SS Yarmouth Castle

SS Yarmouth Castle, built as Evangeline, was an American steamship whose loss in a disastrous fire in 1965 prompted new laws regarding safety at sea.

The ship was the second of two identical ships built by the William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Company for the Eastern Steamship Lines for service on the New York City – Yarmouth, Nova Scotia route, operating in practice out of Boston as well.

During World War II, Evangeline was turned over to the War Shipping Administration, which operated all oceangoing vessels for the United States, and was used primarily as an army troop transport. Eastern Steamship Lines resumed control of the ship on July 1, 1946.

After a short period in service, the ship was laid up, and then sold in 1954 and put under Liberian registry, operating from Boston to Nova Scotia, then to the Caribbean. In 1963 Evangeline was sold again, put under Panamanian registry and renamed Yarmouth Castle; the ship was operated by Yarmouth Cruise Lines between Miami and Nassau, Bahamas, from 1964 until the disaster on November 12, 1965.