In general, I have an opinion that more than half of the historical moments, and even more so of some historical subtleties, were invented or at least transmitted through the channels of the "broken phone" during which everything was so transformed that it already has little in common with reality.
All this pops up in my head because history is a “battlefield” of different stakeholders and because sometimes you read such stories and you just cannot believe that this can really happen.
Judge for yourself…
John Priest was one of 150 stokers on the Titanic (the ship required over 600 tons of coal per day). Priest was incredibly lucky - he survived, although he received severe frostbite (the stokers worked in shorts and vests)
The year before, Priest had worked as a stoker on the Titanic's twin, the Olympic. But the Olympic then collided with the cruiser Hawk. This incident was included in all textbooks - the cause of the collision was the "suction of ships".
And even before that, John Priest worked on the ship Asturias, whose first voyage also ended in a collision.
After the outbreak of World War I, Priest was hired as a stoker on the armed merchant ship Alcantara. In February 1916, the German steamer Greif, turned into a raider and disguised as a Norwegian ship, approached the Alcantara and opened fire. There was a short battle, as a result of which both ships sank (one of the Alcantara shells hit an ammunition depot on a German raider). 72 British and 187 German sailors were killed, and Priest survived again, although he received several fragments.
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Priest began working on the Britannica, the third Olympic-class transatlantic liner (like the Titanic and Olympic). The Britannic did not make a single commercial flight. It was converted into His Majesty's hospital ship. On November 21, 1916, the ship was blown up by a German mine and sank three times faster than the Titanic, only because one of the bulkheads was damaged, one of the doors in the bulkhead did not close, and the nurses aired the cabins by opening the windows through which water entered. Two lifeboats were launched ahead of time and were hit by the ship's rotating propellers. 30 people died, and Priest survived again.
Priest's next ship was the hospital ship Donegal. On April 17, 1917, the German submarine UC-21 sank it in the English Channel. It was a very effective boat, sinking 100 Allied ships with torpedoes and mines in 11 raids.
As Priest later said, he was left without work at sea - no one wanted to sail with him. He died of pneumonia in 1937.
And one more story …
The woman who made history thanks to her luck was born on October 2, 1887 in Argentina, where her father was herding local sheep. The girl's parents were immigrants from Ireland who went to South America in search of a better life. However, the family in a foreign land was also waiting for sorrow and misfortune - three of the nine children died, and the eldest, Violet, became seriously ill with tuberculosis.
Doctors predicted a quick death for her, but the girl not only survived, but also completely recovered from the disease, with which almost no one survived in those days!
However, Violet's father died soon after, and the orphaned Irish family went home.
The mother put the children in a school at the monastery, and she herself began working as a flight attendant on the ships of the White Star Line passenger company. But due to poor health, she was forced to leave her job, and her place was taken by the eldest daughter, who had to leave school.
I must say that Violet really did not want to work in this particular company, since its ships went on voyages across the dangerous and inhospitable North Atlantic. But the family had nothing to live on, and the girl began to work - 17 hours a day, receiving 210 pounds a month.
For several years, Violette worked on such a tight schedule. In the fall of 1910, she found herself on board the newest ship of the White Star Line - the huge liner Olympic. This was the first of three Olympic-class vessels - later the company built the Titanic and Britannic …
"Olympic" was distinguished by luxury and, as the creators assured, complete safety. However, on September 11, 1911, the bulky Olympic collided with the cruiser Hawk. Fortunately, there were no casualties in this disaster, although the vessel suffered serious damage.
When the Olympic was refurbished, Violet continued to work on it. But soon the company built the newest and most modern ship, which was named "Titanic" … Violet was offered to work on it, but she refused for a long time, because, despite the disaster, she liked the "Britannica".
However, she was nevertheless persuaded, and on April 10, 1912, Violet set off on the Titanic on its first and last voyage …
Violet's biographers note the fact that she had a paper with her, on which an ancient prayer was written to save her from fire and water. The devout Violette often repeated the words of this prayer - even before the Titanic collided with the iceberg.
As a flight attendant, during the crash, she was supposed to help passengers and escort them to lifeboats. She herself ended up on boat No. 16. Violette was able to take with her the lost child, who then, when the survivors were on the ship "Carpathia", found her mother, it was just a miracle.
After the crash, Violet left the service for a while. The Second World War broke out and Violette became a nurse for the British Red Cross. But, as they say, you can't escape fate. In 1916, she and the wounded were aboard the Britannica, the third ship of the Olympic class.
On November 1, 1916, the ship was blown up by a German mine. The rescue took place without panic, Violet even managed to grab a toothbrush, as she said more than once that it was this item that she lacked most after the Titanic crash aboard the Carpathia. Most of the Britannica's passengers and crew escaped, but the two boats were propelled, killing 21 people.
Violet Jessop was in one of those boats. She managed to jump out of the boat, but the whirlpool caught her and hit her head on the keel. The girl was rescued by thick brown hair, which softened the strong blow. However, after this accident, she suffered from severe headaches for a long time. When she later consulted a doctor, he discovered a huge crack, which had already healed.
After the war, Violet continued to work for the White Star Line, but then moved to the Red Star Line, and then to the Royal Mail Line. While working for Red Star, Violett made two round-the-world cruises on the Belgenland liner. In the late 1930s, Violet got married for a while, and in 1950 moved to Great Ashfield in Suffolk. A year after retiring, in the middle of the night, Violet was awakened by a phone call. On the other end was a woman who, without introducing herself, asked Violet if she had saved the child that night when the Titanic sank. Violet said yes. Then the stranger said, "Well, I was that child," laughed and hung up. Her friend and biographer John Maxtone-Graham said that the village children decided to play a trick on her, but Violette replied: “No, John, I have never told this story to anyone before,as I told it to you. " To this day, the identity of the child, whom she then kept with her in the boat, remains unclear.
Violet Jessop died of heart failure in 1971.
Many called her incredibly lucky, because she managed to avoid mortal danger at least three times. However, the very fact that she was in mortal danger three times suggests otherwise. Be that as it may, Violet actually witnessed three sea disasters, remaining alive.
Her image has inspired and inspires writers and filmmakers. She became the prototype of the flight attendant Lucy from the movie "Titanic" by James Cameron, as well as the heroine of the play by Chris Burgess "Iceberg - Right in the Course"