Everybody knows the tragic story of Titanic, the most romanticized ship of all times.The British passenger ship started its one and only cruise from Southampton and never made to its destination. The Titanic was one of the most beautiful and biggest ships to be built at the time.
With an impressive 270 meters length, the cruiser was operated by a crew of 913 sailors and accommodated 2243 passengers. After only five days of sailing, the boat collided with an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic Ocean. Of all the passengers aboard, more than 1500 died in the tragedy, and around 700 survived the sinking.

RMS Titanic departing Southampton on April 10th, 1912
Many of the survivors have been telling their stories and horrors, but one woman survivor has the most intriguing life story, as Titanic was not the only tragedy she survived.
Jennie Louise Hansen was born 20 December 1866, in Racine, US. In 1912 Jennie took a trip to Denmark, accompanied by her husband, Claus Peter Hansen. On their return home, the two were accompanied by Henrik, the younger brother of Jennie’s husband. The three boarded the Titanic in 1912. Unfortunately, Jennie was the only one who made it back home.
Before the trip, Jennie had a feeling that she won’t come back from the trip to Europe. She even told this to her brother and made funeral arrangments for herself.
Maybe this was her gut speaking, and maybe it was a result of Jennie’s past tragedy. 28 years before the Titanic disaster, Jennie worked as a pastry cook in the Blake Opera House and Hotel. In 1884, the hotel was destroyed by a fire. Jennie managed to survive, as she took the last elevator trip, just before the fire destroyed the shaft. Several months before that, Jennie was found unconscious in the kitchen filled with dangerous fumes from the stove.
The Titanic sinking was the final tragedy in Jennie’s life. After only five days spent on the sea, she lost her husband and his brother.

“Untergang der Titanic,” as conceived by Willy Stöwer, 1912
Here is the story in her words:
Before he perished, Claus Peter managed to get his wife to rescue boat number 11, telling her that one of them has to survive and tell their story at home.

A collapsible lifeboat with canvas sides
Jennie arrived in New York, where she was hospitalized. She had suffered a shock so horrifying that it damaged her nervous system. Jennie was unable to shed a single tear after this. Afterward, the woman suffered terrible nightmares. She was staying with her brother Thomas back in Racine. Thomas and his wife often had to hold down Jennie’s bed, as the nightmares had become severe.
Jennie Louise Hansen got married one more time for Elmer Emerson, who was 19 years younger than her. She died from bronchitis in 1952, at the age of 85. Her remains were buried in the city cemetery in Racine.