thebandplayed:

Fredrick Fleet was born in Liverpool, Lancashire in 1887 to an absent father, his mother&nbsp;abandoned him in his early childhood. He spent his childhood moving between&nbsp;orphanages,&nbsp;foster homes and family members&nbsp;which most likely influenced him to take merchant navy training at just 12. Fleet ended up serving on RMS Oceanic as did Second Officer Lightoller and Fourth Officer Boxhall. From the Oceanic, Fleet signed onto the Titanic as a lookout at age 25.&nbsp;
Fleet, along with Reginald Lee, took the positions of lookouts at 10pm on the night of the sinking. It was Fleet who rang the bells to signify something ahead. He then rang down the the bridge to describe the problem. When answered he said &ldquo;Iceberg right ahead&rdquo; and&nbsp;received&nbsp;the reply &ldquo;thank you&rdquo;, then he and Lee had to wait to see if the action taken would be enough. Fleet saw the ice fall on deck, they though it had either been a slight hit or near miss, it did not seem serious. They were both relieved 20 minutes later, after the ship had come to a stop.
Fleet was&nbsp;assigned to lifeboat 6 by Second Officer Lightoller along with Quater-Master Hitchins, Fleet helped to load passengers onto the lifeboat before lowering. This was the first lifeboat to be lowered on the port side.&nbsp;
After the sinking, Fleet went on to work on RMS Olympic but found that the White Star Line found the surviving crew to be&nbsp;embarrassing reminders so he switched to the Union-Castle Line. He worked for Harland and Wolfe as a shipbuilder and then again for Union-Castle as a shore master-at-arms. In his later life he sold newspapers on street corners.&nbsp;
Fleet sadly&nbsp;committed&nbsp;suicide in 1965 when he was 77, after the death of his wife and been kicked out of the place he was living by the house owner, his brother-in-law.
Information from here, here, here and here.
