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MISS UNSINKABLE

CONVERSATION LESSON

Okay. Hello, hello. How are you, Aaron?

I’m doing okay. I’m on dry land.

You feeling unsinkable?

I’m unsinkable.

You’re just above it all. You’re just floating in the cloud.

Well no, no. I’m grounded. I’m just grounded. I’m on dry land. High and dry.

On cloud 9.

No, I’m high and dry, man.

Okay. You afraid of … You got sea legs?

I get seasick if I’m in a boat that where it’s going up and down and back and forth. Yes, I get seasick. There have been several times in my life where I thought I was in a lot of danger out on the ocean where I thought I might die, the boat might turn over in storms.

I’m a little afraid of the ocean.

Are you? What are you afraid of?

It’s just the big, dark, unknown, and I’m a terrible swimmer.

You’re a little bit wimpy too.

A little bit. Crazily enough, I almost became a Merchant Marine.

What? Get out of here.

At the young age-

Get out of here.

… of 19.

Really?

I went to the Merchant Marine school.

You did?

Some school you go to for 6 months and then you can become a sailor, a commercial sailor.

What attracted you to that?

I think I was just lost. I wanted an adventure. My friend was like, “This is what we’re going to do. We’re going to be sailors.” What happened? How come you didn’t?

I went there …

You didn’t make the grade.

I filled out all the paperwork. Then they said, “Okay, you’ve got asthma, so you need to get this other paper.

Oh, I see.

You need to fill these. It’s not like you couldn’t go in, but you just needed to fill out extra paperwork and get it signed by your doctor. Just having that extra hurdle gave me some space to think, “What am I doing?”

Right.

Do I really want to be-

“Do I really want to do this?” Yeah.

… a sailor?

Wow. Imagine how your life would have been different had you become a Merchant Marine?

Yeah.

Interesting.

Violet Jessop, pretty amazing, incredible story?

Yeah. She seemed like a pretty smart, savvy person, who didn’t give up-

Right.

… and who kept at it regardless-

Right.

… of all the

Right.

… crazy things she went through with sinking boats.

Right.

Yeah, totally.

What I thought, one of the points I thought was interesting about this story was that she had to make herself look more unattractive to get the job.

Yeah, which that’s why I think she’s kind of savvy. She’s kind of smart because she started out looking like I guess most young women would look at that time. She saw immediately that that’s not what’s working. She immediately changed her appearance to appear frumpy.

Yeah, that’s a good point. She was definitely savvy. Just the mindset back then.

Yeah, right. Yeah. The mindset would be that middle aged women in that position of a stewardess on a ship would be more desirable than younger women.

That’s not what was going on.

No? What do you mean? That’s how I interpreted it.

Oh, you mean desirable in what way?

Desirable to the company.

Why?

Because maybe they appeared more mature, more in control. They had more life experience. They’re going to be in a maybe stressful situations. They’re more attractive to the company. They’re more valuable to the company than say someone-

Okay well yeah, maybe.

… who’s 21 years old.

Actually maybe that is.

Yeah.

The way I interpreted it was being a young, attractive woman is going to be distracting to the other workers and the passengers and it’s going to cause conflict.

I didn’t think of it that way. That’s possible too.

That’s why she had to dress and make herself not necessarily look older, but at least less attractive.

I see. Interesting.

We actually have a picture of her. Where is that? I’ll find it later.

Okay.

She is quite the looker. Of course now, that would be illegal to discriminate against somebody based on their appearance but, if somebody were to discriminate, albeit illegally, it would be to discriminate against somebody who was less attractive.

Right.

I would think-

Right.

… as a stewardess.

Yeah. Now in this day and age, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Absolutely.

Yeah I mean again, that is illegal in the US. I sense that it’s not illegal in a lot of countries.

Probably not. Yeah.

You’re on some Asian airlines. There’s a really high ratio of attractive stewardesses. It makes you wonder what’s going on.

Right. Yeah.

You’re on a US airline, you get a mixture, a normal-

Sure.

… range of attractiveness.

Sure.

Another point that I thought was interesting was not just what terrible luck … I mean I guess you can argue whether it was good luck or bad luck for her. She survived, so clearly it’s good luck.

These things kept happening that’s bad luck. The luck of this company, the White Star Line, all 3 of their flagships all had disasters.

Their big investments all went down under the sea.

They were one, at least the first 2, the first one was the Olympic.

Olympic, right.

That was in 1910. That one had a major accident.

Right.

It didn’t sink, but it was a major accident.

Right.

A very mysterious accident.

Right.

Then in just in 1911, the Titanic went down, maybe the most famous sinking.

I thought it was odd that when the experience on the Olympic was finished, she didn’t write it in her diary. Didn’t you think that was an odd detail?

Yeah. I think she was a bad ass.

In what sense?

It was just nothing to her.

Really?

The ship didn’t go down. “Okay. What’s the big deal? I still got my toothbrush.”

That’s another odd aspect of this story.

That’s weird.

She’s got some kind of strange attachment to a toothbrush. The reason I say it’s strange, it’s odd, is because when the Britannic went down, you remember this after she helped a sick nurse get into the lifeboat, rather than getting into the lifeboat herself, she went back to her room-

Yes.

… going down all these tilting halls and-

Yes.

… just to retrieve some really what she called her prized possessions.

Yeah.

I mean they were things like a clock, a ring, a prayer book, and a toothbrush.

Yeah.

It’s like, “Really? You would have risked your life to get those things? They were that important to you?” I thought it was just really odd. Yeah, just odd. It’s strange. Why do you think she would have done that?

I don’t know. I bet she had some nice teeth though.

I don’t know it just seems like an odd time to go get those things.

If you were on the deck, what would cause you to go back to your room?

Many things might cause me to go back to my room.

Aside from your family.

Yeah, that’s the main thing.

Could there be any possession that would cause you to risk?

Here’s the explanation of why she may have done that. Maybe she thought there was a lot more time than there actually was.

Yes.

That’s the reasonable explanation. In retrospect, the thing went down and she hit her head and she went under water and had she known that was going to happen, I doubt she would have gone to get those things.

Just 4 years earlier, she was on the Titanic where 1500 people died.

Right.

Seventy-five percent of the people died.

Right. She had already been through that experience.

She would know that this is very dangerous but yet, that toothbrush is important.

That insinuates-

That she’s crazy.

… that she’s a little off kilter maybe.

Yeah. Yeah.

She’s a little odd perhaps.

Yeah. Maybe that had something to do with her surviving.

Yeah, yeah, totally. That could be.

Yeah.

I also thought it was an interesting detail is that when she was on the Titanic and she realized that the ship was sinking, she did her job. She helped as many people as she could put on their life jackets and get onto the boats. She knew there were not enough life jackets for the whole-

Yes.

She also knew I guess there were not enough lifeboats.

Yes.

Now why would they make this gigantic ship and not provide enough life jackets and lifeboats for something that’s going to be sailing across the Atlantic?

Maybe they just couldn’t imagine this ship would ever go down.

That could be.

It’s just such a masterpiece.

Or maybe they were just so proud and pompous that, “We’ve created the greatest ship ever.

Nothing’s going to sink this. We’ll never need those things. They’re just decoration.” That could be another reason why. I don’t know.

Hubris.

Yeah. It’s interesting though. In that situation, that would be pretty grim knowing that fact and … That’s pretty grim.

Did you see Titanic, the movie?

Yeah, I did.

Was it good? Did you cry?

You didn’t watch it?

No, I never watched it.

You didn’t see Titanic?

It’s like the most, the biggest movie I think in history in terms of money made.

Actually it’s a really good movie. I enjoyed watching it. I saw it several times. I did not cry, but I enjoyed it.

Okay.

Yeah. Yeah it’s a good movie.

Leonardo DiCaprio. Did you know that apparently that movie was, I think possibly had the most sales around the world.

You mean of any movie in history?

Yeah. I mean I could be making that up. I feel like-

You’re probably making it up.

I feel like I heard that. Anybody who’s listening to this, they probably know the movie. They know it for a reason. Anyhow, I read that it was so popular in Afghanistan-

Really? Afghanistan?

… that young Afghanis were getting the haircut the Leonardo DiCaprio had in that movie.

No way. Oh wow.

It was all the rage. The Taliban-

Ah, cracked down on it.

… were very upset on that about that. They were punishing barbers and arresting people-

Oh wow. Jesus.

… with the Leonardo DiCaprio Titanic haircut.

Oh really? Wow.

Interesting little tidbit.

That’s a little interesting tidbit there, Dan. Interesting. You got any other interesting tidbits?

Back to Violet Jessop, actually I do have an interesting tidbit.

Okay, let’s hear it. Let’s hear another tidbit.

I read something else interesting about the Titanic, the real Titanic. There was something like 2,000 people. Actually I think it was a little bit more, but about 2,000 people on that ship. About 1,500 died and about 500 survived. There were also 12 dogs on that ship.

Okay.

As you know, there weren’t enough lifeboats. Obviously they’re not going to allow a dog to take up a space-

Sure.

… when all these people are dying.

Right.

The people-

Dogs are pretty savvy.

The people who had dogs, they were the super rich people to be allowed to take a dog on this ship. Actually I think people were refused to bring their dogs in the lifeboat, but 3, a Pomeranian and some other little dog was snuck aboard. Maybe because they’re so small-

Put them in a jacket or something.

Yeah, hide them in their jacket. There was this really sad story I read about this woman, a 50 year old woman, who had a Great Dane, so obviously a very big dog. She was there on the deck with her Great Dane. They said, “No you can’t bring that dog on.”

She stayed with it?

She got out of the lifeboat to be with her dog. Days later, apparently they found her wrapped around her Great Dane. Both died in the water.

That’s a testament to the strong attachments people have to their pets.

Yeah, yeah.

Wow. How about that? That’s really sad. Speaking of sad and strange, when Violet … Her name’s Violet, right?

Right. Violet Jessop.

When she rescued that baby and when she took care of that baby-

Yes.

… which ship was that? That was the-

Titanic.

That was the Titanic?

Yes.

She held this baby and she basically kept it safe-

Right.

… throughout this terrible ordeal.

Right.

Then the mother came up and basically just snatched the baby from her arms-

Yeah, yeah.

… and wasn’t thankful or didn’t appear to be thankful or et cetera, et cetera.

Yeah.

Then years, years later, she gets a phone call. It’s a phone call, right?

Right.

She gets a phone call from this woman who claims to be-

Right.

… this baby all grown up.

Yes.

Then hangs up the phone after laughing.

Yeah. I imagine this is, that was in 1911 I think the Titanic. This was decades later, maybe 1950s.

Okay, yeah. Anyway, it seems like another strange detail of this story that-

Yes.

… someone … I mean you’d think if someone saved your child, you would be eternally grateful.

Yes. Yes.

I was thinking about it. I was thinking about this. Maybe not. I mean we would imagine that oh yes, I would be very grateful. Perhaps you’re so desperate to find your child than when you do find your child, the only thing you want to do is grab it and hug it and just put all your energy into it.

It’s like you can’t think of anything else. Maybe she was so distraught in that moment and she saw her child and she just grabbed (it). Maybe she wasn’t thinking. She wasn’t thinking that this person protected her baby. Maybe she thought the person just picked it up. I mean who knows?

You’re really worried about the reputation of this woman?

No, it’s not her reputation. I’m trying to think because I think when you hear that detail, my first reaction was. “How terrible.”

Right.

How could she do that? How could she be so cold and callous toward this person that saved her child?

Right.

Then I’m thinking, “How could that be possible?” This is the explanation I’ve come up with-

This is all Violet’s story. Maybe Violet stole that baby.

Yeah, I doubt that. I seriously doubt it. I was thinking about the phone call, too.

Yes.

How could that be? How could someone be so, especially the person who was saved as a baby, call up and be so like a prank.

Like, “Ha, ha, ha” click.

Yeah, like “Ha, ha, ha. I’m that baby” and then click. I don’t really get that either.

Right.

I was thinking that maybe it’s possible that that person had a really terrible life and was suffering in her … Maybe she had mental problems. Maybe she grew up without a father or had a terrible life somehow and then suddenly, she’s blaming it on the fact that this person saved her way back when-

Right.

… so she’s just … Who knows? Maybe she’s mentally disturbed. I don’t know.

If we’re going to poke holes in the story, I think it’s a little odd. She tells her friend John, who actually was a famous writer about ocean liners. She tells her friend John. Her friend John says, “Oh this is some kid’s pranking you.” She says, “No John. I’ve never told this story to anyone.” It’s like if I save some baby on the Titanic, I’d be telling people left and right. “By the way, let me tell you about the time …”

“This amazing story. I saw this baby and I picked it up.” Yeah, of course.

People my whole life, people will be like, “Oh no. Grandpa’s going to tell the story about the baby.”

About saving the baby again. Yeah, how could you keep something like that quiet?

Yeah, I don’t know about that.

That is another odd detail. Anyway maybe that’s one of the reasons I like this story a lot.

There’s all these little odd-

Yes. Yes.

… odd details that don’t quite fit with the information that we’re given.

Right. Right.

Maybe they would make sense with more context.

Right.

Yeah.

She certainly was, without a doubt, on all 3 of these ships when this terrible thing happened.

Right.

That’s documented. This journalist and writer edited her biography, which a lot of these quotes in the story are from. Yeah, amazing. Unsinkable Violet.

She’s had a number of brushes with death. Have you ever had a brush with death in a moving vessel of some sort, like a car or a train or a boat?

I’ve almost drowned a few times, but not like on a boat or … I’ve been in a lot of car accidents.

Have you?

When I was a teenager, my friends would call me “bad luck Danny.”

Oh really?

Yeah. They used to laugh at all the accidents I got into to.

You got that out of your system now?

I think so. I haven’t had a car accident in a long time.

Okay, good.

What about you? Have you had some?

I mean, like I mentioned earlier in this recording, I had a few incidents where I was on a boat in pretty bad storms and wasn’t sure if we were going to make it through it or not. One was a sail, I was on a sailboat going from Cancun, Mexico to New Orleans, so across the Gulf of Mexico. A huge storm came up. We were fighting that storm for about 30 hours.

Whoa. How big a sailboat was it?

It was about a 55, 60 footer.

Okay, that’s not so big.

No, it’s pretty small.

How many people were on this boat?

Six.

You were going on a 30-hour …

No it was a 4-day trip.

A 4-day trip.

The storm lasted about 30. More than a day.

Okay.

It was pretty heavy.

Were you sleeping through any of that?

Oh no. Oh God, no. We’re talking about massive waves. It was just up and down, like 10 meters up and 10 meters down and 10 meters to the side.

Were you working?

It was just non-stop.

Did you have jobs like you had to be pulling the ropes and doing stuff?

Yeah we had to make sure that the boat was on … We had to put a parachute out the back of the boat so that it would stabilize it with the current-

Wow.

… because if the boat got turned sideways, it would definitely flip over because the waves were so big. We had to keep the bow, the front of the boat, pointed into the waves so it would go up this way.

Did you have any sailing experience?

No. I was with other people that did. I was a newbie. I had no sailing experience at all. We had to tether ourselves to the boat and wear strobe lights in case we fell over.

Wow. Did anybody fall over?

No, no. No one fell over. One guy went out over the deck, but his tether stopped him from falling into the ocean. It was pretty scary.

Wow.

The beauty of it was during the night, there was no moon. It was all clouds and everything.

There were phytoplankton in the water. They light up when they get some friction.

Right.

You could see the waves coming because they were glowing in the dark. It was pretty wild.

Yeah, it was pretty cool.

Was that more beautiful or terrifying?

It was beautiful and terrifying at the same time. When everything calmed down and the sun came out, I saw a big whale that came up next to our boat. It was longer than the boat.

Wow.

That was pretty cool too. Yeah.

Wow. All right. On that note, until next time.

Okay. Stay out of boats, Dan.

All right. All righty.

All right, dude.

The End.