Violet Jessop survived three maritime disasters involving the Olympic-class ships, a record that earned her the nickname “Miss Unsinkable.” According to Wikipedia, All That’s Interesting and Sky History, she was aboard the RMS Olympic when it collided with HMS Hawke in 1911, escaped the Titanic’s sinking in 1912, and survived the sinking of the HMHS Britannic in 1916.
Her story is remarkable not only because she lived through so much, but because she kept returning to sea afterward. Jessop worked as a stewardess and later as a nurse during World War I, and she continued serving on ocean liners long after the disasters that should have been enough to end any maritime career.
A difficult early life
Violet Constance Jessop was born on October 2, 1887, near Bahía Blanca, Argentina, to Irish immigrant parents. She was the eldest of nine children, six of whom survived infancy, and she spent much of her childhood helping care for her younger siblings.
As a child, Jessop contracted tuberculosis, an illness doctors predicted would be fatal. She survived, though the experience left a lasting…