Claim: Alfred Cheetham worked on fishing fleets in the North sea and eventually became a merchant navy boatswain.
Evidence: His family moved to Hull sometime during his youth (possibly around 1877), and he went to sea as a teenager, working on the fishing fleets of the North Sea and farther afield. Cheetham worked from his base in Hull as a merchant navy boatswain and a reservist for the Royal Navy.