Hi

I am a descendant of Fredewrick Fleet- we (the Fleet family) have not yet on which branch of the tree that Frederick Fleet ( nightwatchman/lifeboat operator HMS Titanic) is as yet- but it is still work in progress.

He was bornout of "wedlock', never knew his father and when he was 5, his Mother Alice Fleet set sail from Liverpool England heading to the porty of Boston to start a new life in Springfield, Masachussets,USA with her boyfriend of that time (not Freds father). She ws 21 , meaning that she was just 16 when she had Fred- so did she really abondon him or was she 'sent" away? It appears that she married the boyfriend that she went to USA with- a William Burnett, they married 3 years after arriving in Springfield, they had a daughter born that year- Elizabeth Burnett.
Fred Fleet sailed back to England in May 1912 after the tragedy of the Titanic- and worked odd jobs including being a newspaper seller but also worked in the shipbuilding industry- either Liverpool and/or Southampton. Sadly he ws brought up in orphanages and foster homes, started on ths ships as a 12 year old deck hand and got 'trained up" to be an abel seaman. His only true feeling of accpetance and unconditional love was with his wife Eva, so understandably he was distraught when she died- probaly along with the grief of his wifes death and the post traumatic stress of what happened on the Titanic and probably feleing guilty becuase he survived and then his brother in law evicting him soon afet his wifes death- you can understand why he wanted to end it all. he hung himself on the washing line in his brother in laws garden. he ws buried in a "paupers" grave in Southanpton with the Titanic society erecting a memorial headstone in his honpur in 1993. He and Eva never had any children. Fred was about 8- when he died. Alice came back to England, was amill worker and her death is registered in Burnley, UK. Hope this clarifys a few things for a few people.
Julie Gregory ( nee Fleet)