Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history
Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales right
Speaker 1: there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the Cabinet of Curiosities. The old saying luck of
Speaker 1: the Irish doesn't have one definitive origin. Some say it
Speaker 1: comes from successful Irish miners who had found their pots
Speaker 1: of gold while digging underground. Others claim its meaning was
Speaker 1: ironic that the Irish had been treated so poorly abroad
Speaker 1: during the Potato famine that emigrants were cursed with the
Speaker 1: luck of the Irish. Regardless of where it came from,
Speaker 1: the Irish are considered a lucky people, and non luckier
Speaker 1: than Violet Jessup. Born in Argentina in seven to Irish immigrants,
Speaker 1: Violet as the eldest of nine children. She took care
Speaker 1: of her younger siblings to help her parents until she
Speaker 1: was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Doctors gave her months to live,
Speaker 1: but Violet had a strength Unlike some of her siblings,
Speaker 1: three of whom had already died young. She fought the
Speaker 1: disease and one only to lose her father not long
Speaker 1: after that. At sixteen years old, Violet moved to England
Speaker 1: with her mother, who took a job as a stewardess
Speaker 1: aboard ships, while Violet stayed home to raise her younger sister. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: not long after they'd settled into their new home, their
Speaker 1: mother grew very ill and it fell to Violet to
Speaker 1: take over as the sole breadwinner for the family. With
Speaker 1: few other opportunities available, she applied to be a stewardess
Speaker 1: like her mother, and was hired in nineteen o eight
Speaker 1: by the Royal Mail Line to work on a ship
Speaker 1: called the Orinoco. Throughout her career as a stewardess, Violet
Speaker 1: worked aboard numerous ocean liners, helping guests and even saving lives.
Speaker 1: She had come from nothing only to find herself working
Speaker 1: on some of the fanciest, most luxurious ships ever created.
Speaker 1: But there was something odd about violent. It seemed wherever
Speaker 1: she went, disaster followed. Sure. Some of her siblings died
Speaker 1: of disease, and her father passed away when she was
Speaker 1: a girl, but the tragedies didn't end there. After working
Speaker 1: for the Royal Mail Line, she took a job with
Speaker 1: the White Star Line. If that name sounds familiar, that's
Speaker 1: because the White Star Line built three of the most
Speaker 1: famous ships in history, the Olympic, the Britannic, and the Titanic.
Speaker 1: All three would go on to be involved in devastating
Speaker 1: accidents and to now reside at the bottom of the ocean,
Speaker 1: but each one counted Violet Jessup as an employee and
Speaker 1: a survivor. During her time as a stewardess on the Olympic,
Speaker 1: that ship collided with the British warship the h M.
Speaker 1: S Hawk. Although it didn't sink, the ship was sliced
Speaker 1: below the water line and eventually had to have extensive
Speaker 1: repairs done to become seaworthy again. Not long after, as
Speaker 1: the Titanic sank, Violet was handed a baby to look after.
Speaker 1: She escaped with the child in a lifeboat along with
Speaker 1: other passengers. Amazingly, that baby was eventually returned to its
Speaker 1: mother aboard the rescue ship, the Carpathia. Oh and just
Speaker 1: a side story. Many years later, after Violet had retired,
Speaker 1: In fact, she claimed to have received a telephone call
Speaker 1: from a stranger who asked if Violet had saved a
Speaker 1: baby the night the Titanic sank. When Violet answered yes,
Speaker 1: the woman on the other end told her I was
Speaker 1: that baby, and then hung up before Violet could reply.
Speaker 1: A friend of her suggested that the call had been
Speaker 1: a hoax, but Violet knew better. She hadn't told anyone
Speaker 1: about the story before, so there was no way for
Speaker 1: a random person to have known to call her with
Speaker 1: such a joke. Finally, as a nurse on the Britannic,
Speaker 1: she jumped out of a lifeboat moments before it was
Speaker 1: sucked into the sinking ship's propellers and shredded to splinters.
Speaker 1: Violet Jessip has been depict did in various movies, television shows,
Speaker 1: and stage productions over the years, though not always by name,
Speaker 1: often blended into other characters. Hers is a story that
Speaker 1: has slipped past the history books, though she did earn
Speaker 1: the nickname Miss Unsinkable. With all the fanfare surrounding the
Speaker 1: Titanics Unsinkable Molly Brown, it's easy to lose sight of
Speaker 1: an unsung hero of the White Star Line, such as Violet. Well.
Speaker 1: You might call her an unsung hero, others might call
Speaker 1: her cursed. In the end, I like to imagine that
Speaker 1: the woman who beat tuberculosis, outlived her siblings and survived
Speaker 1: multiple shipwrecks was a miracle of sorts, one of a
Speaker 1: kind person who became the very definition of that household phrase,
Speaker 1: the luck of the Irish war. What is it good for? Well,
Speaker 1: if you're hoping to overthrow a government or unseat an
Speaker 1: unfavorable leader, it can help. And if you're looking out
Speaker 1: for the future of your country's imperial rule, it may
Speaker 1: be your only course of action. That's what happened on
Speaker 1: August eighteen ninety six in the island nation of Zanzibar.
Speaker 1: For years, Zanzibar had been independent of its homeland Oman
Speaker 1: and ruled by a long line of sultan's. The United
Speaker 1: Kingdom had maintained a close relationship with the country for decades,
Speaker 1: and as the years went on, that relationship grew much stronger,
Speaker 1: some might say too strong. By eighteen ninety three, the
Speaker 1: British had forced Zanzibar to abolish many of their inhumane
Speaker 1: yet profitable industries, much to the consternation of its citizens.
Speaker 1: The sultan himself had supported the British in their endeavors
Speaker 1: and didn't see a problem with the changes, but his
Speaker 1: people had so In August twenty five, eighteen ninety six,
Speaker 1: the Sultan was assassinated. The top suspect was the sultan's
Speaker 1: own cousin, who had most likely poisoned the former ruler.
Speaker 1: He took over the duties of the throne and moved
Speaker 1: into the palace all before his cousin's funeral that very
Speaker 1: same day. Seriously, half an hour after the old sultan
Speaker 1: had been buried, the new one was sitting on the throne.
Speaker 1: Zanzibar leaders certainly wasted no time, except the new ruler
Speaker 1: hit a roadblock with his grand plan. As it turned out,
Speaker 1: he ignored a treaty signed ten years earlier that required
Speaker 1: anyone seeking the crown to get permission from the British consul.
Speaker 1: The murderous cousin had not obtained that permission. It didn't
Speaker 1: matter that he declared himself the new leader publicly, or
Speaker 1: that the palace guns had fired a salute marking the
Speaker 1: occasion that afternoon. Without approval from the British, it was
Speaker 1: nothing more than a pretender wearing another man's crown. British
Speaker 1: General Lloyd Matthews urged the sultan to step down so
Speaker 1: that a more UK friendly ruler could take his place.
Speaker 1: The sultan, however, refused. He gathered thousands of troops in
Speaker 1: the palace square, armed with machine guns, cannons, and a
Speaker 1: gatling gun, and then waited to see what the British
Speaker 1: would do with their own thousand man army. Matthews continued
Speaker 1: to press for a surrender, but his threats of retaliation
Speaker 1: didn't sway the Sultan. In fact, on the morning of
Speaker 1: August he called Matthew's bluff. British warships opened fire from
Speaker 1: the harbor, killing forces within the palace. A Zanzibar fleet
Speaker 1: returned fire on the British ships, and within moments the
Speaker 1: country officially became a war zone. As the fighting raged on,
Speaker 1: fire broke out that consumed the palace and killed hundreds
Speaker 1: of the sultan soldiers. Before the war was even over,
Speaker 1: the new Sultan had fled the country to seek asylum
Speaker 1: in Germany, leaving the British free to install their own
Speaker 1: choice as the new ruler. And they managed to do
Speaker 1: it without the single loss of a British life. And
Speaker 1: you might be wondering, in a war that claimed the
Speaker 1: lives of over five hundred Zanzibari men and women, how
Speaker 1: is it possible that the British didn't lose a single
Speaker 1: person on their side. The Sultan's army was well trained
Speaker 1: and well armed. They put up a fight, but the
Speaker 1: British had a few things going for them. First, they
Speaker 1: were much more prepared for battle than the Sultan's forces.
Speaker 1: Their weaponry was more advanced, and their army was much larger. Second,
Speaker 1: the palace wasn't made of concrete or stone. It was
Speaker 1: made of wood, which provided almost no protection from the
Speaker 1: incoming cannonballs or the inevitable fire that burned it all
Speaker 1: down in the end. The most interesting detail about this
Speaker 1: entire event is how it's recorded in the history books.
Speaker 1: Even today, it's referred to as the Anglo Zanzibar War,
Speaker 1: and I suppose it technically was given that two armies
Speaker 1: traded gunfire over the fate of a country's leadership. It's
Speaker 1: just that well, most wars last a lot longer. This one,
Speaker 1: you see, was the shortest war in history, clocking in
Speaker 1: and only forty five minutes. I hope you've enjoyed today's
Speaker 1: guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free
Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by
Speaker 1: visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by
Speaker 1: me Aaron Manky in partnership with how stuff works. I
Speaker 1: make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast,
Speaker 1: book series, and television show and you can learn all
Speaker 1: about it over at the world of Lore dot com.
Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious.