highest level of starvation and the highest level of immigration. Like, really, everything is going. Then another Famine followed in 1861, which hit the west coast more than the east, and then angorta bug in 1879. So three famines, you know, relatively quick succession because you're not really managing to get over one before another happens. And like, sidebar. You can call it the famine. You can call it the famine. There was a few of them, but you can say the famine. That is still correct, right? Famine is also a tool of genocide. You can also say that. You can also say that famine or the famine was a genocide. Those are all correct statements. You can say famine. What you can't really say, what is disrespectful is calling it a potato famine, right? Because that's. That was how the colonial powers downplayed the absolute travesty and tragedy that was happening all over the country that they created, okay, they created mass starvation. And they called it the potato famine. To be like, oh, the Irish. And they're potatoes. Like, no. But that is another story for another day. So Ireland, when they are getting married, it is still very much under British rule, and cities like Dublin were very much under Anglo rule. So this is where a lot of the Anglo Irish would be from. And as such, the ruling classes were by and large Protestant. The Jessops were a Catholic household. And this couple decided to take their chances in South America to start a new life. However, things didn't exactly go to plan. William, he really wanted to be a sheep farmer. Unfortunately, in order to do that, you need the finances to buy or breed a lot of sheep. And he did not, like, the Jessops were not exactly a family of means. They lived in a one room building, which honestly, so typical for regular, ordinary people of the Time. And like, there's a story about how the children, when they were small, like babies to infant toddler, that they slept in cribs made of repurposed gin crates. And this comes up quite a lot, actually. And I don't know why that is such a surprising thing. Right? Because they used to put babies in baskets and drawers, right? You used what you had, like working class 1800s, right? They were a waste, not, want, not era. Okay, but back to the sheep farming. For a second, it became clear to William that he was not going to be able to afford to buy enough sheep to make the sheep farm, a working sheep farm. It was not going to be self sustaining. And so he took on other means of employment. He was a customs officer for the Bahia Blanca Port Authority and even worked for a railroad line at one point. Like, these were more financially secure positions for the family. But a steady income does not always protect one's family. Violet was the oldest child of nine. Unfortunately, only five of her siblings would reach adulthood with her four brothers and one sister. A baby sister, Molly, died of meningitis. Two of her younger brothers almost died of diphtheria. Now, diphtheria is an infectious disease that is one of the ones that you vaccinate against because, you know, it used to kill babies. It spread through droplets in the air, like that cough there, Susan. It can be manageable, but in severe cases, the lymph nodes can swell, creating what's known as bull neck, sort of like a frog's throat. Just before it rivets like that, it looks like that, like this can cause suffocation, as can this pseudomembrane. Like, is this gray patch that grows like, like on the palate and everything. And it can airways. So then of course, you've got paralysis and heart failure, so on and so forth. Like, this is one of those diseases that there was a big campaign going. Vaccinate your children against diphtheria because they would die. So, like measles, mumps, rubella. Now, anyway, when Violet is small, both she and her little brother Ray caught scarlet fever. She survived, Ray did not. After this, she contracts tuberculosis, although this would have been just called consumption at the time. Now, tuberculosis caused Violet's lungs to haemorrhage. And even when she was old enough to attend school, doctors advised that she stay home due to complications from her illness. Like, at one point, she's in the hospital and it's very much touch and go, like the doctors think, she's not gonna make it, right? And months she's Given a prognosis of like months to live. Right. Somewhere along the road as well, she manages to contract typhoid. Now a lot of these diseases are the ones that spread in, you know, population dense area areas where you have, you know, unfortunately, lower levels of hygiene and that's just because of sanitation in the area and, and germ theory. I mean it's only really coming about at this point too, you know, before we knew and understand basic health things like the spread of infectious diseases. So they're like, it's gonna be a couple months and you might be able to extend her life or give her a more comfortable last few months if you like, move to the mountains where the air is like a wee bit better. William manages to get a transfer to work in Mendoza, which is like at the foothills of the Andes, which is the mountains, not the comedic cop duo in Hot Fuzz. In a surprising twist, this actually helps. Violet makes a recovery and is doing well. So she is looking after younger siblings. She's playing with her pet armadillo. Like she can go to school. Like everything is coming up mill house, like going through so many medical situations in her life. Like she was drawn to nursing, like she really, really wanted to be a nurse. Now I don't think at this point that being a doctor would have been a consideration for her at the turn of the century, but either way, the family couldn't afford to send her to the necessary school in order for her to get the training and become a nurse. When she's about 16 years old, her father has to have surgery, but there are complications and he dies in Mendoza, leaving a heavily pregnant Catherine Jessup with six children to raise on her own. Unfortunately, the baby doesn't survive. And with that, Catherine Jessup decides to leave Argentina, head back across the Atlantic and settle in England. And she's planning on going and taking all six surviving children with her. Right. And people are genuinely concerned that Violet's lungs are not going to be able to handle the English air, right? Because England temperate zone, kind of damp, kind of cold, kind of chilly, right. So two teachers like they offer to adopt her. But Catherine's like adamant the Phil Jessup clan are going to England. So when they like initially arrive, they get help from Catherine's sister and her husband, so her brother in law. And it's not easy cuz like they're trying to get settled, you know, one woman, six children on a widow's and I'm going to call it a very meager pension, right. So Catherine needs to work and she needs the children to be cared for. And this is going to sound kind of weird today, right, because of how, how we raise children nowadays, but what a lot of people would do is back in the day, the children would be sent into the care of, you know what, nuns. It's usually nuns, right? It was always nuns, especially if you were Catholic, like Catherine was. So the boys were put in a Catholic orphanage. Again, not uncommon for the time. And this ensured that the boys were raised in the faith and also that they got an education. They were clothed and they were fed. I mean, it's not exactly five star cuisine, but they're being, they're being satiated, shall we say. So at the beginning, Violet is looking after her younger sister, Eileen. But after more health issues, both Jessup girls go to a convent. So they, they board in this convent and they can still be together. They were able to continue in education and they were also clothed, sheltered, fed. Also a very common practice. Like, even here. Even for me, I say here in. I'm not sure if it was in Scotland or England because I know that my great gran had traveled south for work, so, like, left Scotland, made her way down to England, got work, worked, and the children were boarded in, like, houses. Like, you can actually see the registration of where these kids were. Like, I. I know where they were staying during the Manchester Blitz, like, but after the Second World War. So, like, oh, yeah, Manchester gets blitzed. I should just like, sidebar. Manchester gets blitzed. And my great gran, she takes my gran and they walk from Manchester all the way up to Glasgow and my grand's like, three, four at this point. Anyway, she ends up, like, with the nuns. Right after the Second World War, she's put in a convent for a bit. And I've talked about this before, but one of her jobs there, one of her duties was cleaning coffins. Yeah, that's not traumatic for a child. That being said, like, she knew a lot about coffins by the time she was older. Like, she was explaining stuff to me back in the day and it's like, wow, what a very reasonable knowledge to have. That is not often shared. So, like, people would put their kids in these religious institutions for their protection, especially people in poverty, people who are working class now. When you think that rich people used to put their kids into boarding school, it's not really that different. It's just one is free and one is paid for. It's like, what's classy if you're rich and trashy if they're poor, Sending your kids away to be cared for someone else and educated. What? So now here's the thing. I'm not here to say that some children will not abandoned, obviously somewhere, but others, when they're putting their kids into this care, they believe that they're doing the right thing. And of course, a lot of these people are very much driven by religion. And so they're thinking, oh, if I put the kids in the care of this religious order, then obviously they're going to be raised the right way, they're going to be safe, because these are people of God. She said, anyway, so putting the kids into this care. Catherine manages to get a job as a stewardess on the Royal Mail line. And she's working there for five years and she's working to earn money, but she's away a lot and so she isn't really able to spend a lot of time with her family. And Violet, she's at the convent, she's getting her education and she's thinking she might actually be able to do the exams that can propel her into a career like being a nurse or even a governess. But alas, all this heavy work at sea for five years takes a toll on Catherine. She takes ill and can no longer work. And so Violet, being the eldest, had to step up to support the family. And so she decided to follow in her mother's footsteps and get a job as a stewardess upon a ship.
- [23:43]
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- [24:12]
Weight Loss by Hers Advertiser
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- [25:19]
Katy Charlwood
In what I can only describe as reverse pretty privilege and basic misogyny, Violet is about 21 and going for these interviews, and she keeps being told she's too young and too pretty to work on a ship. Like, she's even told her looks are disadvantageous because of the effects she'll have on passengers and crew alike. Sorry, what? Sorry, honey, you're too hot to travel. The men won't be able to contain themselves. Okay, how about train your voice to have some basic fucking manners, perhaps? And Violet, she's. She's gorgeous, right? She has these grey blue eyes, thick auburn hair, and this beautiful Irish lilt in her voice. And she's just too pretty to get a job. And so she says, fuck this for game of soldiers and deliberately makes herself look less attractive in order to get a job. Like, her and her mother, like, go to find, like, out of fashion clothes, stuff that looks frumpy. Like, anything to make herself look as dowdy and frumpy as possible. Like a reverse. She's all that, if you will. And what do you know, it works. She gets a job on the Royal Mail Line, which is the post, right? It's a postal service. Way before airmail all the post was sent and sorted by sea. And her first job was aboard the RMS Orinoco. She traveled from England to the West Indies or the Caribbean to you and me. Don't you mean Caribbean? No, I do not. So it did take her. Sorry, I'm such a dick. Sorry. It did take her a wee bit to get her sea legs. And it was mainly mind over matter. Like, it was determination more than anything else. Because, like, even after that, it wasn't exactly smooth sailing. Like, this was gruelling work. You had long days. You were cleaning cabins, delivering meals, running errands for passengers, and even looking after sick passengers. Like, she could be running around all day and then up half the night with some toff puking their guts out, which is not exactly a pleasure cruise, lads. Like, what's interesting is that in this position, like, it's not exactly one in which you were formally trained, you hit the ground Running, you learn as you go sort of thing. But Violet was a hard worker, diligent, orderly, unassuming, and really just got on with it. Like on her very first voyage, everyone is sick, right? Everyone is sick, even the ship's doctor. Like, there's a storm that happens. Like, everything is happening all at once. She gets a cut on her thumb and it gets infected, and it. Like, she doesn't get it treated right away. Like, it gets quite bad because she can't go to the doctor because his head's in a bucket, right? Like, she can't be seen. And she just, like, pulls through it, right? Gets on with it. You got physical labor, you got long days. But she does get a little downtime when they hit land, which is her favorite part of this whole experience. She loved visiting port. She really enjoyed, like, New York City and visiting Buenos Aires. It reminded her of her childhood. Like, she got to explore places and the like. Because basically the ships would have to dock in order to refresh, right? So they'd need to get supplies, they would need to. Whatever they were, you know, cargo they were carrying would go off. Whatever new carrier they were supposed to take had to go on. Like, things had to be laundered as well. So, like, all of the bedding on the ship, everything like that would all need to be refreshed, cleaned, you know, brought on board. So, you know, she had time to actually enjoy port because there was so much that had to be done. Because, remember, we, like, these ships were A to B, right? This was not a cruise as such. These were for immigration goods, mail, right? Like, that's what this was for. Now, being on the ships on a certain line meant that you were often working with the same crew members. And obviously certain passengers would prefer, you know, oh, I only go on the Red Star Line, or I only travel on this line because, you know, or I only follow this captain, like the captain of the Titanic, basically had his own little fan club. And some people would only travel if they knew that he was captaining the ship. Like, so this was a very common thing. And so Violet, she's basically caring for, like, first and second class passengers. That's typically her duties as a stewardess, right? Now, that meant being on this ship, like, it's close quarters, you know, you're often traveling with the same people. And Violet was not so keen on this. Like, cliques were not uncommon. And when you're with people in an enclosed space for a lengthy period of time, well, everything starts to grate on you like a pressure cooker. Or like a boiler pot scenario. Now, even when she tried to make under herself, she was noticed by the passengers and crew alike. And she was often fending off advances. And by fending off advances, I mean that she was harassed and therefore, you know, avoiding attempts of sexual assault. Like, she receives three marriage proposals as a stewardess, all of which she declined. Like, it's one of those things that sounds like it's romantic, but it's not. Because she clearly was not interested in marrying any of those schmucks. Like, like, if she was genuinely interested in someone and actually wanted to marry them, like, she would do that. She would take this opportunity. Like, that's what she would do. But I don't know, part of me always feels like she's very Catholic. People know she's very Catholic. And the marriage proposal could just be, like, a sneaky way of trying to, like, lure her to bed, you know, and she ain't about that because, you know, super duper Catholic. So there's this married captain who takes an interest in Violet, and this changes the trajectory of her career a bit because she's not interested in him. Because, one, don't piss on your own doorstep. And two, he's married. And again, she's super Catholic. Like, she carries rosary beads in her apron, right? The first time he tries his luck, she rejects him. And of course his fragile male ego cannot handle it. And so the second time they travel together, he finds problems with everything she does. Like, he reprimands her for, like, flirting with officers, which she is absolutely not doing, right? But he keeps making comments and lying and making these statements about her reputation. And then he dismisses her. And so she's lost her job, she's lost his position. She can't prove he's lying, and there's nothing she can do about it when he dismisses her for sluttery that she was not a part of. And it's tough for her because, like, she's a woman in the past. There's not a lot that she can do in this scenario. Like, this is an issue. And so, like, she just starts applying for, like, all these lines. Like, she's applying for this, that and the other. Like, she doesn't really want to join the White Star Line specifically. The hours were long, the crossing was choppy, and the North Atlantic was cold. And she had so many health concerns, right? And she also knew the company's reputation for excellence and knew that meant that she'd be run ragged around first class passengers. But again, she's been dismissed and so she really needs to get a position and she needs it quick. And so she joins the White Star Line, right? She worked on the Majestic, the Adriatic and the oceanic, also known as now the cousins of the Titanic. So these were sort of the tip top of the White Star line at the time. So like there were other lines like coming from Germany and they were more focused on speed than they were on anything else. This made the crossings like less comfortable for passengers from first class all the way down to stage right. And so they sort of, you know, they had speed on their side but not comfort. And this is where White Star Line saw a gap in the market and were like, we want to focus on, you know, a comfortable, safe, better travel. Like we want to just be like the best for all classes. So like she becomes a dab hand traveling to and from New York City. And as she's working on the white star line 17 hours a day, earning a grand total of two pounds and ten shillings a month. And she was fantastic. She was loved by passengers who found her diligent, hard working, kind, considerate, compassionate. They wrote letters about how she cared for them during bouts of seasickness. Like she was a fast learner, she was level headed. Her work ethic was noticed by her superiors. And when the Olympic class ships were built, she was hand picked to serve on the first of three sister ships, the Olympic, the largest and most luxurious ship in the Atlantic. The RMS Olympic was launched on 20 October 1910 with its maiden voyage on 14 June 1911. It had undertaken four journeys. Then on its fifth in September it was leaving Southampton. So 20 September 1911, it's on the stolent and it collides with the HMS Hawk, which was not a passenger ship, it was a warship designed to sink other ships by ramming into them. Right. This like passenger ship is rummed buying a warship that's designed to ram ships and sink them. Now both ships are damaged in this collision like, but the Olympic had a hull breach just below the waterline. In a crazy random happenstance, it didn't actually sink and it managed to return to port. Like it later returned to dock for repairs back in Belfast which took over six weeks to complete. This meant that work on the Titanic actually had to be put on hold and delayed the launch, which some people say, you know, is one of the reasons why it was in such a treacherous like route at the time because of when the, you know, the ice was melting. So anyway, Violet is on the crew with Captain Edward Smith. Yes, him and the Navy did an investigation which put all the blame on the Olympic, saying that it sucked the smaller ship in. Sure, Jan. Once the Olympic was back in the water, Violet Jessup was aboard and ready to work. After working on the Olympic for over a year, she was selected to join the jewel in the White Star Line's eyes. Like the diamond of the fleet, the bigger and better sister Olympic class ship, the Titanic. She wasn't that fussed about joining the crew, but her friends convinced her that this would be a great thing to do, a once in a lifetime, you know, meeting the who's who and whatnot. But there's like, they're adamant that this is like a super awesome thing, an experience for her. It's going to be like the best. And so she says, yeah, sure, she relents and she joins, right, and she's working on the Titanic, right? Not too bothered about it or the people. Like, for her, a ship's a ship, right? She's still working, still long days, still doing her bit. But she had friends in the crew and the kind of crew. So for example, the, the Marconi operators on the ship, like, they were not technically part of the White Star crew. They were from Marconi, right, And they're musicians. They were leased out by another company. They didn't belong to the Titanic, to the White Star Lines crew either. So a lot of the musicians would stay like second class as opposed to like anything lower. Now she does her job, she prays before bed. She isn't really that much into anyone other than the man. I am fairly certain she had a big, massive crush on Thomas Andrews, the designer of the Titanic. She basically says in her memoirs that he's dashing in not so many words, right? She talks about the beloved designer who listened to the crew and paid attention to their requests for better quarters. Basically, everything on the ship was an upgrade for every class and even the staff, right? It's so well thought out because the Olympic had been running for a bit and it had issues. And so they upgraded the Titanic with all of these different bits and pieces and, like, they just made it better effectively. And so, like, I think for her as well, because she was so used to being constantly harassed. Thomas Andrews, who was definitely not interested in her, like, made him more appealing because he didn't try any shit with her. So she shares a room with another stewardess, we think to be Elizabeth Leather. Oh, and like, I should mention as well, out of the 900 or so crew members, only 23 were women, right? Like, so her being Picked for this kind of a big deal. So she worked during the day and would, before bedtime, take a stroll along the deck, right? At night, like, in the chilly North Atlantic air. Refreshing, soothing, some might say. Then on the night of April 14, 1912, she's kind of dozing in her bunk. She's not quite asleep, but she's kind of starting to drift. And that's when the collision with the iceberg happens. Like, Elizabeth tells her that it sounds like something happened, right? Because there's a noise and then silence right after. So they get dressed very quickly, right? They're ordered to go up on deck, and they're told by the steward, Stanley, that the ship is sinking. But it's very much, oh, it's a precaution. It might be sinking, right? And so the escort passengers to the lifeboats, it's very calm and orderly. First class passengers are just kind of strolling along the deck. And so they get people into the boats, and then there isn't really anything to do. So the two stewardesses go back to their cabin, after which Stanley comes back and is like, no, seriously, the ship is actually sinking. And he goes into her, like, her trunk and everything. And he's trying to find them warmer clothes, right, that they don't. They don't really have a lot, but, like, there isn't time. And so up they go up to the top deck, right? And, like, she's got her cork life jacket on and, like, a very, very basic dress, very light now. So everything was being treated as a precaution, a just in case. But when she's back up on deck, she feels the boat very noticeably start to tilt. Like she's been on ships for a while. She knows better, right? And at this point, there are passengers aboard who do not speak English, and women are clinging to their husbands. And so, like, officers, like, tell Violet and her bunk mate, right, to get into Lifeboat 16 to show the passengers it's safe. And so. And she goes, right? When she gets in, the sixth officer, James Paul Moody, calls out, Ms. Jessop, take this baby with you. Then, as she describes it, a bundle is dropped into her lap. She's on this lifeboat for eight hours in the dark holding someone's baby. She watched the lights go out as the ship sank. She heard an almighty crack. And she sat in darkness surrounded by women and children, scared and cold. The sounds of survivors fading into silence. And all she could think was that she'd left her toothbrush on board. Like, shock will do that to you. You'll focus on Something really innocuous. And you'll be like, my toothbrush, right? Like, people panic about very, very tiny things because they need something to control in those very big situations. And it's really, really common. Eventually, after again, eight hours just bobbing on the Atlantic, she was rescued by the Carpathia. She gets aboard the rescue ship holding this baby to her cork life vest, and the woman comes up and grabs it out of her arms and just runs away. Now, whether or not this was actually the child's mother, whom's to say, right? Like, allegedly the mother was on the Titanic and sat the baby on the deck to go get something. Now the officer just sees this baby again on the deck and was like, not in your Nelly. Just grabs him and just passes him on to Violet. But like, she's just had a baby snatched from her arms after watching a ship go down and many of her crewmates die. This is not a typical situation. And the White Star line sent the SS Lapland to take survivors home. On 29 April, 1912, she returned to Southampton. And you'd think after, you know, suffering such a traumatic event, you know, at sea, that you might think, you know, what, land is fine, you can just, you can just stay on land, you know, you don't have to go out and do this anymore. But Violet Jessup said, fuck this for a game of soldiers. And by June, she was back at sea aboard the Olympic.
- [46:05]
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- [47:45]
Katy Charlwood
When the first World War breaks out, it kind of puts the kibosh on the whole transatlantic, you know, travel. And so Violet uses this opportunity to join the British Red Cross as part of the voluntary aid detachment. She starts off as a junior nurse, finally getting a go at the nursing profession that she wanted to do all those years before. She trained on land at a hospital treating the wounded and such. This is before being assigned to a ship, the third White Star Line Olympic class vessel, the HMHS Britannic. That would be His Majesty's hospital ship. So Titanic's triplet. Now, people always talk about the Olympic and the Titanic, but you know, their sisters, their sisters, like they're not twins, they're triplets. Okay, Olympic, Titanic, Britannic. And each one gets bigger, better, more luxurious, larger. Now, basically, I mean, it is the youngest sister of this group, but it's the largest, the most luxurious. Like it is requisitioned by, by the army, right? Basically, basically as part of the war effort, many passenger ships were requisitioned for military use, like the Olympic and the Britannic. So it becomes this floating hospital. It served from the 23rd of December 1915 all the way through to June 1916. I mean, it was released for a bit and then it was requisitioned again two months later. The Britannic is in the AGNC on 21st November 2016 on, when it hits a mine from a German U boat, like not too far from Greece. Like initially they think they've been hit by a torpedo, but during all this violent is calm. She goes back to her cabin and because she is a woman who learns from her mistakes, she makes sure to grab a warm coat, a clock, her prayer book, and of course, her toothbrush. She puts on her life jacket and makes her way to the deck. Now, the Titanic took a bit of time to sink. 2 hours and 40 minutes. Give or take. But the Britannic was down in 55 minutes. The ship was sinking. The propellers are still going, and Violet is watching lifeboats being launched and then pulled back to the propellers and watching the propellers shred the lifeboats and the people on them. Now, I've read the series of events a few ways. She was on a lifeboat that was getting sucked back to the propellers, or she didn't make it to a lifeboat. Either way, she has to leap into the water, which, good thing she's got her life jacket on, because she can't swim, right? And you're thinking she works on a boat. Yet you'd be surprised how many people on boats could not swim back in the day. Also, like, a lot of the dresses they wore back then, they were like, you know, underskirts. You had layers, they were heavy. You would be pulled down in the water. Now she has her coat on and she has, like, her jacket over her life belt over it. Now, the issue is with that, like, she had, like, warned other people on the ship, like, put your coat on over your life jacket in case you need to take it off. And she didn't do that because she was just so focused on getting her other stuff. Now, either way, like, she's in that water now. There's a tale that she saw a hand reach for her, but when she grabbed it, it was severed at the shoulder. She was at one point pulled out of the water and into another lifeboat. Like, when she leaps, she hits her head off the keel, right? Meanwhile, the captain orders that propellers be shut off so that people can actually escape, right? She knows she's hurt her head and she loses a wee bit of hair, but there's a chance it got caught or lobbed off somewhere. But it isn't until years later, like, a little bit later, like, she visits a doctor because she's having issues concentrating, and she's, like, struggling with a few bits. And he tells her that she suffered a skull fracture. Like, oh, yeah, you had a skull fracture. And she's like, oh, I wonder if it's when I hit my head off the keel of a ship. Like, one of the stories about this, it's like, oh, she was, like, scalped by the propeller. Which is just a bit more of a dramatization. But, like, there probably was somebody scalped by a propeller and probably worse. But, yeah, she's got a skull fracture. She climbs into a lifeboat and she lives another day. Like, she used to joke that she was saved because she had incredibly thick hair, right? And also, if she's got that sort of. I'm still gonna call it, like, the Edwardian sort of button thing going on. Like, there's some cushioning, you know? So with a war on, getting a stewardess job was tough. And so she stayed on land for a bit of clerking. And when the war was over, Violet resumed working aboard the Olympic. And so she meets this steward, John James Lewis, and she marries him on 29th October, 1923. She would later refer to this marriage as brief and disastrous. Like, I bet you he was just really bad in bed. Like, he was just terrible. Just a terrible, terrible nut. Like, it wasn't great. I think probably because, like, she's super Catholic, right? So I like to imagine that she was like, hey, marriage. And then he was like, you don't have to look. You have to be my wife. And then the money isn't great as a steward anyway. And so she's like, oh, no. Oh. And, yeah, I feel like. Like she needed to be busy because she was so used to always doing something that. To go from that to then, nothing, like, would have been, like, really, really tough. But also, I think he was just. Probably just like. She had really bad sex once and was like, no, I'm good. I'm done. I don't need that in my life. So she starts working for the Red Star Line on world cruises, serving on the flagship Belgian Land. And she is on, like, five or so annual cruises between, what, 1926 and early 35. And then she returns to the Royal Mary line in early 1935, working on the RMS Alcantara up until the start of the Second World War. Now she doesn't go back to nursing at sea. She decides not to do that, and she joins the war effort by nursing at home on land. And after the Second World War, she realizes that stewarding does not a retirement fund make. And so she left the sea behind her for the most part, and worked in factories and did some clerical work again. She's a very diligent, very organized person. So, like, while she's on. When she's still on the White Star Line. No, the Red Star Line, she writes her memoirs, like, in 1934. Like, she writes them because she's like, you know what? I've loved a lot. I should probably write some stuff down. She doesn't publish them. Her nieces find them, and they are published in, what, 1997. So, like, this is about when Titanic fever is heading. So it's unsurprising that this came out there. So a lot of the information we have about her life from her memoirs. It's from that and from documentation. And we're just kind of piecing it together from, like, bits and pieces after that. Now she works until the ripe old age of 61, and she retires to a cottage in Great Ashfield in Suffolk, England, right? She's like, okay, no, going to go. Gonna go retire. And you think she's gonna do nothing, right? But no, no, she gardens. She gets into gardening, and she raises chickens, right? She can't just do nothing, right? And the thing is, as well is she's actually fairly close to her sister Eileen, right? She's not too far away. And I think that's a very deliberate choice by her. Like, she doesn't have any kids. She and Lewis, they got divorced. And I think she was just kind of, like, pretty cool with her lot in life. Like, she had nieces. She had, you know, a fine time. And she does get interviewed. Like, she gets interviewed for Women magazine when the movie A Night to Remember is released, right? I'd like to think that when she's asked about why she kept getting on another ship and another ship, that she was just like, ship happens. You know, it's one of those things where we talk about, like, her being in, like, three shipwrecks, and it's like she was in two shipwrecks and one, like, one thing that could have gone really wrong but didn't. And, like, it's funny because in our own memoirs, the Titanic is, like, such a small part of it because she had a large life either side of that. And remember, she wasn't on the Titanic for very long, right? It was a very short period of time. So, like, she was not the only person to survive, like, all three Olympic class vessels. There was, like, one other dude, I think, who was on all three, and there was a few people who were on, like, two of them. So she lived the rest of her life quietly, quite privately. And you know what? There's a story where she gets a phone call. This is before her memoirs. This is before she, like, tells anybody anything. Like, not her sister, not anybody. She gets a phone call from what she believes to be a woman's voice, and it says, Ms. Jessup, you saved a baby on the Titanic. That baby was me. Now, the only baby that was, like, logged as being on Lifeboat 16 was, I think, Alna Tanud. And that was a boy, and he died in, was it 31. So by the time that she gets this call in her cottage, it's, you Know, like, one of her friends, he's like, oh, you know what? It's clearly some neighborhood kids. They're making, like, a joke. They're doing a prank call. And she's like, I never told anyone that story, like, ever. So how would they know? Now, in fairness, there were other people on the lifeboat, and somebody could have said something to somebody, or it could very well be, you know what, she was on that ship that sunk, right? What if she saved a baby? Like, what if somebody just went. What if that was a thing that happened and it just happened to be one of those, like, oh, like crazy random happenstances, like the two Dennis the Menaces and, like, coincidences do exist sometimes in the world, and that could have been that. Now, what I love about Violet Jessup as well is she's a fcking oak tree. You know, Like, God keeps trying to kill her, but she won't go. But, yeah, no, it's like, so many things keep trying to, like, tuberculosis, typhoid, scarlet fever. She has consistent issues. She's in, you know, three wrecks. Let's say three. Sure, we'll go with three. She's in the war, right? Like, there's so many things that could have killed her. She was married, like, you know what I mean? So many things could have ended her life, and she kept going anyway. Now, one of the things she said is, like, why did you get on another ship? And she's like, I needed to work. Like, I gotta eat, you know? But, yeah, she lives the rest of her life quite in peace, you know, near her family, what she had left. And on the 5th of May, 1971, Violet Constance Jessop passed away in Great Ashfield, Suffolk, from congestinal heart failure. At the ripe old age of 83, she was laid to rest in Hardest, where her sister Eileen would join her two years later. And so ends the story of Violet Jessup, Miss Unsinkable. Now, I know I haven't done this in a while, like, because she was in so many ships and things kept happening and she kept not going down with it. You know, she gets the title of Miss Unsinkable. And one of the things I haven't done in a long time was, like, what have we learned today? Which is something I used to do, like, way back when I first started the podcast. And I was thinking about it recently because I was listening to old episodes to just kind of see how far I'd come. And so what have we learned today? Always pack your toothbrush. Like, if we've learned anything from Violet Jessup. Always pack your toothbrush and. Yeah, so rating review 5 stars. No. Somebody was like, I can't find where to review 5 stars on Apple Podcasts. So, honestly, if they've changed the system, I. I don't know, then. I don't know. Just say nice things. Comment. Comment on the episodes on Spotify, on Apple Podcasts, on wherever you listen. Engagement. But say nice things because I don't want to hear bad things because everything's already bad enough. But, yeah, sharing is caring. Like, when you download episodes, you share episodes. It just helps. Like, I'm an independent podcast. I'm gonna talk about me for a second, right? I'm a very independent podcast. Everything is me. Everything is done by me. Like, everything. You can tell because the editing is shocking. Like, she gets better the way that a snail gets better at running slowly. So, yeah. Yeah. Will a snail ever run? Listen, it can skateboard. They find ways. Okay, Ingenuity. But, yeah, everything is, like, singular, one person. And I'm slowly, slowly getting things together where it can be a better option for everybody. But I. I'm doing my best here, and I really hope, and I'm glad for everyone who actually appreciates this and all the work that goes into it. And I'm sorry that today's episode was late. Life happens Easter. Everything's been kind of up in the air, and I'm trying to get stuff sorted before my trip as well. But, yeah, I'm gonna be super prepared for that, guys.
- [63:26]
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Katy Charlwood
Now, recommendation time. Okay, for watching, I'm gonna recommend the other Bennett sister, because it was a good time. I just. I needed something fairly light to watch, and that worked for me. So for listening, Sabrina Carpenter has got a new song out called House Tour. Just. Just have some fun. And for reading, okay, Asako Yuzuki, she's got a new book out called Hooked. Okay, so go read Hooked. It's. Oh, I'm so excited. I loved Buttle. I loved Buttle. And now Hooked. And, yeah, so go read that. And that is everything. And with that, I shall bid you good day. Adios. Au revoir. Au revoir, my friends. Bye. Bye.
- [64:19]
Lost Travelers
We're lost. It feels like we're going round in circles. I'm gonna ask that man for directions. Hi there. We're trying to get to the state fairgrounds.
- [64:28]
Local Helper
Well, you're going to take a left at the old oak tree at this here road. Nah, I'm just kidding. Let me get my phone out.
- [64:35]
Lost Travelers
How is their signal out here?
- [64:37]
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Lost Travelers
pull up the way to a T Mobile store?
- [64:52]
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