The following are from
https://www.freecen.org.uk/cgi/search.pl. There is more detail there, and you should check the originals at
www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk.
They're in the 1841 census in Greenock, in the household of Isabella Kennedy, lodging house keeper. Fredrick, 30, merchant seaman, born England; Fairlie, 38 and Elizabeth McFarlane, 12, both born Renfrewshire.
In 1851 the household consists of Isabella Kennedy, 72, lodging house keeper; daughter Fairlie Madgwick, 48, shipmaster's wife; granddaughter Eliza B McFarlane, 19; granddaughter Isabella S Madgwick, 8, all born Greenock.
In 1861 Fairlie and Isabella Sophia were still in Greenock. The original will tell you whether Fairlie was widowed or still married. Isabella died in Glasgow in 1869, aged 26, having married John Park in 1862 and had two children.
There's no death in Scotland after 1855, or in England or Wales. So it does look as if he died at sea or, just possibly, in Scotland between the 1851 census and the end of December 1854.
Edit: I see I am wasting my time duplicating old ground. This is the same family as in
Scottish threads merged. - though the information in whatever transcription of the 1851 census was quoted in that thread does not tally with the FreeCEN transcription. I'd back FreeCEN over most other transcriptions most of the time, but you need to look at the original to make up your own mind what it actually says.
Anothere duplicate thread
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=674827Buckhyne, you don't need to worry about searching for seamen's records for this query. The relevant extract has already been posted in that second thread.