SS Yarmouth Castle

Yarmouth Castle sailing under her original name, Evangeline
History
United States
NameEvangeline
OwnerEastern Steamship Lines
BuilderWilliam Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia
Yard number524
Laid downMay 1, 1926
LaunchedFebruary 12, 1927
AcquiredOctober 4, 1927 (completion)
Out of service1954[1]
Identification
  • Official number: 226690
  • Signal letters: MGNP
FateSold and transferred to Liberian registry
Liberia
NameEvangeline
Owner
  • F. Leslie Frasier (1954-1962)[2]
  • W.R. Lovett (1962-1963)[2]
OperatorEastern Shipping Corporation[2]
In service1954-1963[1]
Out of service1963
RenamedYarmouth Castle
FateName and ownership changed in 1963[1]
Panama
NameYarmouth Castle
OwnerChadade Steamship Company
Operator
In service1964-1965
Out of service1965
RenamedYarmouth Castle
FateCaught fire and sank 60 miles northwest of Nassau, Bahamas, November 13, 1965
General characteristics
TypeCoastal passenger liner/Cruise ship
Tonnage5,043 GRT
Length
Beam55.7 ft (17.0 m)
Depth26.7 ft (8.1 m)
Installed power6 boilers
Propulsion2 Parsons steam turbines, 7,500 S.H.P.
Speed18 kn (21 mph; 33 km/h)
Capacity
  • 750 first class passengers, 141 crew (as built/registered 1928)
  • 365 Passengers in 186 cabins later service[1]

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[note 1] built by the William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Company for the Eastern Steamship Lines for service on the New York CityYarmouth, 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.

  1. ^ a b c d "Some Notable Early Cruise Ships from Miami". Original. GetCruising.com. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  2. ^ a b c "Eastern Cruise Lines Postcards". Original and reprinted. Simplon Postcards. Retrieved 8 October 2013.


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