Wreaths taken from grave of Titanic look-out Fred Fleet in Southampton

The colourful wreaths on the grave of Fred Fleet were marking 100 years since the fateful night he spotted the iceberg and raised the alarm.

But as the world commemorated the centenary of the famous disaster, someone snatched wreaths laid by his grave in Southampton’s Hollybrook Cemetery.

The flowers were laid during a special ceremony led by the British Titanic Society.

Today only a bunch of withered white flowers remain – along with binoculars with a note attached.

It reads: “Dear Fred, Sorry for bringing these 100 years too late. But better late than never!

“You said if you had these, you would have had time enough to set Titanic away from the iceberg. So here they are! Luv Francis.”

Secretary of the Titanic Society Nigel Wright said: “It is a shocking thing to have happened. This is a desecration.

I cannot believe someone would remove a wreath – it is just astounding.

“The binoculars are strange enough but to move everything is disrespectful to the person who was so pivotal.”

He added: “You cannot blame Fred Fleet for the disaster. It would have been very difficult to use binoculars at night.”

Southampton historian Genevieve Bailey said Fred was taunted in the street about his role in the tragedy.

She said: “Can you imagine? The poor bloke. All those people who died because he never saw the iceberg in time – and the guilt of surviving.”

Frederick Fleet

FOR more than 30 years Fred’s grave was unmarked because his family could not afford a headstone. But in 1998 the Titanic Historical Society erected one featuring an engraving of the vessel.

Aged 25, Fred, pictured, was a lookout aboard the White Star liner and on duty in the crow’s nest when the ship struck an iceberg. He was said not to be using binoculars because they were left down below.

Inquiries into the disaster on both sides of the Atlantic never blamed him. And maritime historians suggest he did everything he could – and that he had a record of being a conscientious lookout.

After surviving the tragedy he continued to serve aboard liners until his retirement, when he became a Daily Echo paper seller.

Fred was married for 48 years but 12 days after the death of his wife he committed suicide, hanging himself in his garden. His surviving family describe him as a “quiet man” who never sought publicity over his experience aboard Titanic.