Britannia Fleet Reveals Titanic Family Connection

Mal Fleet, Managing Director of Britannia Fleet Liverpool, has revealed a family link to the Titanic, shared this month, the 123^rd anniversary of the ship’s tragic sinking. Here, we explore Frederick’s story.

Liverpool-born lookout

Fredrick Fleet, Mal’s relative, served as a lookout on the Titanic. Born in Liverpool in 1887, Frederick was the illegitimate son of Alice Fleet, who left her son to move to the USA in 1890. Frederick was raised by foster families and distant relatives, before being sent to a training ship at the age of 12.

In 1903, Frederic was sent to sea as a deck boy, and eventually worked his way up to Able Seaman. In 1908, aged 21, he worked onboard the RMS Oceanic, a transatlantic ocean liner built for the White Star Line, where he served for four years.

In the crow’s nest on the Titanic

Eventually, he was recruited to serve on the RMS Titanic, another White Star Line ship. On 14^th April 1912, the night of the iceberg collision, Frederick was on duty in the crow’s nest alongside Reginald Robinson Lee. They began their watch at 10 pm, being told by the previous lookouts to keep a “sharp lookout for small ice”. The lookouts had to conduct their watch without binoculars, as these were locked in a case and the key was not on board.

Just after seven bells, 3.5 hours into their 4-hour watch, Fleet identified a black mass ahead of the ship. He immediately struck three bells, signalling there was a hazard dead ahead in the water. Frederick telephoned the bridge to report the iceberg, and received the reply “thank you”.

The ship immediately swung to port, but the starboard side scraped along the iceberg and chunks of ice fell onto the deck. Frederick and Reginald remained in the crow’s nest until they were relieved around 20 minutes later, believing at the time that the ship had just narrowly missed the iceberg.

Lifeboat 6

After leaving the crow’s nest, Frederick learnt of the collision and went to the Boat Deck. He was assigned by Second Officer Charles Lightoller to help Quarter-Master Robert Hichens load and launch Lifeboat 6. After loading around 28 women and children, it was lowered into the water, with Frederick and Hichens aboard.

As it was being lowered, Lightoller realised it was undermanned and called for an experienced seaman to join the lifeboat. Colonel Arthur Godfrey Peuchen, a Canadian passenger, volunteered to join the boat saying he had experience in sailing. He managed to climb down the rope to reach the lifeboat.

Once at a distance from the sinking ship, the lifeboat aimed for the lights of a distant ship, believed to be the SS Californian. Frederick and Peuchen managed the oars while Hichens steered at the tiller. After a long night at sea, they were eventually rescued by the RMS Carpathia at 6 am on Monday 15^th April 1912.

After the disaster

Following the tragedy, Frederick gave evidence to both the US Inquiry and the British Wreck Commissioner’s inquiry. Frederick maintained throughout the US inquiry that if they had been equipped with binoculars, the disaster would not have happened.

From June 1912, Frederick served briefly as a Seaman on the White Star liner Olympic. However, he found that White Star looked at the surviving officers and crew of the Titanic as an embarrassing reminder of the recent disaster. As such, he left the company in August 1912.

For the next 24 years, Frederick sailed with Union-Castle and various other companies, finally finishing his career at sea in 1936. He then worked as a shipbuilder for Harland and Wolff and was later shore Master-at-Arms for Union-Castle.

Family and later life

In 1917, Frederick married Eva Ernestine Le Gros (born in 1891 in Jersey). The couple had a daughter on 24 November 1918 named Dorothy Frederica Ernestine. In the later years of his life, Frederick worked part-time as a newspaper vendor in Southampton. He maintained contact with the Titanic Historical Society and wrote to them often.

On 18^th December 1964, Frederick’s wife died and her brother, with whom the couple had lived, evicted him from the home. Struggling with grief and depression, Frederick killed himself two weeks later. His body was discovered on 10^th January 1965, and he was buried in an unmarked pauper’s grave in Hollybrook Cemetery in Southampton.

In 1993, following a fundraising campaign by the Titanic Historical Society, a headstone for Frederick was installed, offering long-overdue recognition for the man whose sharp eyes first spotted the iceberg.