Fredrick Fleet
Fleet's Boat--#6
Lookout's bell, recovered
from the Titanic
What Fleet needed
The Crow's Nest
Fredrick Fleet
The sighting occurred just before 11:40 pm and as instructed Fleet rang three bells and picked up the phone to alert the bridge, when asked what he saw the famous quote "Iceberg dead ahead" was announced and a "Thank-you" was his reply. Fleet is said to have held the phone in his hand as he and Lee waited what must have seemed like forever but in reality was only 37 seconds for the ship to turn port. It nearly cleared the berg but not quite. The ship was to be mortally wounded.
It is not exactly clear how Fleet got from the bucket to the deck where the lifeboats were being loaded but he was placed in number 6 one of the first boat off the port side by First Officer Lightoller. Along side Quartermaster Hitchens, they would be the only two crew members in the boat. Also in this boat was the famous Molly Brown who according to legend would end up in charge of the boat, this is subject to debate. As it seems she helped to get the women to row but still Quartermaster Hitchens was left in charge. For a time they tied up with boat 16 and received another man to help row. It also seems that the women asked to go back to help the people in the water but Hitchens refused sighting the possible suction as his reason. Fleet being a junior to the Quartermaster would have had no say in this matter and like everyone else did as he was told.
After the Carpathia docked in New York Fleet was one of the crew held for questioning by senator Smith. He would appear before this committee in a disheveled state of borrowed clothing. The committee had trouble understanding his thick Cockney accent and he in turn had trouble answering questions. Papers of the day said he seemed bored with the proceedings and came across as uneducated, dim or even stupid at times. When trying to describe relative size he needed something to compare things to thus comparing the initial size of the iceberg upon sighting to two large tables. In any case it was learned here that he saw no sign of the Carpathia on the horizon, which would add fuel to that controversy and that the glasses for the crow's nest were missing. With them the berg more than likely would have been sighted earlier. The later statement would get him ostracized by the other officers for the remainder of his days at sea. He was also subjected to an eye exam in Washington and found to be fine on May 25, 1912 just before being grilled by the British inquiry. At this time he was also served a subpoena by Mrs. Robbins the widow of J.J. Astor's valet. It is amazing that Fleet ever returned to the sea.
Despite ostracism Fleet remained at sea for the next twenty four years until the depression hit. In 1936 he went to work for Harland and Wolf in their Southampton ship yard. He remained there until after World War Two when he became a night watchmen for the Union Castle line. As time went on Fleet ended up selling newspapers on a street corner in Southampton. When Fleet lost his wife in December of 1964 it proved to be too much. Disheartened by his financial problems and the death of his wife Fleet took his own life on January 10, 1965 at the age of 75 he had hung himself from the clothes post in his garden. There is memorial to Fleet in Hollybrook, Cemetery Ireland.
