TITANIC SURVIVOR The Memoirs of Violet JESSOP Stewardess John MAXTONE GRAHAM Sutton Publishing Ltd - 1998 Sutton Publishing Ltd - 2007

Violet Jessop’s life is an inspiring story of survival. She was born in 1887 in Argentina, the eldest child of Irish immigrants. At the age of 21 she became the breadwinner for her widowed mother and five siblings when she commenced a career as a stewardess that was to span 40 years. She survived the sinking of the Titanic: “One awful moment of empty, misty blackness enveloped us in its loneliness, then an unforgettable, agonizing cry went up from 1500 despairing throats, a long wail and then silence and our tiny craft tossing about at the mercy of the ice field”. For most people one sinking would be enough. But Violet also survived the sinking of the hospital ship Britannic and for her, this disaster was even more horrifying: "Just as life seemed nothing but a whirling, choking ache, I rose to the light of day, my nose barely above the little lapping waves. I opened my eyes on an indescribable scene of slaughter, which made me shut them again to keep it out". At the end of her story we have met a woman who could handle whatever life threw at her with determination and good humour. She knew that only by her own strength of character would she survive. Her attitude to life was formed during a youth burdened with life threatening illnesses. While lying seriously ill with tuberculosis she overheard the doctor say: "What a shame! Remarkable child, I shall miss her when she’s gone. "Gone, indeed! There was to be no “gone” about me, I warranted". "... typical of the kind of anti-heroic and unromanticised truth-telling that makes this memoir valuable. Jessop was clearly as kind and pretty and dutiful as any sentimentalist could wish, but she was also honest and sharp enough to make this memoir an enjoyable as well as a useful additon to the historical record”. The Sunday Times, London. “Jessop’s story is deeply personal, filled with her love of the sea and a compassion she extended to those she worked with and those she served”. Professional Mariner.