Frederick Fleet
British sailor
Died when: 77 years 87 days (926 months)Star Sign: Libra
Frederick Fleet (15 October 1887 – 10 January 1965) was a British sailor, crewman and a survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic.Fleet, along with fellow lookout Reginald Lee, was on duty when the ship struck the iceberg; it was Fleet who first sighted the iceberg, ringing the bridge to proclaim: "Iceberg, right ahead!" Both Fleet and Lee survived the sinking.
Fleet testified at the subsequent inquiries into the disaster that, if he and Lee had been issued with binoculars: "We could have seen it (the iceberg) a bit sooner." When asked how much sooner, he responded, "Well, enough to get out of the way." In later life, Fleet suffered severe depression, likely at least in part due to the Titanic disaster, and died by suicide by hanging in January 1965.
