Violet Jessup
By: Clara Davison

Violet Constance Jessop was born to William and Katherine Kelly Jessop on the morning of October 2^nd, 1887.  Her father earned a living by sheep farming on the land in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  Both he and his wife were Irish and had not lived in Argentina long enough to polish the Spanish language over their native Irish accent. She was the oldest of five brothers and sisters, many who would not survive through the childhood because of diseases that ran in the family. Violet, who was not expected to live past twelve because of tuberculosis, miraculously survived, but often stayed inside because of several other diseases.   Throughout her childhood, Violet moved to many different towns, cities, farms and railroad stations because of her father’s job.  In her memoirs, she recounts her adventures in many different places, but recalls her birth place, Buenos Aires, to be her favorite. 

When her father died in Mendoza, Violet’s mother moved the family to Britain.  Here, widowed Katherine Jessop found work as a ship stewardess and sent Violet and her younger sister to Covent school.  As Violet began to excel in academics, her mother’s health began to fail, so Violet decided to let her mom retire.  Violet soon began the hard process of finding a job as a stewardess.  Many ship companies turned her down because of her beauty. She had deep blue eyes, auburn hair and spoke with a trace of an Irish accent. As she was being turned down again and again, she decided to dress in boring dresses, wear no makeup to make her appear older, as most ship stewardesses were in the time period.  Finally, she was given a job as a stewardess for the Royal Mail Line. She was 21 when she first started her career at sea and would continue as a stewardess for the next forty-two years. She worked with the third class passengers and slowly climbed up the ladder to first class passengers.  Once, she said that she secretly enjoyed American passengers more than European passengers because Americans treated her more like a person more than a robotic slave.  On one ship, she received three marriage proposals total, as she had let her beauty slip. 

 Soon, she joined the White Star Line. Although she had originally not wanted to join this line because of the cold weather conditions on the North Atlantic run, she overcame her fears. Violet worked seventeen hour days and was paid about six American dollars a month.   The first ship she sailed on for the White Star Line Majestic. In 1911, she was serving on the Olympic when it struck the HMS Hawk.  Thankfully, both ships were strong enough to limp back to land and minimal lives were lost.

 One year later, Violet’s friend insisted that she should sign up to be on the Titanic’s crew. Violet decided her friend was right and she placed her name on the quickly-filling list.  In mid-April, she embarked the great ship at the port in Southampton, England. Violet writes that the trip was normal and enjoyable, as she was serving her beloved Americans.  When the Titanic struck the iceberg, Violet was sound asleep and does not remember even the slightest jolt.  In her memoirs, she recalls:

 “I was ordered up on deck. Calmly, passengers strolled about. I stood at the bulkhead with the other stewardesses, watching the women cling to their husbands before being put into the lifeboats with their children. Some time after, a ship’s officer ordered us into boat (boat 16) first, to show some women it was safe. As the boat was being lowered the officer called: “Here, Miss Jessop, look after this baby,” and a bundle was dropped onto my lap.”

She continues on about the night in the sea and when the Carpathia picked up the lifeboats.

“I was still clutching the baby against my hard cork lifebelt I was wearing when a women leaped at me, grabbed the baby, and rushed off with it. It appeared that she had put it down on the deck of the Titanic while she went off to fetch something, and when she came back, the baby was gone.  I was to frozen and numb to think it strange that the women had not stopped to say thank you.”

During World War I, she served as a nurse in the British Red Cross. Violet was aboard the Britannic, the other Titanic’s sister when hit a mine and sank in the Aegean Sea.  When there was no time to lower lifeboats, Violet had to jump.  She was struck with bad luck and was sucked under the keel into the propellers.  Later she said that:

  “I leapt into the water but was sucked under by the ship’s keel which struck my head. I escaped, but years later when I went to the doctor because of a lot of headaches, he discovered that I had once sustained a fracture of the skull!”

Once the war was over, she went back to serve on the Olympic, Titanic’s sister ship until 1925. After this, she took a half a year break until she joined the Red Star Line, where she served on a new passenger ships called cruises.   Violet said that she enjoyed these cruises more than other ships because of the tropical places she served in. Violet continued with cruising until 1931.  In 1935, she re-joined the Royal Mail Line until the outbreak of World War II. 

By 1945, she held a clerical post, which she kept until the war was over. Violet worked one more time with the Royal Mail Line before retiring in 1950.  She was 63 when she finally retired to a 16 century style thatched cottage in Great Ashfield, Suffolk.  Here, she sold hen eggs and flowers from her beautiful garden to make a small profit.  

When the film “A Night to Remember” was released, Violet was interviewed and said that the third class passengers were not locked behind the gates “to the best of her knowledge” and that American women did not wear large feathered hats on the ship.  For the rest of her life, she lived quietly until she died of congestive heart failure in 1971 at the age of 84.