I'd never heard of that ship sinking. Good article on Wiki: SS Yarmouth Castle.
I can't imagine the fear that went through people.
Hard to imagine cruise ships were that small in that era...
Yarmouth Castle departed Miami for Nassau on November 12, 1965, with 376 passengers and 176 crew members aboard, a total of 552 people. The ship was due to arrive in Nassau the next day. The captain on the voyage was 35-year-old Byron Voutsinas.My grandparents returned to Germany around 1959 on an ocean liner, their first (and only) time since emigrating to New York in 1927. Their voyages were uneventful.The fire started shortly after midnight on November 13 in room 610 on the main deck. At the time of the fire, the room was being used as a storage space and contained mattresses, chairs and other combustible materials. No sprinkler head was installed in the room. The source of the fire could not be determined; it may have been caused by jury-rigged wiring, sparks entering through the ventilation or by carelessness.
A watchman did a security patrol between 12:30 and 12:50 a.m. but failed to systematically check all areas of the ship and detect the fire. At some point between midnight and 1:00 a.m. crew and passengers began noticing smoke and heat and started searching for a fire. When they discovered it in room 610 and the toilet above, it had already begun to spread and attempts to fight the fire with fire extinguishers were not effective. Attempts to activate a fire alarm box were also unsuccessful. The bridge was unaware of the fire until about 1:10 a.m. By this time, Yarmouth Castle was 120 miles east of Miami and 60 miles northwest of Nassau.
At 1:00 a.m. the engine room alerted the bridge that smoke was coming through the ventilation system. The captain was summoned to the bridge, instructed the crew to sound the alarm, and departed to locate the fire. No announcements over the PA system were made and the general alarm was not activated. The general alarm would have sounded alarm bells throughout the ship, alerted the passengers, and summoned off-duty personnel to the emergency stations.
After about five minutes, the captain returned to the bridge and at 1:20 a.m. ordered the ship stopped. The radio officer could not send a distress call because of flames and smoke in the radio room. The fire forced the crew to leave the bridge, and the captain gave order to abandon ship at about 1:25 a.m. At this point the general alarm could no longer be sounded and they were unable to issue the complete "abandon ship" signal using the ship's whistle.
The captain proceeded to the lifeboat containing the emergency radio, but could not reach it. He and several crew members launched another lifeboat and abandoned ship at about 1:45 a.m. The captain later testified that he wanted to reach one of the rescue vessels to make an emergency call.
The remaining crew proceeded to alert passengers and attempted to help them escape their cabins. Some passengers tried to escape through cabin windows but found them difficult or impossible to open due to improper maintenance. The sprinkler system activated but was largely ineffective due to the severity of the fire. Crew members attempted to battle the flames with hoses, but were hampered by low hydrant pressure. The investigation later determined that more valves were open than the pumps could handle.
While some lifeboats burned and others could not be launched due to mechanical problems, half of the ship's boats made it safely away. Passengers near the bow could not reach the lifeboats, but some were later picked up by boats from rescue vessels.
The Finnish freighter Finnpulp was just eight miles ahead of Yarmouth Castle, also headed east. At 1:30 a.m., the ship's mate noticed that Yarmouth Castle had slowed significantly on the radar screen. Looking astern, he saw the glowing flames and notified the captain, John Lehto, who had been asleep. Lehto immediately ordered Finnpulp turned around. The freighter radioed Nassau three times but got no reply. At 1:36 a.m., the Finnpulp successfully contacted the Coast Guard in Miami. It was the first distress call sent out.
The passenger liner Bahama Star was following Yarmouth Castle at about twelve miles distance. At 2:15 a.m., Captain Carl Brown noticed rising smoke and a red glow on the water. Realizing that this was Yarmouth Castle, he ordered the ship ahead at full speed. Bahama Star radioed the U.S. Coast Guard at 2:20 a.m.
Finnpulp was the first ship on the scene, aiding the first lifeboat, which carried the Yarmouth Castle's captain. After picking up the passengers and some crew from that boat, the freighter turned to rescue further passengers from the burning ship. Finnpulp also launched its own boats to rescue passengers.
By this time, Bahama Star had arrived on the scene. The ship stopped 100 yards from Yarmouth Castle and launched lifeboats, which lined up against the starboard side of the burning ship. Some people jumped into the water and climbed aboard the lifeboats. Others descended ropes and rope ladders. Finnpulp lowered a motorboat, which towed some of the boats to Bahama Star.
Starting about 2:30 a.m. the U.S. Coast Guard began sending planes and later helicopters to assist in the rescue. The airborne operations would continue throughout the following day.
All survivors had been pulled aboard Finnpulp and Bahama Star by 4:00 a.m. Yarmouth Castle capsized onto her port side just before 6:00 a.m., and sank at 6:03 a.m.
The wreck has not been located but is thought to rest at a depth of 10,800 feet (3,300 m) in the Atlantic.
Aftermath
Fourteen critically injured people were taken by helicopter from Bahama Star to Nassau hospitals. Bahama Star rescued 240 passengers and 133 crew. Finnpulp rescued 51 passengers and 41 crew. Both ships arrived in Nassau on November 13.Eighty-seven people went down with the ship, and three of the rescued passengers later died at hospitals, bringing the final death toll to 90. Of the dead, only two were crew members: stewardess Phyllis Hall and ship's physician Lisardo Diaz-Toorens. While some bodies were recovered, most were lost with the ship.
The Yarmouth Castle fire was the worst disaster in North American waters since the SS Noronic burned and sank in Toronto Harbour with the loss of up to 139 lives in 1949.