Frederick William Barrett (10 January 1883 – 3 March 1931) was a British stoker. After having served as a stoker on several ships, on 6 April 1912, he was hired on board the RMS ''Titanic'' as lead stoker. On April 15, 1912, while the ship was sinking, Barrett boarded lifeboat No. 13 and took command of it, thus surviving the disaster. He later testified before commissions of inquiry into the sinking of the ship and continued to work in the navy until the 1920s. In 1923, after losing his wife Mary Anne Jones, he remained in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and worked ashore as a logger. He died of pulmonary tuberculosis in 1931.

Biography

Youth and career

Frederick William Barrett was born on 10 January 1883 in

Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. It is pa ...

, near

. He was the only surviving child of Henry Charles Barrett (1862-1909), a

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

workman, and Mary Barrett (née Morgan) (1864-?) of

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

. On 4 October of the same year, he was baptized in St. John's Church in Bootle. Little is known about his youth, but the census of 1891 indicates that he was a

wheelwright A wheelwright is a Artisan, craftsman who builds or repairs wooden wheels. The word is the combination of "wheel" and the word "wright" (which comes from the Old English word "''wryhta''", meaning a worker - as also in shipbuilding, shipwright ...

and his father a woodworker. Barrett decided to turn to the sea when he discovered that his wife was unfaithful. The date of his first trip to sea is not certain. In 1903, he joined the

Cunard Line The Cunard Line ( ) is a British shipping and an international cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its four ships have been r ...

aboard the RMS ''Campania'' as a stoker. In 1904, he entered the service of the Allan Line by serving aboard the SS ''Parisian'' and then the

White Star Line The White Star Line was a British shipping line. Founded out of the remains of a defunct Packet trade, packet company, it gradually grew to become one of the most prominent shipping companies in the world, providing passenger and cargo service ...

aboard the RMS ''Cedric''. In 1906, he returned to the Cunard Line serving again on the ''Campania''. He then joined the

American Line The American Line was a shipping company that operated independently from 1871 until 1932, when it was absorbed into the United States Lines. The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based company was the largest American shipping company during its exist ...

aboard the . File:RMS Campania.jpg, RMS ''Campania'' File:RMS Cedric.jpg, RMS ''Cedric'' File:Tug and SS Parisian Montreal harbour 1870.jpg, SS ''Parisian'' File:City of new york.jpg, SS ''City of New York''

Aboard the ''Titanic''

Crossing and collision

Frederick Barrett was a lead stoker working in boiler room 6 when the ''Titanic'' struck an iceberg on the night of 14 April 1912. Boiler room 6 was at the site of the impact with the iceberg. Barrett was talking to the second engineer John Henry Hesketh, when the red light and bells came on signalling the order to stop the engines. He shouted to the men in the boiler room to shut the dampers, the doors to the furnaces and to shut off the wind for the fires. Then he felt a crash and water came pouring in on him from a large tear in the ship's starboard side. Barrett made his way through the watertight door into boiler room 5. He was ordered to go back into boiler room 6, but there was 8 feet of water there. As some of the engineers attended the pumps, the engine room rang for all the stokers to go up on deck. Barrett was ordered to stay behind by an engineer, Mr. Harvey, in boiler room 5 to get some lamps, draw fires, and lift the manhole plate until water started to rush in.

Aboard lifeboat 13

Barrett went up along a hatchway to reach the starboard side of A Deck where there were only two lifeboats left. He escaped the sinking ship on lifeboat 13, which was filled with about 65 to 70 people. Lifeboat 15 nearly came down on top of their lifeboat, but they got out in time. He was put in charge of the lifeboat for about an hour, until he got cold and had to let someone else take over. At one point a woman put a cloak over him, and he was unable to remember anything that took place after that in the lifeboat. At 4:45 a.m., Barrett and the others in the lifeboat were rescued by the .

Commissions of inquiry, career continuation and end of life

After the sinking, he testified at both the British Wreck Commissioner's inquiry and United States Senate inquiry into the sinking of the Titanic. On 25 May 1912, just a few weeks after the sinking, Barrett was working on the ''Titanic''s sister ship where he was questioned by Senator William Alden Smith as part of an investigation. Barrett died in Liverpool on 3 March 1931 due to

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

Frederick William Barrett

Barrett is not to be confused with a fellow crewmember, another stoker named Frederick William Barrett (born in 1879), who perished in the sinking.Frederick William Barrett; EncyclopediaTitanica.org
/ref>

Portrayals

* Maurice Roëves (1979) ('' S.O.S. Titanic'') * Derek Lea (1997) (''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...

'') *

Brian d'Arcy James Brian d'Arcy James (born June 29, 1968) is an American actor and musician. He is known primarily for his Broadway roles, including Shrek in '' Shrek the Musical'', Nick Bottom in '' Something Rotten!'', King George III in '' Hamilton'', and T ...

(1997) (''

Titanic (musical) ''Titanic'' is a Musical theatre, musical with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston and a book by Peter Stone (writer), Peter Stone. It is based on the story of the RMS Titanic, RMS ''Titanic'' which Sinking of the RMS Titanic, sank on its maiden v ...

'') * Phil Cheadle (2011) "What Sank Titanic" Curiosity (TV series) * Ciarán McMenamin (2012) ('' Saving the Titanic'') * Ken (2017) (''

'') * Niall Sheehy (2018) ('' Europe tour'') * Matt deKort (2019) ('' Grand Theatre'')

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrett, Frederick 1883 births 1931 deaths RMS Titanic survivors People from Liverpool 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in England 20th-century English people 19th-century English people