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Frederick Fleet, 9 Norman Road, Freemantle: Saved Frederick Fleet, 9 Norman Road, Freemantle: Saved Left: Frederick Fleet’s index card from the National Register of Merchant Seamen. The Register is held at the Southampton Archives Service and the image appears here with their permission. Frederick Fleet was born in Liverpool on 15 October 1887 but was abandoned by his father and mother soon after. On the 1891 census, he was aged 3 and living in the Foundling Hospital in Liverpool’s Toxteth Park. He started his career at sea in 1903 as a deck boy. Before serving on the Titanic, he had been a crew- member on her sister-ship, Oceanic, as had many of the Titanic’s crew. His address at that time was 9 Norman Road in Freemantle (see photograph below right). This was the same address on the record of his marriage to Eva Le Gros on 17 June 1917 at Freemantle parish church. He joined the Titanic in Belfast as look-out. As an able-seaman Fred earned £5 a month with an extra 5s for lookout duty. At 10 pm on the night of Sunday, 14 April 1912, he took his position in the crow’s nest with fellow look-out, Reginald Lee. Fleet spotted the iceberg near the end of his watch, just after 11.30 pm. At that time, he told the US Senate Inquiry, it appeared to be no bigger than the two tables. He rang three bells to notify the bridge an object was ahead and then called Officer Moody on the bridge to say it was an iceberg right ahead. When the iceberg struck the Titanic, Fleet heard only a slight grinding noise and believed that it was only a close shave. He told the British inquiry that he believed if the look- outs had been supplied with binoculars, as they had been on the Oceanic, then he may have spotted the iceberg sooner “in time for the ship to get out the way.” He remained at his post for nearly 20 minutes after the iceberg had struck, and then went to the Boat Deck where the lifeboats were being launched, and after helping launch lifeboat numbers 6 and 8, he was told by Second Officer Lightoller, to get in number 6 and help the passengers. Fleet was aided in rowing the lifeboat by one of the passengers, Major Peuchen. The only other sailor on board, Quartermaster Hichens, had the tiller. They were eventually rescued by the Carpathia, arriving in New York on the 18th April. Most of the surviving crew members were allowed to sail back to England on the Lapland on the 20th April, but some, including Fred, were detained in the USA to give evidence to the US Senate enquiry. Fred travelled back to England on the Celtic, arriving in Liverpool on 6th May. He gave evidence to both the British and US inquiries into the disaster, and because of his position as look-out was questioned more closely than anyone excepting possibly the officers. He expressed frustration at the questions put to him and at one point asked “Is there any more likes to have a go at me?” After the disaster, Fred remained at sea for another 24 years. He continued working for White Star and then transferred to the Union Castle Line. He volunteered for the Merchant Navy at the start of World War I and served on HM transport ships, including the Glenarm Head. After leaving the sea in 1936 he worked for Harland and Wolff ship repairers in the docks and later sold copies of the Daily Echo in Pound Tree Road. It may have been the death of his wife in December 1964 which precipitated Fred’s suicide in January the following year. He was aged 76 at the time and was still living in Norman Road. For several years, he was buried in an unmarked pauper’s grave until the American Titanic Historical Society erected a headstone for him at Holybrook Cemetery (above right). .
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