Titanic Survivor

John MaxstoneGraham (ed), Sutton Publishing 1998, pp238, 0-7509-1758XX,£8.99,

Subtitled "The Memoirs of Violet Jessop, Stewardess", this paperback recounts the life and times of a stewardess on passenger liners from 1908 to 1928. Born in 1887 of Irish parents who emigrated to Argentinia, the first quarter of the book describes her life there and subsequent repatriation to England, and poverty after her father dies.

Of 238 pages, only 12 refer to the time fom the moment the Titanic struck an iceberg to the landing of the survivors in New York and even those are interspersed with editorial comment. It is rather disconcerting that those of the passengers or crew that she mentions by name do not appear on official lists except for famous people like the Astors; perhaps this was due to her discretion, but there are other minor inconsistencies. There is a tantalising lack of detail throughout the book although the account of her survival fom the hospital ship "Brittanic" in the Mediterranean in 1916 I found much more dramatic. The editor has "americanised" some of the expressions and spelling and the book contains much of his own commentary.NCT