‘Greatest Escapes With Arturo Castro’ Episode 3: Miss Unsinkable

Mental Floss is partnering with FilmNation and iHeartPodcasts to bring you the transcripts for Greatest Escapes, a podcast hosted by Arturo Castro about some of the wildest escape stories across history. Zoë Chao (The Afterparty, Creature Commandos) listens in as Arturo spins a seafaring yarn of death defying escapes from Violet Jessop, a.k.a. Miss Unsinkable. Read all the transcripts here.

Arturo: This is Greatest Escapes, a show bringing you the wildest true escape stories of all time. In this episode, we set sail into the story of Miss Unsinkable and it brings us up close and personal with an infamous historical disaster. And yes, I am talking about my former relationship. I’m Arturo Castro, and I’m joined by the incredible writer and actress for stage and screen: Zoë Chao!

Hello everybody. I am so excited to have with us the incredibly talented, very funny and all around good person (and also Hawaii Connoisseur): Zoë Chao.

Zoë: Mm. Aloha.

Arturo: That’s right. That’s about the two, uh, things that you know about Hawaii. Correct.

Zoë: Yep. Aloha and aloha.

Arturo: Wow. And the way you say it, I can tell the difference. Um.

Zoë: She’s bilingual.

Arturo: I know. Hey, um, Zoë, thank you so much for being with us. Uh, I’ve been such a fan for such a long time.

Zoë: Thank you for having me. Ditto.

Zoë’s Escape

Arturo: What do you, uh—do you have anything that you consider a greatest escape?

Zoë: This is not an escape, but I remember being stuck at the movie theater with some friends, um, and we were waiting to be picked up and I was like, let’s—let’s call people and say, we’re from Jenny Craig and I called–

Arturo: This was 1994 where Jenny Craig was all the rage.

Zoë: Yeah. RIP. Although is she, maybe, is she still poppin’?

Arturo: Is she around still? I don’t know.

Zoë: I don’t, yeah, so I called my dad, um, I think from a payphone, and I said—I left a message and I think he was so confused he got really—when he finally figured out it was me, he was, I would say, disproportionately angry. Because I think it took him a while to figure it out—but, um, I was like, “don’t be late to pick me up then.”

Arturo: Right. And he’s like, “well, now you have to walk home.” Um, and you’re still waiting at the movie theater as we speak. Um.

Zoë: I am.

Arturo: Don’t you feel that like in the ‘90s or whatever, like people were just like way more willing to stay on the phone to figure out what the f*** was up. You know what I’m saying? Like right now, if you get calls–

Zoë: Yeah.

Arturo: –of like, “this is Jenny Craig,” like, “all right, f*** you,” like—whatever. Back in the day, it’s like, “tell me more. How do—how do you know about me?”

Zoë: Totally. I think he tried to write down the number over and over again that I had left to be like, “call us back.”

Arturo: Yeah, you know, um, I’ll, the last thing I’ll say about telephones in the ‘90s or like early 2000s  or whatever, is that my kids, when I have them—if I ever do—will never know the fear it was to call a person you liked to ask to speak to them.

Zoë: Oh yeah.

Arturo: Particularly in Guatemala. Like, dads were so like, kind of cliché as to how f***ing mean they were. Like, they would like, literally like, you know—and, and Spanish is such a much more, uh, uh, flourishy language when you, when you’re trying to be polite, right?

Zoë: Right. Like.

Arturo: You were like, “Hello, I don’t mean to bother you [on] this fine evening, blah, blah.” You know, that sort of sh*t. And, and, and you’d, like, call at like, 5:30 p.m. and you’ll be like, “hello?” “Hello?” “Yeah. Who the f*** is this?” You know? And um, “Uh, yes sir, but the pardon, uh, pleasure to make your acquaintance, Sir.”

Zoë: “How art thou?”

Arturo: “How art thou?” Yes. Yeah. “Ye Yonder is thy daughter of this.” And he’s like—um, I remember this was a classic line. They were like, “it’s pretty late to be calling, isn’t it?” And you’re like, “well, it’s f***ing 5:30 p.m.” or whatever, you know? So you go through this f***ing, like, you know, like this moat of angry fatherdom. And then you like, get on the phone with a girl and be like, “Hi.” “Hi.” “What, what are you, what are you doing?” “Nothing.” “Oh, that’s cool.” You know, it’s like–

Zoë: “What’d you eat for dinner?”

Arturo: Anyway, I have this, like, little device in my neck that, uh, I get electro shocked when I’m not being entertaining for my overlords, uh, over at FilmNation.

Zoë: Oh sh*t. That’s my fault, probably.

Carl: I thought that wasn’t working. I’m glad to hear it’s getting through.

Arturo: Yeah, it is. It is, it is. Carl, thank you so much. I felt it. So let’s get ready to actually escape. OK?

CHAPTER 1: First Voyage

Arturo: Zoë, today we have not one, not two, but three harrowing, death defying escapes, and all by one woman. Uh, yeah. And so to start her story, we go back all the way to the 1890s.

Zoë: Mm.

Arturo: Where, uh, telephone payphones still existed, where we meet her as a little girl named Violet Jessop, right?

She would spend her day standing at the seaside watching big ships sail into the Port of Bahía Blanca, in Argentina.

Zoë: Ahhh. As one does!

Arturo: Yeah. Who hasn’t been to Bahía Blanca to write a poem. Um, so Violet’s dad worked for the Port Authority there. So when a ship came in, sailors would stop by her family’s house and bring presents—bribes—presents. Um, and she remembered tins of marmalades and boxes of chocolates brought to her from far away places. And the day that her little brother was born, sailors gathered to sing Irish songs. Do you know any Irish sea shanties?

Zoë: Oh, me lad ...

Arturo: Yeah.

Zoë: No, but I saw Banshees of Inisherin—oh, is that Scot–?

Arturo: Uh, you know, that’s Irish. No, we, you know, we actually have an Irish song expert on our team. This is no joke. Carl, Carl Nellis, uh, one of our main producers, uh, is actually, what are you an expert in? Irish folk songs? What is it?

Zoë: Ah.

Carl: Something like that. Yeah. I’ve, I’ve, uh, I performed for a long time in a band called Saoirse Song Freedom Song. Yeah.

Zoë: Cool.

Arturo: Can you give us a little taste?

Carl: Uh, yeah. Let’s do a sea shanty. Here we go.

Arturo: OK, here we go.

Carl: 1, 2, 3, 4. What do you do with a drunken sailor?

Together [singing]: What do you do with a drunken sailor? What do you do with a drunken sailor, early in the morning?!

Arturo: To be honest—thank you, Carl. That was awesome. But I would’ve expected something a little less mainstream. That’s OK. You know, we all knew that song.

Zoë: Yes!

Arturo: Just like, you have a long episode, let’s think of a new one. OK. So you see Violet’s family was far from home. Right? I always thought it was weird that this was a girl in Argentina named Violet Jessop, but they were Irish, you know, and they were living in Argentina, so they loved drinking heavily and gesturing wildly around them. You know, that’s what Argentinians do. They’re just like, “Ah, [Spanish]!” Uh, sorry to Argentina–

Zoë: “Meat, meat!”

Arturo: “Meat. Steak. Do you like steak? Tango. Steak.”

Zoë: Tango steak. My favorite.

Arturo: So, uh, which is Spanish for I have steak, tango steak. Um, it is—so when Violet’s father died, her mom decided to sail them back across the Atlantic to raise them in London. So Violet’s first trip across the Atlantic was a pretty f***ing terrible one, right?

Zoë: Sure.

Arturo: So, she spent a lot of the time sick. Plus, the ship was carrying cattle below. What, what, what—they used to call illnesses all sorts of things, right? They, they—she had the humors. She had the humors. The ship was carrying this cattle below the decks. And Violet mostly, remembered watching the sailors throw dead cow carcasses overboard as they died? Oh God, Ben–

[Cow moo, splashing]

Zoë: Oh God.

Arturo: That is such an unfortunate sound effect. Um, how do you do on boats? Are you good on boats? Have you ever had a seafaring experience go bad?

Zoë: No, no, no. I, if you—if one can feel seasick on a boat, I’m gonna be feeling seasick. I have a big scar on my knee, my right knee, from going scuba diving and getting really sick when I came up from my first swim and then sliced my knee—while vomiting out the boat.

Arturo: Yes, I remember that story. The Bahamas is still talking about it.

Zoë: I puked, and then all the Swedish people puked–

Arturo: And they’re like, “Ah, yeah, I don’t like this.”

Zoë: “Tak, tak, tak! Bleghhh.”

Arturo: Um, so back to Violet.

Zoë: Sure, sure, sure. Jessop. Miss Jessop.

Arturo: So Violet’s first trip should have been an omen of what was coming for her, but she didn’t really take it that way. Right. And there was one magical part of the journey. You know, Violet says that for the first time she saw a swarm of flying fish skimming over the ocean. And that’s really cool. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen some, but it’s like—I haven’t, but I’ve heard of them.

Zoë: But I’ve YouTubed it.

Arturo: Yeah, I’ve YouTubed it. So when they reached London, relatives took them in. You know, Violet was 16 and the oldest of the kids, so she helped raise the others while their mother worked. Right. She took a job as a stewardess for the biggest shipping company in the world, the Royal Main Line. Um, and they—they sponsored this show. So I have to say their—their name, like Royal Main Line. Um, but five years later though, Violet’s mom got sick, too sick to go to sea. So Violet decided to step up and she took her mother’s place. There was one problem though, Zoë, you want me to tell you about it?

Zoë: Yeah, please.

Arturo: They said that Violet was too young and too pretty to work as a Royal Mail stewardess. Like, what the f*** is that supposed to mean? Like, what are you supposed—like, what are you supposed to, what is one supposed to do?

Zoë: No one’s ever said that to me.

Arturo: I mean, I—I was gonna say, like, every day I am too hot to do a job. You know what I’m saying? No, but what are you supposed to do if you’re too hot as an Irish person? Nineteenth century. Like–

Zoë: And also what does that look like? What does too hot at the turn of the century look like? Sickly!

Arturo: Her ankles were gleaming. They were gleaming, glistening in the sun.

Zoë: Gleaming ankles?

Arturo: Gleaming, you know, I, I guess this is not Victorian age, but I just always imagine people getting really revved up for, like, bare ankles. But Violet was determined, right? So she—one account says that she made herself more plain for interviews by wearing her worst clothes and eventually, she succeeded. She was beginning to—I, I imagine her talking to her friends like, “I just can’t make myself look ugly.” Like, dude, everybody’s like–

Zoë: Loosen the corset, so I look less snatch.

Arturo: That’s—I love the word snatch.

Zoë: I do too.

Arturo: Thank you for using it. Have you ever had a job that you wanted so badly that you would’ve done anything or said anything to get it.

Zoë: Yeah, I mean, when I first moved to LA, I, um, took a fake resume and my real headshot and hit the Sunset Strip. Went to Cabo Cantina, was like, “can I work here?” And they’re like, “no.” And then I somehow wound up at Chateau Marmont, at Bar Marmont–

Arturo: Right!

Zoë: –and like lied my way into a job there that I worked for four and a half years, and–

Arturo: No way!

Zoë: –we had to wear, like, silk, red, qipaos with frog buttons and thigh highs. They’re like, um, uh–

Arturo: Bellboy. Bellboy stuff? Or–

Zoë: Not even close, but, um, this, this was a dr—this was like a dress that, um, had like, uh, opium den vibe, uh, to Bar Marmont. And so we had to wear thigh highs and garter belts.

Arturo: Whoa. 

Um, anyway, so back to Violet. So let’s talk about our girl Violet. Violet set sail in 1908. She was 21 years old and the breadwinner for her family and working for the Royal Main Line. She was about to see the world. Ah, she was a lucky, plucky, savvy, hardworking Irish lass. So she did all right working on the ocean. That’s the last time I’m gonna do an Irish accent. I apologize to all my, uh, Irish friends, of which I have none. But, um, her first journeys took her to Panama and Jamaica and New York, and she loved every single second of it. For instance, when she was in Panama, she says it was the first time that she had food and wine as good as her childhood memories of Argentina. It reassured her that she had made the right choice and she would have a life at sea. There was no way that she could have known what stormy waters lay ahead.

Zoë: Huh!

[Stinger into waltz]

CHAPTER 2: Escape #1

Arturo: So Violet … oh … we’re transported!

Zoë: Oh … the waltz!

Arturo: Violet worked as a stewardess doing cabin service. She was cleaning rooms and making beds and delivering meals, running errands, and even taking care of sick passengers. She started in second class, but soon she was reassigned to work in the first class cabins. So, yeah: Go off, Cabin Queen! Um, I apologize–

Zoë: Did you—was that written or did you add that?

Arturo: Nope, none of this is written.

Zoë [dryly]: Go off, Cabin Queen …

Arturo: That’s the title of my memoir. So, cabin service stewardesses typically had a dozen rooms under their care, which doesn’t sound too bad at first glance, but the work was in Violet’s words: “Soul grinding.”

Zoë: Twelve rooms? That’s too many!

Arturo: Really? Yeah. To, to—to wait on 12 rooms of, uh, because like the rooms are massive and it could be like waiting on entire families? That’s right. I just guess at first glance I was like, I figured that the second class cabin would be like, I don’t know, 30 rooms, and now you have 12 rooms, but–

Zoë: Right. I think 12 rooms is a lot. Have you ever done—worked 12 tables? I guess. I don’t know. It’s a lot!

Arturo: I was a terrible—I, I was a waiter for about two weeks and I was pretty terrible at it. Not because I, I mean, I got great tips and sh*t, but, but I, I kept forgetting orders cause you couldn’t punch in the thing. You had to like, run into the kitchen and yell, “ordering, f*** uh, blah blah. Blah, blah, blah.” And then like, hang the little piece. So I keep f***ing up people’s orders and gave everybody a free salad, you know? Cause I was like, “I’m sorry, here’s a free salad.” And then my manager yelled at me once and I was like, “you know what? F*** this.” Like, I’m broke as sh*t, but I can’t—I’m just too clumsy for this. Um, so—so yes, I have waited to 12 tables and I f***ing sucked at it. OK? Thank you for bringing it up.

So Violet seems like she especially hated working for American passengers, who had, she said “a streak of selfishness.” They were like Karens of the sea, you know, or uh, or sea-faring sea-Karens—oh, I wrote that one and it’s terrible.

Zoë: You wordsmith!

Arturo: Thank you. Thank you so much. Um, English is my second language everybody, so please take note. So she remembered once that an American passenger demanded that Violet bring her a lamb cutlet and fresh green peas for a Pekingese dog. Like she commanded that the peas should be freshly-picked and finely mashed, like—oh. Oh, good. So rich people have been terrible for like f***ing forever.

Zoë: Yeah, well, this is the hottest take I have in life … dogs are constantly being treated better than I am being treated.

Arturo: Yeah. If you were like walking in the same path as a like f***ing little shih tzu or whatever, and the—and, and the owner’s like, “no, no. Caroline doesn’t like that. Caroline doesn’t like that. She has—” I’m like, “lady, what the f***?” You know?

Zoë: Yeah, I’m fine. Just like treat me as well as your dog,

Arturo: That’s it!

Zoë: You know, just, not worse.

Arturo: Also, like, how are you gonna get freshly picked peas on f***ing—on an ocean? You know what I’m saying?

Zoë: Yeah. Go f*** yourself, sir.

Arturo: Go f*** yourself, lady. Uh, so—the hell job got even worse when the captain of a ship she worked on made a pass at her, right? So—so when Violet refused him, he reported her to the company for flirting with his officers. Can you f***ing believe? So she was dismissed from the Royal Main Line.

Zoë: Wait—they blamed her?

Arturo: Yeah, I mean, it’s such a cliché, isn’t it?

Zoë:  Misogyny, yeah.

Arturo: Men in power have always been such cartoons of themselves, you know?

Zoë: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Arturo: Um, so we had, so if they were alive, we would f***ing cancel them.

Zoë: That’s right. That’s right.

Arturo: I still need names and addresses so we can cancel their—their kin. Um, so—in 1910, Violet was back in England and once again, she was looking for work. Right? But now she started applying to a company that was shipping between England and America, the White Star Line, right? So the North Atlantic was notoriously rough and the number of Americans traveling under her care would be even higher. She’s like, “I don’t like these Americans.” Um, and we’re like, “we get it!”

Zoë: Same girl, same.

Arturo: So Violet applied, almost hoping that she would get rejected, but the White Star Line was working hard to hire massive crews as they launched the largest passenger ship ever built. Do you know where this is going?

Zoë: Titanic?

Arturo: There we go. So the White Star Line–

Zoë: It all goes back to the Titanic…

Arturo: All, all goes back to 1998. F***. Which was a great year for cinema. Or 1996, whatever the f*** it was. Um, so the White Star Line launched the Olympic in June 1911, and Violet was selected for the handpicked crew, and the ship was incredible, but the passengers were about the same, sh*tty as ever. But Violet says that as soon as they were aboard, there was a wealthy woman who started listing off her various demands.

For example, she—she started giving Violet orders about how to help her out when she was going to the bathroom. Gross. What is—what does this mean? Help with going to the bathroom, like holding hands?

Zoë: Lifting up the skirt?

Arturo: Maybe, you know what, maybe you’re right. Maybe it was really hard to get in and out of–

Zoë: The garments? Yeah. I don’t know, man.

Arturo: So to make sure that Violet would obey her orders, this lady that wanted help going to the bathroom, she said that she was friends with the president of the White Star Line, and obviously Violet was supposed to be sympathetic and agree to all this stuff, but have you ever been in a situation where somebody’s throwing their clout around? Like, like how do you—how would you respond?

Zoë: Well, yeah, I mean, I worked at Bar Marmont. I—someone, right, asked me if I would make them a Mango smoothie. And I said, “ma’am–”

Arturo: It’s 2:00 a.m. in the morning.

Zoë: On a Friday!

Arturo: There’s cocaine on the bartop!

Zoë: Yeah. I was like, “we don’t have mangoes and we don’t have a smoothie maker, or, and we don’t have yogurt and we don’t–” She was like, “but it’s my birthday.” And I was like, “but we still don’t have your, your—a mango.”

Arturo: Yeah. Um, so , uh, uh, apparently, like Violet said that every other passenger would say the same thing, that the president was her friend. Apparently he was very popular. Go off, Friendship King. Um, so at, at least—at least he had friends, you know, until September 1911 when the Olympic was leaving Southampton on its–

Zoë: Wait, September 19, did you say?

Arturo: 1911.

Zoë: Oh, sorry. OK. My birthday is September 19.

Arturo: It was your birthday. Um, for some reason—coincidence? I think not. When the Olympic was leaving Southampton on its fifth trip to New York, it was carrying over a thousand passengers and Violet was on board, and as the ship steamed out towards sea, it had to pass through a channel around the Isle of Wight, which is actually where my trainer is from.

Like, true story. He’s—he’s from the Isle of Wight, which incidentally, he’s very, very white, you know? So it’s like me being from like, the peninsula of brown, you know what I mean? I just like, OK, but I digress. It’s back to the story. OK, so let’s put [on] some ominous music.

[OMINOUS MUSIC]

Zoë: Ooh.

Arturo: As Violet’s ship was leaving on its journey, an English naval cruiser named the Hawke was speeding through the channel at the same time. When the Hawk tried to turn and avoid the Olympic, its steering jammed, it couldn’t change its course and avoid the passenger ship. So the Hawke rammed into the starboard side of the Olympic. That’s right. That’s the right side for us landlubbers. Give me a pirate sound.

[PIRATE SOUND]

Arturo: Thank you.

Zoë: Can I do one too?

Arturo: Yeah, go ahead.

Zoë: Arrrrr!

Arturo: Mine is like rawr, um, my—my pirate was really feeling himself. Um, so miraculously, no pirates, f***ing—not, no pirates, no passengers, sorry. But also no pirates [were] in the rooms on that part of the ship at that time. So one crew member was there, though.

So he was working to fire the steam engines when suddenly the ram on the front of the Navy cruiser smashed through the bulkhead and through the room. So water rushed in. Imagine being that dude, like you’re going about your work, just getting the boys started, and suddenly the room splits in half, you know?

Zoë: That’s stressful.

Arturo: And, and then when—no, like when you tell, like, if—what if like, when you tell everybody, nobody believes you, like, “bro, bro, I swear, good god. It was like f***ing this high, bro!” “Yeah. OK, Bob, let’s—let’s sit you down, buddy. You’re drunk.”

Zoë: “Go back to work.”

Arturo: Yeah, yeah. “Go back.” So the man pulled the emergency lever to slam shut the water tight doors, and the rest of the crew rushed the seal up the other cabins that were split open. So he’s a hero. He is a hero. Apparently the Olympic was so big that it sent the Navy cruisers spinning away like a top.

[WHIRLING SFX]

And some people—that’s a top sound by the way. We didn’t know what that was. Oh, that’s you? Was that you making–

Zoë: No, it wasn’t. It–

Arturo: Oh my God,

Zoë: –was me mimicking.

Arturo: I know. Yours was more like a top, actually. So Ben Chugg, you’re getting replaced buddy. Need to step it up.

Um, some other people on board didn’t even feel the crash. That’s how big the ship was.

Zoë: Woah.

Arturo: So the Olympic was able to turn around and sail back to board canceling the voyage, but without a single injury—I, I’m sure that there was at least one seafaring Karen, being like, “I got a whiplash. I felt it. I actually did feel it.”

Zoë: “My spine.”

Arturo: “Yeah, my spine guys, it’s—yeah, I need help with the bathroom.” Lady, f*** off. The Olympic was badly damaged, so it limped back to port. Violet obviously survived the wreck along with everyone else on board. It was her first escape from a disaster at sea.

The problem was the damage was so massive that she was going to be outta work while it took months to repair the ship. Luckily, the [White] Star Line had a new ship that was ready to launch the next year. And this one, say it with me now, was … unsinkable. Mm?

Zoë: Oh no …

Arturo: They wanted experienced crew members because the new one was built like the Olympic only bigger, so the company made the Violet a stewardess on, you know the ship Zoë– 

Zoë and Arturo [in unison]: the Titanic.

CHAPTER 3: To the Lifeboats

Arturo: So Violet Jessop sailed out on the Titanic in 1912, again, not your birthday. There were fluttering flags in handkerchiefs when the Titanic slipped away from dock and the tugboats were tooting, farewell and all that stuff, right? Uh, yeah. Woo. That’s right.

Zoë: Tooting.

Arturo: Yeah. Tooting. I love—I love that that’s what tugboats do. It’s so cute. They’re like, “I’m just gonna choo choo.” Um, so the journey was—it’s, it’s apparently a train, uh, in my mind. So the journey was supposed to be a simple one, right? [The] ship would leave from the port in England and make a quick little pit stop in Ireland, and then puff merrily crossed the Atlantic to New York.

In fact, the Titanic almost had its own collision with another passenger ship as it launched. When they escaped with only a near miss, the crew thought that they had avoided the misfortune for the journey. They were wrong.

Zoë: Little do they know.

Arturo: The one thing that Violet did realize by this point was that she was uneasy on big ships—you know, the Olympic and all that. What would have happened if she followed that intuition? Was there ever a time when you ignored the signs and kept doing something that was doomed to fail, ever, or … ?

Zoë: I mean, every day. My whole life. My memoir: Doomed to Fail. What about you?

Arturo: Every relationship I had, like, in like, my high school years, I was like, “God, this is—you look like you’re gonna hurt me. Let’s do this!”

Zoë: Seventy-five red flags! Sign me up.

Arturo: I can fix this! Um, so once the ship was underway, it was just as luxurious as you might think, right? At least for the wealthiest of passengers. It—it was the world’s largest ocean liner, and it was kind of like the Olympic, but if this time they pulled out literally all the stops, right? Violet called it …

Zoë: Do you know what that means by the way? Sorry. Pulling out the stops?

Arturo: Pull out all the stops? No, I don’t.

Zoë: Do you know the origin?

Arturo: No. Can you tell me?

Zoë: It’s pulling out all the stops in an organ.

Arturo: In an organ—as in a playing organ?

Zoë: OK. So they’re like the keys. They’re the—they’re like the floor pedals. And then there are these stops. And I think when you pull them all out, it just makes a massive amount of sound.

Arturo: I see what you’re saying.

Zoë: I’m going off piece here. This is not my specialty, but, but–

Carl: Zoë is so correct.

Zoë: Thank you God.

Arturo: They pulled out all the stops. Which, Zoë—did you know that that’s in reference to an organ? That’s the only thing that’s gonna be put in.

Zoë: Damn.

Arturo: Violet—Violet called it “grander in every way.” Or like, extremely baller, right? It was literally supposed to be a floating Chateau Marmont.

Zoë: Oh, mon dieu. I don’t think I would fare well on a big, big boat, like, trapped for weeks.

Arturo: I’m gonna be honest with you—the big, big cruises kind of freak me out because you can’t leave.

Zoë: Yeah. And also you’re stuck with people you did not choose to be stuck with.

Arturo: Exactly, that’s what I’m saying. Like it’s a hotel that you cannot, like—you just can’t take a break from. I guess you can go to port and whatever, but it’s just like the activities of all inclu—I have—having grown up, going to all inclusive hotels up until like my teenage years, I, I—God bless my family. That’s so lovely that you did that for us.

Zoë: Yeah. Yeah.

Arturo: We were balling on a budget, but my God, it gives me such crippling anxiety, like having to like fight over like the buffet with like Bob from f***ing Florida in the ‘70s.

Zoë: Oh. Bob from f***ing Florida needs to stop talking.

Arturo: “What, what type of Hispanic are you at?” Yeah. And I’m like, “I don’t f***ing know, Bob.” And that’s how I met my girlfriend–

Zoë: And you look exotic! You’re like a hybrid.

Arturo: Yeah. “You, you was some kind of brown, ainchya?” Um, “and that’s how I met my second husband.” So cruises freaked me out, but for the Titanic it was all, like, beautiful mahogany furniture and baroque molding and sculptural clocks and young whipper snappers coming up from steerage to woo society girls named Rose.

Stuff like that, you know? And after all that, they—after all they, they had John Jacob Astor on board and he was the wealthiest man in the world at the time, and he brought along, ah, so sweet … his 19-year-old wife. You f***ing creep. So the ballrooms and dining rooms—it’s so stupid to know that like throughout history, we’ve made such, um—society has made such loopholes for rich men. You know, it stops today with this podcast. It stops today.

Zoë: I knew it was an important move to do this podcast.

Arturo: The ballrooms and dining rooms and everything were supposed to be at the height of luxury. The biggest problem for Violet is that she wasn’t there to enjoy the luxury. She was the one providing the luxury.

As she was running between the private rooms, arranging lace bedspreads, running to the kitchen to carve meat and serve food, running to help the wealthy passengers go to the bathroom, you know, all this stuff. So basically there was just a lot of running, right? And then came the night.

They were in the middle of the journey, and Violet was lying awake when suddenly she heard a low crunching, ripping sound and the whole ship shivered under her. The strangest part though, was that when the engines quit, suddenly everything was quiet.

For only a minute though. But then Violet started to hear low voices in the passageway outside, you know, a lot of frantic footsteps passing the door.

Violet lay still, hoping that she was wrong about what was happening. Just hoping against logic, you know. But the crash had woken up the stewardess who shared Violet’s room. And she said, “Sounds like something bad has happened.” The two of them realized they had to assist the passengers.

To which the entire world replied, “no f***ing sh*t buddy.” You know, like, “oh, that—did it?” You know? Um–

Zoë: Oh my God.

Arturo: Yeah. So the two of them realized that they had a responsibility to manage the passengers. They were still pulling their clothes on when another stewardess knocked on their door, they opened it and he said, “Have you heard the ship is sinking?”

Uh, can you imagine the f***ing feeling?

Zoë: I mean to be on a sinking ship.

Arturo: Yes, Zoë? Yes. Thank you. Go with that.

Zoë: No, no.

Arturo: Tell me more.

Zoë: Well, it’s just like the amount of times you use that as a saying, you know– 

Arturo: And to actually be one, like–

Zoë: Take me off this sinking—yeah.

Arturo: –at least one person yelling “We’re in a metaphor!” Uh, no. But imagine the panic knowing that there’s just nothing you can f***ing do.

Zoë: I know, and it’s like that long, [it] was—I imagine time was really weird, because it, like, sped up but also slowed down and, ugh.

Arturo: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So—so there is a sense of urgency, right? Like Violet rushed to her passengers and she started helping children strap on life jackets, but suddenly the order came down everybody to the lifeboats, right? Most of the people in Violet’s section have been asleep and they fumbled with their valuable struggle to put on thick coats before Violet led ‘em up the gangways.

Before the stewardess could go back for their things, they had to make sure that every guest from their section had evacuated. Violet had her own panicked moment digging through her wardrobe, when she realized that she didn’t bring a coat.

Zoë: Oh God!

You know it’s gonna be a bone chilling cold once you’re off that ship. Right? What? What would you do if you don’t have a coat?

Zoë: Oh my God. I mean, aahhhhh–

Arturo: That’s what I thought. I would also–

Zoë: What would you do? I mean, [I] would—I would ask if someone had an extra coat–

Arturo: I–

Zoë: “Hey, excuse me, do you have a second?”

Arturo: “Sorry. Yeah. I know you guys are all in survival mode, but like what’s some Mm. Yeah. This is not really my color.”

Zoë: “Do you have, uh, size medium?”

Arturo: I don’t know what the f*** I would’ve done. I probably would’ve panicked and be like, “just—I just wanna dance,” you know?

Violet was way more resourceful than either of us. She grabbed a silk bedcover on her way back to the life boats.

Zoë: Wow.

Arturo: One of the most super surreal details that she remembered was that she passed a group of officers who were still in their dressing uniforms with their hands in their pockets, just kind of chatting quietly, and they smiled at her as she went by. So weird. Like you don’t never know how panic is gonna strike you, right?

She also passed some of the pantry boys who were trying to carry a huge load of bread. They tripped on something hard and everybody looked down to realize that it was a suitcase that had burst open, filled with gold coins.

Zoë: Oh.

Arturo: Got it! So by the time Violet got to the boats, the arguments had already started. Like who would get left behind to go down with a ship and who would be allowed to board one of the remaining lifeboats and live.

CHAPTER 4: Escape #2

Arturo: Violet watched as John Jacob Astor handed his wife into a boat and waved her goodbye. Then with a roar, white distress rockets were fired up into the sky. Families arrived at the lifeboats together, and they cried as they split up. The women climbed onto the boats, and the men faded back into a growing crowd. Some guys nearby started throwing things over the side, like wooden chairs and anything that would float. They were hoping that there would be things to hold onto in the water when the lifeboats were gone. Then someone grabbed Violet’s arm.

It was a deck officer who was filling the life boat. It was Violet’s turn. Violet and another stewardess clambered on top of the side of the boat, and the officer held something up towards Violet and said, “Look after this!”

So when Violet reached down and he tossed it to her and she made the catch, it was somebody’s baby. It was a freaking baby.

Zoë: Oh my gosh.

Arturo: Yeah …

Zoë: This story.

Arturo: I know. How desperate do you have to feel? Imagine how desperate you have to feel to be like, give somebody your baby.

Zoë: Yeah, totally. Oh my God. We’re joking, but this is so harrowing.

Arturo: I know. So—so then, the life boat dropped and it was such a long way down, and the lights of the decks, like, flashed past them and then they hit the water, right? Violet remembered that the impact was bone cracking and the baby started to scream. A few members, uh, of the crew were in the boats at the oars and they started to pull, right.

The lifeboat moved into the darkness away from the Titanic, but it was—the Titanic was tilting so badly now. One of the men rowing the boat had come from the firing rooms, and Violet said that his face was still blackened by coal dust, and his eyes were super bloodshot. He was only wearing his thin shirt from the engine room, and there was nothing to protect him from the cold.

Zoë: Oh my God.

Arturo: Everyone on the light boat watched the lights of the Titanic go out. There were six rows of deck lights, then five, then four, then three. Then the ship split in half and it started going down. Now Violet, a good Catholic, closed her eyes and she prayed for the rest of the night. It was mostly the extreme cold that Violet remembered. She was—she wrapped the silk quilt around the baby and worried that its crying was getting weaker and quieter, but don’t worry, OK, I’m just gonna spoil it for you. The baby survives, so don’t freak out, OK?

Zoë: Oh my God. OK, great.

Arturo: The water is choppy around them and the boat was thrown between the waves and Violet was ferociously determined that the baby was not gonna die in her arms. As the sun came up, the survivors in the lifeboat were able to see tons of Ice mountains floating around them. How crazy is that sight?

Zoë: That’s nuts. Ugh.

Arturo: So nuts. And finally the—in the light of day, they also spotted a speck in the horizon. It was the ocean liner: Carpathia. They had received the Titanic’s distress call the night before, and they had arrived in time to pick up the lifeboats. How?

Zoë: Oh my God.

Arturo: That’s also, I mean, I know they’re not, we can’t consider them lucky because of the sinking Titanic, but what a blessing that it only took them a night. You know?

Zoë: Yeah, truly, truly. Uh, also something I thought—have thought about whenever I think about that Titanic, which is kind of–

Arturo: Pretty often.

Zoë: Quite often, yeah. Um, is when the boat went in the—the pull of the, you know, the—the water and, and just trying to clear the, that—that, yeah, I don’t know–

Arturo: And also just like the sound that a like, boat cracking–

Zoë: Oh yeah!

Arturo: –in two must make, right?

Zoë: I’ve gotten into three car accidents.

Arturo: Oh my god!

Zoë: That’s why I don’t live in LA anymore. I totaled three cars in five years.

Arturo: Thank God you’re OK.

Zoë: Yeah, thank you. Two of the cars were PT Cruisers and one was a, uh, rental car on the way to pick up the second PT cruiser. Um, and then–

Arturo: Just because it was a—a life threatening car crash. I will make no comment. But know that in any other circumstances, I would just have so many questions, but go on.

Zoë: But the reason I bring this up is I can conjure the sound of a car crash so easily. The plastic, the, the—well, the crinkling. Oh, and the smell.

Arturo: It smells like burnt rubber.

Zoë: Yeah. Yeah. It’s, it’s very, it’s singular. Like I, I—God, if you smell that smell … not good. Back to Violet!

Arturo: Back to Violet. Um, and just so our audience knows, like we understand the tragedy of the Titanic. It’s just like there is—I don’t know about you Zoë, but whenever I get nervous or there’s anything tragic, I have to like, find some lightness around it.

Zoë: Totally.

Arturo: Because otherwise it’s just too dark, you know? Um, so … I laugh at funerals, is what I’m saying. So hire me as a standup comedian for your funeral.

Zoë: Please come to mine.

Arturo: Come to my funeral. Please come to my funeral. Um, so the men in Violet’s boat pulled hard on the oars, and they were the last to reach the rescue ship. When Violet and the others climbed up to the deck, the first thing that they were given was a glass of brandy. I mean, to be honest, that sounds pretty fantastic. Like what? I don’t know. What would you want as your first thing after being rescued?

Zoë: Mm. Congee.

Arturo: Congee? What’s congee?

Zoë: Do you know what congee is?

Arturo: No.

Zoë: It’s, it’s, um—it’s like a kind of [a] warm rice, um, porridge.

Arturo: F***. Yeah. I would want some congee, I would like an acai bowl. Am I just being weird? Like–

Zoë: Cold. Cold. Too cold.

Arturo: I don’t know, but maybe that’s—I don’t know. But I—but also, nutritious and delicious.

Zoë: You don’t want something warm, like–

Arturo: I want super food, and I want to remain true to my–

Zoë: Antioxidants!

Arturo: I—I wanna remain true to my fitness goals, is what I want. Um, so Violet was standing on the deck feeling dazed, when suddenly a woman rushed up and grabbed the baby out of her arms, she turned and ran away into the crowd. We can only speculate and hope to God that that was the baby’s mom, right? Because it—I don’t know. That was definitely the baby’s mom, right, please?

Zoë: Yeah.

Arturo: Please?

CHAPTER 5: Escape #3

Arturo: So the Titanic was the deadliest sinking of a ship in history up to that point. By the time it was over, 60 percent of the first class passengers survived. F***.

In the second class, less than half managed to make it. Overall, 1300 people died. Seven hundred of those were third class passengers. It’s so f***ing unfair. 

And you might think that the escaping of the wreck of the Titanic and living to tell the tale would be enough to keep Violet Jessop from ever going to sea again, but that’s where–

Zoë: Oh no, she went back?

Arturo: –you would be wrong. No, no. It’s an abusive—it’s like, [a] terrible relationship. It’s a red flag. She just can’t, she’s gonna fix it.

Zoë: Yeah.

Arturo: Um, Violet went back!

Zoë: She’s gonna fix the ocean!

Arturo: She—yeah, “I’m gonna fix the ocean, you guys.” Um, that is the confidence that, oh yeah, I love that confidence. She even—she even said that she knew that she had to go back right away, otherwise she would lose her nerve.

And to be honest, fair enough. Uh, that makes sense to me. So just two weeks after she was finished giving her testimony about the wreck, she was back at it again. Well, like, if you literally just survived the wreck of the Olympic, escape number one, and then the Titanic escape, are you going back to sea or are you finding another–

Zoë: No, I’m taking two years at least.

Arturo: Yeah. I’m just gonna, I’m just gonna go to Long Island and just chill.

Zoë: I’m gonna lie on the ground. All the time.

Arturo: And look up at the stars.

Zoë: Yeah.

Arturo: And that’s just gonna be my job. What’s even crazier though, is that in 1916 for your birthday, she even had the guts—she even had the guts to join the crew of the third replica model of the White Star Line fleet, the Britannic. Can you believe she is just like, “no, no, no. I’m gonna get this right.”

Zoë: Wow, she’s a die hard.

Arturo: Yeah! Well, the thing was basically no one in the world knew how to crew these ships like Violet did. Plus the Britannic was commissioned as a wartime hospital ship because of course, 1916 was in the middle of World War I. So Violet felt her own kind of patriotic duty to serve in the war, and that meant overcoming her fears and going back to sea to serve as a Red Cross nurse on the latest copy of the Titanic. She’s a f***ing badass, is what she is.

Zoë: She really is so brave.

Arturo: When they went to sea in 1916, the crew of the hospital ship didn’t realize how extremely dangerous their job was. And that brings us to escape number three.

So, in November that year, the Britannic was cruising the Aegean Sea to pick up a load of wounded soldiers. Violet was sitting down to breakfast with the crew. She says that she had a hot pot of tea in one hand and some butter in the other ... when an explosion rocked the ship.

That is a very tiny explosion there. That was—so the explosion rocked the ship, but to be honest, it was such a tiny little explosion that they were all fine in the crew. Just imagine.

Zoë: She was like, “excuse me.”

Arturo: Yeah. “Sorry. Ooh. Yeah. But pardon me! Butter helps with my gas.” Um, I just imagine Violet being like, “you gotta be f***ing kidding me,” like, “Again? Truly, truly, again?”

Zoë: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Arturo: The nurses rushed–

Zoë: Not today, Satan.

Arturo: Not today. “I’m gonna tame you, f***ing sea,” um. “I can fix him!” Um, so the nurses rushed to gather their life preservers, but Violet started by helping a few of the others. And while everybody ran to their lifeboats, Violet went back to her cabin. So, you know, this wasn’t Violet’s first rodeo, so by now the sense of panic wasn’t going to overwhelm her, and she was determined to take a few things with her. She grabbed her ring, a Bible, her alarm clock, and a toothbrush.

If your ship’s going down, what are the things that you’re gonna grab?

Zoë: Well that silk duvet.

Arturo: A silk duvet? Of course. Oh yes. You’ve learned from, you learn from others. Very well done.

Zoë: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, I think—leave it all.

Arturo: Why is she grabbing a f***ing alarm clock though? What are you like?

Zoë: Or a toothbrush?

Arturo: She’s like, “remind me to brush my teeth if we’re in long enough.”

Zoë: And a ring, I guess? Maybe. I don’t, yeah. I would leave everything.

Arturo: Is this a special ring? You know, she’s like, this is my invisibility ring. Um, Violet, you’re reading too much. Uh uh JRR Tolkien … which is not the time cause JRR Tolkien was fighting in the war and I knew that.

Um, so Violet said that she made sure to get the toothbrush because of how much people made fun of her for not having one after the Titanic went down. I guess that’s what happens to you when you’re mostly surrounded by first class f***ing a**holes, you know? So, Violet–

Zoë: Wait, they were making, they were like nagging her about–

Arturo: Sh—yeah.

Zoë: On the toot toot tugboat?

Arturo: On the—not at the tugboat. It was a bigger ship.

Zoë: Not that different–

Arturo: –the bigger ship that rescued them from the–

Carl: Carpathia.

Arturo: Carpathia.

Zoë: Right, the Carpathia …

Arturo: So this is what happens, right? You’re getting made fun of for not having [a] toothbrush when you’re surrounded by a**holes. And what a f***ing weird thing to do. But she grabbed a toothbrush, which is kind of endearing.

Zoë: Shame, you know …

Arturo: Yeah, so by the time she reached the deck, Violet was the last woman on board, and the officer there was surprised to see her because he thought that all the nurses had already been loaded into the lifeboats. When Violet was finally in the lifeboats, she remembered that it dropped so fast that it was smashing lights and bouncing off the brass rims into port holes as it went down, and then it finally hit the water so hard that it knocked everyone dizzy.

I just—I’m just gonna suggest that people start taking courses in how to lower lifeboats in a—not like such [an] aggressive way. I’m just like, if it’s me reading the signs, I mean, guys, you know, save yourselves of course, but like you don’t wanna kill them on the way down. You know, I’ve seen White Lotus season two, you know, getting off of boats is dangerous–

Zoë: Yeah.

Arturo: –but that still wasn’t the worst thing that happened, you know, because by now, OK, this is really f***ed up.

By now, the front of the ship was dipping down and that meant that the huge propeller was now lifting out of the water at the back. The ship was still moving forward too, so the propeller was now swinging forward toward the lifeboats and chopping the water. Pulling them towards it.

Zoë: No, no, no. That’s what I’m saying, no!

Arturo: Violet couldn’t escape. That’s what you were saying. So she says that she looked back and saw other lifeboats and the people in them sucked into the propeller, and in her words, “minced.” Oof. So Violet jumped out of the lifeboat into the water. She held her breath, she closed her eyes, and she felt herself get whipped into the propeller’s spin twice. Something hard crashed into her head. She had a life jacket on, but it was too small to carry her weight. The only thing that actually saved her was grabbing a second life jacket that went floating by.

Once she was floating on the surface, Violet opened her eyes, but she says that she closed them again to block out the sight of the ship sinking away. Eventually she opened her eyes in time to see that the Britannic finally dove into the waves with its stern flying upward into the air before the whole ship sank straight down. One crazy f***ing thing here, she says that she never learned to swim. So you would think—sorry. Are you OK, Zoë? Vibe check. You OK?

Zoë: I am, I’m just disturbed by this. This is a bummer. When you said they were minced, did we need to use that verb?

Arturo: Listen, I didn’t write her memoir, OK?

Zoë: I know, I know. But, Arturo …

Arturo: I’m just learning the words now.

Zoë: It’s just so crazy. I don’t know if I would’ve known to jump out of the boat if–

Arturo: The—my theory is that by the time she—that she swam far enough that by the time the—that the propeller was even pulling at them, that it—it was going more vertical.

Zoë: Wow.

Arturo: Also you’re never gonna forget f***ing seeing people get absolutely ravaged by a boat propeller.

Zoë: No, it’s so crazy. Like they thought that they were safe too.

Arturo: Exactly. And you know, when you were talking about the boat sinking and how that would pull you under, I was also thinking that, but I was like, I never even thought about like a propeller also pulling you towards it?

Zoë: Right.

Arturo: Like, f***! How many f***ing things do I have to worry about?

Zoë: Totally. I also like trying to like catch a wave on like, a—you know, like swimming out on a surfboard and like I’m always humbled by how much exertion you need to–

Arturo: Oh my God.

Zoë: You know, how much energy you need to exert to–

Arturo: –to swim back out to the surf line is just like—yeah, I’m so, I’m so in awe of it. And also, surfing is one of those things that like, really makes you respect the sea because like no matter how good at it—you are at it, like it’s gonna make you feel like a dumb ass, you know?

Zoë: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Arturo: So—so she floated on the water until rescue boats reached her and they brought her back to shore on a Greek island. And Violet learned that they had sailed into a string of underwater mines dropped by a German submarine the day before. Somehow only 28 people were killed as the ship went down and most of them were not killed by a mine. They were actually killed by the propellers.

Zoë: Oh.

Arturo: Violet had a fractured skull. I’m sorry to do this to you, Zoë, but I just need to tell you the story. I, I don’t—I, I wish I could change the facts.

Zoë: I thought the escapes were gonna be like–

Arturo: Fun? You’re like, “so I escaped, like, this really weird relationship in Cabo.” No, ma’am. This is not the type of–

Zoë: She had a fractured skull, do you think? What do you think she hit?

Arturo: Probably a piece of the lifeboats, a piece of the boat, really anything. Um, um—and it hit her twice, right? And her leg was cut open to the bone, so it took her three full years to heal. Now, fortunately for her, she had again escaped the White Star Line with her life. So—so listen, we’re coming to the end of Violet’s story here, and if you escaped three sinking ships, would you ever–

Zoë: Thank god.

Arturo: You’re like, “please let me out of this.” Would you ever travel by sea again?

Zoë: No, but this b*tch be crazy.

Arturo: She’s like, she’s like, “let me get out—back out there.” She’s like, she’s like, “I was close this time.”

Zoë: Put me in, coach!

Arturo: So when it was finally time to go home, Volet decided to travel to London—by land, thank God.

CHAPTER 6: Old Reliable

Arturo: So in London, Violet took a job at a bank and for a while she—at least—she stopped tempting fate. Violet published a memoir in the 1930s when her memories of the White Star Line were still fresh. Now, for a while though, her book didn’t really get much attention. There were people interested in the Titanic. Sure, but not very many of them were paying attention to the story of a stewardess.

They’re all about guys like John Jacob Astor, and all the other fancy pants in the first class. Oh, one—one crazy thing, even after JJ died on the Titanic—we’re that close that I just call him JJ—his family kept investing, investing in the White Star Line. His son was collecting stock certificates in 1931. Like, the company killed him with a terrible f***ing boat, and there was still money to be made.

Zoë: People are making crazy decisions.

Arturo: Insane. The, the—the early 1900s was just f***ing nuts.

Zoë: I know it. It’s maybe just the takeaways, like people have been crazy forever.

Arturo: Yeah, and I don’t find comfort in that, but I find comfort in, I find comfort in the fact that people have been the same throughout history, in the same—in the sense of like, when I—not to get too deep on this—but like, [when] my dad died when I was 17, and one of the things that helped me was that, uh, my teacher gave me this—the Hamlet monologue of “to be or not to be,” right? And at first it made no f***ing sense to me, cause it was Greek to me. And I’m like, “we’re in Guatemala. Why the f*** are you giving me, like, old English books?” But then I—once I started really paying attention to it, after a brief moment of uh, mourning, I realized that this guy was talking about exactly what I was going through.

Zoë: Mm.

Arturo: Five hundred years before me. And I found there’s a certain sense of comfort in knowing that the human existence is not that different, you know, so that I’m not alone in this experience. And it was actually incidentally what made me take acting seriously and move to New York and study acting … now why we have a podcast.

Zoë: Oh my God, that’s a very moving story.

Arturo: So Violet finally retired in 1950 and moved herself into a little English cottage on the east coast of England. I love that for her. Do you—do you have a retirement destination in mind?

Zoë: Oh man. I don’t know. I—we’ve been talking about Ireland so much. I love Ireland. It’s so beautiful.

Arturo: So now you’re moving to Ireland. Let’s see, like we’ll check in next week when—when we’re telling you about, uh, about the Caribbean, you’re like, “yeah, I just always felt like Jamaica was calling to me.”

Zoë: I don’t know why, but like the Caribbean is speaking to me.

Arturo: It’s just like, calling to me. Anybody else feel that? So if you survived the death traps made by the White Star Line enough times, I feel like you deserve a little seaside cottage.

Zoë: Yeah

Arturo: You know, they should just give it to you. Honestly, the—the White Star Line should have paid for it, you know, and maybe they would’ve, except they went bankrupt in 1934 on—say it with me—your birthday.

Zoë: My birthday.

Arturo:  That’s right. So. Anyway, Violet finally gave herself permission to just, you know, just raise some chickens and put up her feet. And she lived there for almost 20 years, all the way into her eighties. Oh, in one little last little tidbit, one day—this is nuts. One day, a little while before she died, Violet got a phone call super late at night. [phone rings] That’s the sound of a phone in case you didn’t know. And Violet—Violet gets outta bed and answers it and it was somebody saying they were from Jenny f***ing Craig. No, I’m joking. No.

Zoë [laughs]: God, you really ha—I was with you.

Arturo: So Violet gets outta bed, she answers the phone, right? And she hears the voice of a lady on the other end of the line who asked if she was Violet Jessop who had been on the Titanic. And Violet was like, “Yes, that was me. Who is this?” The person on the other end of the phone was like: “I am the baby you rescued.”

Zoë: Oh my God.

Arturo: And then they just hung up and she never called again. Isn’t that crazy?

Zoë: Is that all she said?

Arturo: That’s all she said—and invest in Yahoo. I guess. I don’t f***ing know. Uh, but isn’t that wild?

Zoë: Wow. So, so I guess maybe, well, I—I wish that, um, Violet had been like, “was the woman who grabbed you out of my arms your mom?”

Arturo: Yeah. “Who’s your mother? What does she look like?” Yeah. Anyway, it’s this crazy story and I really hope that it wasn’t just somebody prank calling her, you know?

Zoë: Yeah, me too.

Arturo: So the wreck of the Titanic was found on the ocean floor almost 15 years after Violet died. The discovery of the wreck kicked off a new wave of interest in the ship and what it was really like during the voyage. So that finally brought Violet’s story the attention it deserved. Her book was published in 1997 and this time it became one of the defining stories of the Titanic by including what it was really like for normal people working there to survive. And so that’s when Violet finally got her nickname: Miss Unsinkable. Miss Unsinkable. That’s actually her nickname now.

Outro

Arturo: Anyway, that’s our story. What’d you think?

Zoë: Oh my God. The twists and turns.

Arturo: So crazy, right? We’re like laughing one minute and then I’m like f***ing so disturbed and then I’m also, like, kind of hungry. Like, just a lot went on.

Zoë, you’re f***ing amazing, dude. And you’re in so many different projects, like The Afterparty, Nightbitch, and you voice a Mermaid scientist on Creature Commandos, wow. Listeners, go find her work ASAP!

Real quick—I want to go back to our producer Carl, cuz he’s had an entire episode to think about a new sea shanty or an Irish song. So Carl, do you have something for me?

Carl: Yes, I do.

Arturo: Here we go.

Carl [singing]: Zoë Chao is the queen of podcasts. Zoë Chao is the queen of podcasts. Zoë Chao is the queen of podcasts, early in the morning. Way hey and up she rises way, hey, and up she rises. Way, hey, and up she rises early in the morning!

Arturo: Early in the morning. Hey, thank you Carl. Thank you everybody. Zoë! Thank you so much for being in this. You were such a wonderful guest.

Zoë: You are such a great storyteller and so fun to hang out with.

Arturo: Oh, thanks so much. See you later. But not on a boat! “Brah-bah-bah-powww.”

Zoë: “Beuh beuh beuh!”

CREDITS

Arturo: Greatest Escapes is a production of iHeartRadio and FilmNation Entertainment, in association with Gilded Audio. Our executive producers are me, Arturo Castro, Alyssa Martino and Milan Popelka from FilmNation Entertainment, Andrew Chugg and Whitney Donaldson from Gilded Audio, and Dylan Fagan from iHeartRadio.

The show is produced and edited by Carl Nellis and Ben Chugg, who are also, respectively, our research overlord and music overlord. Our associate producer is Tory Smith, who is our other overlord.

Nick Dooley is our technical director. Additional editing by Whitney Donaldson. Special thanks to Alison Cohen, Dan Welsh, Ben Ryzack, Sara Joyner, Nicki Stein, Olivia Canny, and Kelsey Albright.

Hey, thank you so much for listening, and if you’re enjoying the show, please leave a rating or review. My mom will call you each personally and thank you, and we’ll see you all next week.