My mom escaped the nazis in WW II and her final leg was on a big boat called the MV Georgic. http://ssmaritime.com/Georgic.htm which looks to have a crazy story too. I’ve always wanted to learn more about it and her trip. Andrew did you come across any great maritime reference sources for Violets story?
Holy crap, that's White Star Lines too - I didn't write about them in particular, but of course they produced all those Olympic-class vessels. No sources in particular for Violet's story, although her story seems to be really well told in a lot of different places, all of which pretty much corroborated one another.
I would guess the lesser known story of the Georgic might be tougher to find, but now you have me curious! That family connection is really interesting, especially since that was her final leg of escape. I wonder if you might be able to write a bit about her and this.
It's a puzzle - she didn't talk about it - like a lot of survivors - so I've been trying to piece it together. She shared some about the Georgic leg because I think it was carrying a bunch of troops back to the US and they were nice to her
That's so cool. I have some really interesting family lore (and just history) I need to write down and share some time. I've been reluctant to do that until fairly recently, so maybe it's almost time for that.
Your post made me think about the reason Vilot could have survived beyond pure luck, and I remembered a book, “The Unthinkable” by Amanda Ripley, that I mentioned in comments to one of your posts a few months back. It is a book about why some people survive the disaster and others do not. As per the book, the most significant factor was knowing your disaster personality, which gives you an edge. After going through one disaster, Vilot knew about her disaster personality and also knew that she could survive a disaster. That probably helped her survive the next two, and as always, luck played a role too. The next question would be what made her survive the first. Has it to do with her role as a helper (it is one of the disaster personalities), “keep calm and carry on,” calmed her, or is it taking action to get on the boat or pure luck, or a combination of all the above?
Here is more from the book:
“If we get to know our disaster personalities before the disaster, we might have a slightly better chance of surviving. At the very least, we’ll expunge some of the unknowns from our imaginations, and we’ll uncover secrets about ourselves. First, they know that if something does go terribly wrong, the odds favor their survival. Just knowing there is hope can help people muster the presence of mind to push past denial and deliberation and act. “The important thing is to recognize that you need to get out. Everything you’ve done to prepare yourself will help you,” says Nora Marshall, who has spent twenty-one years studying survival factors at the National Transportation Safety Board. Knowledge also helps to self-correct. Now that you know you are likely to delay evacuating or to waste time grabbing your carry-on bags from the overhead bin, you have a chance to override your own worst instincts. Above all, it is essential to take the initiative—to remember that you and your neighbors must save yourselves. Now that you have glimpsed the survival arc, you might have a better chance of finding the shortcuts.”
I absolutely agree that she had a much better chance of surviving after that practice disaster! I'm also sure luck played a huge role, especially during the 3rd disaster, the Brittanic. And yeah, there's something to the mindset of surviving something like this... although I strongly suspect that you only really know how you'll perform when you're truly in that situation.
It seems like having a positive disaster personality would be an evolutionary discriminating trait. But I suppose that we don’t have enough truly catastrophic disasters to obtain herd immunity to them. {sigh}.
I think I’d be scared of ships at that point, or maybe she was drawn to them to be a person who could stay calm in the storm. Very cool. I can’t help but think of myself in this, and this does lift my spirit just a bit.
I'm not implying anything, but it's rather sus that all these "accidents" "conveniently" happen when Violet is aboard.
I'm just saying, if I ever wanted to earn the title of "The Unsinkable Daniel"...
Featuring all the old hits like "Oops, I Did It Again!" and "Toxic Sinker of Boats."
My mom escaped the nazis in WW II and her final leg was on a big boat called the MV Georgic. http://ssmaritime.com/Georgic.htm which looks to have a crazy story too. I’ve always wanted to learn more about it and her trip. Andrew did you come across any great maritime reference sources for Violets story?
Holy crap, that's White Star Lines too - I didn't write about them in particular, but of course they produced all those Olympic-class vessels. No sources in particular for Violet's story, although her story seems to be really well told in a lot of different places, all of which pretty much corroborated one another.
I would guess the lesser known story of the Georgic might be tougher to find, but now you have me curious! That family connection is really interesting, especially since that was her final leg of escape. I wonder if you might be able to write a bit about her and this.
It's a puzzle - she didn't talk about it - like a lot of survivors - so I've been trying to piece it together. She shared some about the Georgic leg because I think it was carrying a bunch of troops back to the US and they were nice to her
That's so cool. I have some really interesting family lore (and just history) I need to write down and share some time. I've been reluctant to do that until fairly recently, so maybe it's almost time for that.
Excellent post!
Your post made me think about the reason Vilot could have survived beyond pure luck, and I remembered a book, “The Unthinkable” by Amanda Ripley, that I mentioned in comments to one of your posts a few months back. It is a book about why some people survive the disaster and others do not. As per the book, the most significant factor was knowing your disaster personality, which gives you an edge. After going through one disaster, Vilot knew about her disaster personality and also knew that she could survive a disaster. That probably helped her survive the next two, and as always, luck played a role too. The next question would be what made her survive the first. Has it to do with her role as a helper (it is one of the disaster personalities), “keep calm and carry on,” calmed her, or is it taking action to get on the boat or pure luck, or a combination of all the above?
Here is more from the book:
“If we get to know our disaster personalities before the disaster, we might have a slightly better chance of surviving. At the very least, we’ll expunge some of the unknowns from our imaginations, and we’ll uncover secrets about ourselves. First, they know that if something does go terribly wrong, the odds favor their survival. Just knowing there is hope can help people muster the presence of mind to push past denial and deliberation and act. “The important thing is to recognize that you need to get out. Everything you’ve done to prepare yourself will help you,” says Nora Marshall, who has spent twenty-one years studying survival factors at the National Transportation Safety Board. Knowledge also helps to self-correct. Now that you know you are likely to delay evacuating or to waste time grabbing your carry-on bags from the overhead bin, you have a chance to override your own worst instincts. Above all, it is essential to take the initiative—to remember that you and your neighbors must save yourselves. Now that you have glimpsed the survival arc, you might have a better chance of finding the shortcuts.”
What do you think?
I absolutely agree that she had a much better chance of surviving after that practice disaster! I'm also sure luck played a huge role, especially during the 3rd disaster, the Brittanic. And yeah, there's something to the mindset of surviving something like this... although I strongly suspect that you only really know how you'll perform when you're truly in that situation.
It seems like having a positive disaster personality would be an evolutionary discriminating trait. But I suppose that we don’t have enough truly catastrophic disasters to obtain herd immunity to them. {sigh}.
We don't have enough *yet*.
I think I’d be scared of ships at that point, or maybe she was drawn to them to be a person who could stay calm in the storm. Very cool. I can’t help but think of myself in this, and this does lift my spirit just a bit.
Thanks for such a great story this morning!
Thanks, Kaiha!