Frederick Skead, hydrographer and Master in the Royal Navy, was the son of Thomas Skead and Jennefer Eyre and a younger brother of Francis Skead*, also a hydrographer. In 1848 he was appointed as master's assistant on the steam frigate Penelope, which did survey work along the coast of Africa. He was promoted to second master in 1850 and participated in the survey of the coasts of Syria and Egipt in the Mediterranean. By 1859 he held the rank of Master on the Tartarus, still working in the Mediterranean, and the next year was appointed Master to the steam surveying vessel Firefly.
Frederick visited his brother in Port Elizabeth shortly after the latter had retired from the Royal Navy in 1865 and remained in South Africa until 1870. During this time he conducted some hydrographic surveying along the Cape south coast. With William Stanton, also a Master in the Royal Navy, he compiled Chart 2084, Mossel Bay to Cape St Francis (1867), on which he is identified as Fred. Skead. Another chart, No. 2083, Cape Agulhas to Mossel Bay (1867), by F. Skead, was probably also his work, as his brother Francis had retired by this time.
