Titanic look-out takes his own life
At 10pm on Sunday 14 April 1912, 24 year old Frederick Fleet and his companion Reginald Lee climbed the fifty feet to the crow’s nest half way up RMS Titanic’s foremast. It was, in his own words, ‘the beautifullest night I had ever seen. The stars were like lamps’. Four hundred miles off the Newfoundland coastline though, it was especially cold and he had been instructed by the officer of the watch to keep a careful lookout for ice.
At some point in the next 2 hours – witnesses would later give different testimonies as to the exact time – Fleet saw ‘a black object, high above the water, right ahead’ and fearing it was an iceberg he rang the crow’s nest bell and telephoned the bridge but to his amazement, he claimed no-one answered. The iceberg was about 10 miles away with Titanic steaming directly towards it at a speed of 22 knots – less than 25 minutes away.
Fleet repeatedly telephoned the bridge before his calls were answered and when he finally managed to pass his message, it was too late. It is estimated that within a minute of Fleet’s message, Titanic struck the iceberg and within 3 hours it had sunk. Almost one thousand five hundred people perished but over seven hundred survived.
One of those was Frederick Fleet, the man who first saw the fatal obstacle. As he rowed one of the lifeboats away from the sinking vessel he earnestly related his experience and expressed a fear that he would be blamed for the disaster. A later inquiry would cast doubt on the timing of events he provided.
Fleet later served on the Cunard and Union Castle lines until he finally retired when he took up selling the Daily Echo newspapers on the streets of Southampton.
Fair tides my friend
Hi, My son was assigned Frederick Fleet as a passenger on the Titanic. He is enthralled with this man and his promise and role in the tragic event. He speaks of his life and demise with complete sadness. Luke Paul, my son, is asking for any information. As he needs to be Frederick and present his feelings next week. He already feels the weight of Mr. Fleet’s Emotions. Thank you.
Hi Jill, apologies for the delay in replying. I see I am too late now but I don’t think we would have been able to help. Kind regards. HC History Society
Sir, you have been reunited with the Titanic victims and your wife!
Did the suicide note mention the Titanic tragedy?
Hi Kelly, I’m afraid we have no details of the note although I do not believe there was any mention. of the Titanic. However, the British Titanic Society may be able to assist you further. Paul.
Do you know what Fredrick Fleets suicide note said?
Nothing about Titanic I’m afraid.
Frederick Fleet seemed like such a interesting and versatile man in history. Did his suicide note mention anything about his involvement in World War I or World War II.
We are not aware of any mention of Fred’s world war experiences. Best wishes.
Couldn’t the ship manage to turn enough to cause an alteration in their course and avoid an obstacle ten miles in the direction and in the path that they were travelling? I realize it was moving at 22 knots, give or take, and I am no expert in ship captaining or navigation, which means most of my knowledge comes from films. So I don’t have the data to make a sound argument. But, still, it seems that they could have changed their path to some degree or, like in Battleship, dropped anchor. Certainly the impact could have been less forceful with the anchor down. I will try to research this and come back later. Also: Couldnt the SS California have radioed a report to an authority that could have issued more forceful and influential statements than just suggestions to the Titanic? It is as though some people had something to gain by its destruction or someone on board in a position to control the outcome was on a suicide mission or something more complicated that required things to unfold this way with the exception that they may have thought more could survive than did.
Hi Carrie,
We are not Titanic experts and unable to comment on your observations. We appreciate your contribution though.
Paul
As stated above, Fred Fleet maintained that he repeatedly called the bridge when the ship was 10 miles away but nobody answered. The ship did try to execute a turn which would have swung the hull away from the iceberg, but it was too late for it to be effective. Some experts have said that if she had hit the berg head-on, rather that trying to take avoiding action, she might have survived the collision or at least gained enough time to take off all the passengers and crew.
I would note Carrie… in regards to your questions…
1. At the depths the titanic sink, no anchor chain would have reached the bottom to slow it down.
2. 22 knots is about 26mph(41kph), so yes, they should have seen it in plenty of time, however Mr Fleet testified that he made several calls to the bridge which went unanswered. Finally reaching bridge personnel just minutes before contact with the iceberg.
3. I think we’ll all agree that mistakes were made and wonder at the simplicity of those mistakes that would have saved 1500 lives.
4. Lastly; it is often contemplated that the Titanic was actually the Olympic, which had been damaged in a previous set of accidents. It is theorized that it was an insurance gambit… and that the California was staged to rescue the passengers, but was out of position by 12 miles.
This is an “alternate” theory of the events and has a lot of convincing coincidences
This is fascinating, i know there is a previous comment from June about the contents of the suicide note and whether it mentioned the titanic, where there any updates on this?
Thanks so much Paul, you are doing a wonderful job.
What was in the suicide note.
Nothing about the events of 1912, I’m afraid.
Where was his wife Eva buried? It surprises me that Frederick Fleet was not buried near or next to his wife
unless she was buried in a different cemetery.
Hi Steven,
We refer all Titanic questions to thexTitanic Society https://www.britishtitanicsociety.com/
I would suggest you contact them in the first instance.
Best wishes
HCHS
He lived at no. 9 Norman Road, Freemantle, according to the Titanic crewlist
This is what Wikipedia says and it is very sad. Shortly after Christmas, on 28 December 1964, Fleet’s wife died, and her brother evicted him from the house. Consequently, Fleet fell into a downward spiral of depression. He returned to his brother-in-law’s home and hanged himself in the house’s garden on 10 January 1965. Fleet was buried in a pauper’s grave at Hollybrook Cemetery, in Southampton. This grave remained unmarked until 1993, when a headstone bearing an engraving of the Titanic was erected through donations raised by the Titanic Historical Society.
Kudos to the creators of this website for providing such a treasure trove of useful information
I recently found it he is my however many great grandfather. I’m so grateful that this information has been provided as i can learn more about my family history! Very emotional to think about it all