Violet Jessop began her career as an ocean liner stewardess in 1908, eventually taking a position aboard the RMS Olympic in 1910. The Olympic was the largest civilian liner in the world at the time. In September 1911, while navigating a narrow strait, the Olympic collided with the British warship HMS Hawke.
Despite severe hull damage and flooding, the ship managed to limp back to port without loss of life. Seven months later, Jessop boarded the RMS Titanic as a 24-year-old stewardess. On the night of April 14, 1912, the luxury liner struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic.
Ordered onto the deck to demonstrate proper behavior for non-English speaking passengers, Jessop was eventually handed a baby and placed into Lifeboat 16. She clutched the infant until being rescued by the RMS Carpathia the following morning. Undeterred by two miraculous escapes, Jessop volunteered as a nurse for the British Red Cross during World War I and was assigned to the HMHS Britannic, the Titanic's younger sister ship converted into a hospital vessel.
On November 21, 1916, while sailing in the Aegean Sea, the Britannic struck a naval mine laid by a German submarine. As the giant ship sank in under 55 minutes, two lifeboats were sucked into the spinning propellers. Jessop jumped from her lifeboat just in time, suffering a traumatic head injury after hitting the ship's keel beneath the surface, but managed to survive once again.
Years later, a doctor discovered that she had suffered a fractured skull during the ordeal. Jessop continued working at sea for decades, retiring in 1950 after a legendary maritime career.