1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:03,240 Speaker 1: Okay, come on, what is it? I keep trying to 2 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:05,960 Speaker 1: figure out why it is we're so fascinated with the 3 00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:09,360 Speaker 1: Titanic disaster, like the folks who lost their lives on 4 00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:12,040 Speaker 1: the titan submersible a few months back, just for an 5 00:00:12,039 --> 00:00:15,640 Speaker 1: in person peak at the wreckage. Well, imagine you're twenty 6 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:19,000 Speaker 1: three years old. You survived the wreck of the giant ship, 7 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:23,400 Speaker 1: the RMS Olympic, only to narrowly survive the Titanic just 8 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:26,480 Speaker 1: a few months later, and three years after that getting 9 00:00:26,520 --> 00:00:30,000 Speaker 1: sucked under the keel of the RMS Britannic. Was Violet 10 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:33,000 Speaker 1: Jess kind of nuts to keep taking jobs on chips. 11 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:37,440 Speaker 1: I'm Patty Steele. Her unbelievable tale of survival is next 12 00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:45,960 Speaker 1: on the backstory. The backstory is back. We are obsessed 13 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:48,200 Speaker 1: with the wreck of the Titanic, and that was true 14 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:51,239 Speaker 1: long before the movie. Is it because something that was 15 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:56,000 Speaker 1: so impossibly beautiful could have led to such impossible tragedy? 16 00:00:56,400 --> 00:01:00,040 Speaker 1: Maybe this is a story about a Titanic survivor so 17 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:04,240 Speaker 1: spent her entire career working on these gorgeous ocean liners, 18 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:07,920 Speaker 1: only to be involved in three shipwrecks right early on, 19 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 1: getting dumped into the sea. More than once, and even 20 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:14,560 Speaker 1: cracking her skull on the keel of one as it sank. 21 00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:18,760 Speaker 1: Beginning in nineteen eleven, twenty three year old ship's nurse 22 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:23,760 Speaker 1: and stewardess Violet Jessop spent four decades at sea. She 23 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:27,160 Speaker 1: began her career first on the Olympic and then on 24 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 1: the Titanic and finally on the Britannic. It's spring of 25 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:35,080 Speaker 1: nineteen eleven. Violet has just started working on the brand 26 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:38,440 Speaker 1: new RMS Olympic at the time. This thing is like 27 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:41,640 Speaker 1: the biggest ocean liner in the world. But this will 28 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:45,000 Speaker 1: creep you out. The ship's captain is Edward Smith. A 29 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:47,800 Speaker 1: year after Violet began working for him on the Olympic, 30 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 1: Captain Smith was made captain of the doomed Titanic. Anyway, 31 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:56,640 Speaker 1: the Olympic has its maiden voyage in June of nineteen eleven, 32 00:01:56,840 --> 00:02:01,240 Speaker 1: and it heads from England to New York City. It 33 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:05,280 Speaker 1: is a massive success, like at least ten thousand people 34 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:07,600 Speaker 1: show up at the dock in New York City just 35 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:10,120 Speaker 1: to get a peek at it. Everybody wanted to see it, 36 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:12,600 Speaker 1: even if they couldn't afford to travel on it, which 37 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:16,119 Speaker 1: most people couldn't. The Olympic makes a number of successful 38 00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:19,400 Speaker 1: cross atlantic trips, and the owners they were the White 39 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 1: Star Line, use those five trips to promote the upcoming 40 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:25,960 Speaker 1: launch of the White Star's next big thing, their next 41 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:30,120 Speaker 1: big ship, that was the Titanic. Just four months after 42 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:33,880 Speaker 1: her maiden voyage, the Olympic is out to sea, sailing 43 00:02:33,919 --> 00:02:38,000 Speaker 1: parallel to a big British Navy cruiser, the Hawk. Captain 44 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:41,080 Speaker 1: Smith has the Olympic make a sudden turn, but the 45 00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:44,760 Speaker 1: Hawk is sucked into her draft and slams into the Olympic, 46 00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 1: tearing two big holes in its side. Kind of eerie, 47 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:50,959 Speaker 1: not much different than what happened to the Titanic less 48 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:54,239 Speaker 1: than a year later, anyway. Even though she's heavily damaged, 49 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:57,320 Speaker 1: the Olympic isn't far off the coast of Great Britain 50 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:00,760 Speaker 1: and manages to get back to dock. Months later, the 51 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:04,440 Speaker 1: ship is repaired and once again seaworthy, and once again 52 00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:07,720 Speaker 1: while it returns to the Olympic as a nurse and stewardess. 53 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:11,040 Speaker 1: But within months, Violet and a lot of other White 54 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:14,320 Speaker 1: Star employees are offered a chance to work on board 55 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:17,760 Speaker 1: the biggest and most luxurious cruise ship in the world. 56 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:22,799 Speaker 1: It's the Titanic. How can anybody turn that down? Right? Well, 57 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:26,200 Speaker 1: she didn't. She took the job. Okay. Now it's April 58 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:30,280 Speaker 1: of nineteen twelve. Violet is again a ship's nurse and stewardess, 59 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:33,920 Speaker 1: this time on the Titanic. She and the ship sets 60 00:03:33,919 --> 00:03:37,360 Speaker 1: sail from England for New York City. It's the Titanic's 61 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:41,119 Speaker 1: maiden voyage. It's late on the night of April fifteenth. 62 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:45,760 Speaker 1: Violet is already in bed, She's not quite asleep when 63 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:48,960 Speaker 1: she hears a commotion out in the corridor. She sits 64 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:53,280 Speaker 1: up and she realizes something is very wrong. There's very 65 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:57,880 Speaker 1: excited noise outside her stateroom. Immediately she gets dressed and 66 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:01,640 Speaker 1: she rushes up on deck. It's clear the ship is sinking. 67 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:06,240 Speaker 1: Violet kicks into gear. She begins helping women and children 68 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 1: get into life jackets and then into the lifeboats. Finally, 69 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:13,640 Speaker 1: she's handed a baby and told to get into the 70 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:17,359 Speaker 1: lifeboat number sixteen, herself one of the last ones to 71 00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:20,960 Speaker 1: make it off the ship. Now, just imagine being in 72 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:25,359 Speaker 1: a creaky lifeboat with panicked people clutching a baby you 73 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:29,200 Speaker 1: don't even know, in a rough twenty eight degree icy 74 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:33,080 Speaker 1: North Atlantic sea in the middle of the night. Wow, 75 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:37,760 Speaker 1: GISs me chills. The next morning, still clutching that little baby, 76 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:41,640 Speaker 1: Violet and the other fortunate survivors are picked up by 77 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:45,560 Speaker 1: another ship. It's the Carpathia, which arrived on the scene 78 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:50,520 Speaker 1: almost five hours after Titanic hit the iceberg. Violet survived. 79 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:54,440 Speaker 1: Captain Smith, that's so lucky. He went down with the ship, 80 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:58,320 Speaker 1: as captains do, along with over fifteen hundred other folks. 81 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:01,880 Speaker 1: So you would think Violet would be done with ships, right, 82 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:14,240 Speaker 1: not even clothes. After surviving the wreck of the Titanic, 83 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:17,599 Speaker 1: she went back to work on the Olympic, but, being 84 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:21,240 Speaker 1: a nurse, with World War One raging, she soon decided 85 00:05:21,279 --> 00:05:24,560 Speaker 1: to shift to the RMS Britannic, which was being used 86 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:28,800 Speaker 1: as a hospital ship. Then, in nineteen sixteen, with Violet 87 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:32,920 Speaker 1: on board, the Britannic hits a German underwater mine and 88 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:36,680 Speaker 1: it starts sinking fast. This time, she can't get into 89 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:40,000 Speaker 1: a lifeboat, and maybe that's just as well, since a 90 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:42,360 Speaker 1: lot of the folks who did make it into lifeboats 91 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:47,039 Speaker 1: found themselves sucked into the ship's propellers. Violet decides to 92 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:50,360 Speaker 1: take her chances, and she simply jumps overboard that's a 93 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:52,600 Speaker 1: long jump. Let me tell you, on this big ships, 94 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:56,200 Speaker 1: how does that work out for well? In her memoir, 95 00:05:56,320 --> 00:05:59,080 Speaker 1: she says, I leapt into the water, but I was 96 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:02,640 Speaker 1: sucked under the ships keel and hit my head. I 97 00:06:02,720 --> 00:06:05,800 Speaker 1: managed to escape from underneath the ship, and eventually he 98 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:08,680 Speaker 1: was picked up. But years later, when I went to 99 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:11,880 Speaker 1: my doctor because of a lot of headaches, he told 100 00:06:11,920 --> 00:06:15,280 Speaker 1: me that all those years ago, I had actually fractured 101 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:19,719 Speaker 1: my skull and that's where the headaches came from. Amazingly, 102 00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:22,960 Speaker 1: after the war, Violet left the White Star Line, but 103 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:26,520 Speaker 1: went to work for another cruise company and continued to 104 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:30,760 Speaker 1: work doing world cruises all the way until nineteen fifty, 105 00:06:30,800 --> 00:06:34,800 Speaker 1: when she retired. She died in nineteen seventy one at 106 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:38,279 Speaker 1: the age of eighty four. One gutsy woman with a 107 00:06:38,279 --> 00:06:41,920 Speaker 1: lot of great stories, right after having jumped from not one, 108 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:45,320 Speaker 1: not two, but three massive ships and lived through it 109 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:57,120 Speaker 1: all To share those tales, I'm Patty Steele. The Backstory 110 00:06:57,200 --> 00:07:00,880 Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartMedia and Steel Trap product. Our 111 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:04,800 Speaker 1: producer is Doug Fraser. Our executive producer is Steve Goldstein 112 00:07:04,839 --> 00:07:08,400 Speaker 1: of Amplify Media. We're out with new episodes twice a week. 113 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:12,040 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the backstory, the pieces of history 114 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:13,720 Speaker 1: you didn't know you needed to know.