The Yarmouth Castle Ship Fire Trivia Quiz

Answer: Philadelphia

The Yarmouth Castle and her sister ship were built by the William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Builders of Philadelphia, PA. Both ships were built simultaneously and her sister ship was launched shortly after the Castle was. However, the Castle was not the original name of the ship when it was launched. Ironically enough, her sister ship was called the Yarmouth. Both ships were 365 ft long and weighed 5002 tons. Small ships as compared to today's standards.

Answer: Evangeline

The Castle was originally called the Evangeline and it was owned by the Eastern Steamship Company. It was used for passenger trade between Boston & Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

Answer: WWII

The Evangeline was converted to a troop ship and sometimes used as a hospital ship when WWII broke out. It ferried troops from San Francisco to the islands for the fighting. After the war was over, it was converted back to a cruise ship and used on a New York City to Bahamas run for less than a year; transporting civilians for pleasure cruises.

Answer: 5 years

The Evangeline was a derelict from 1948-1953. My source does not have a reason for this; only to say it was used for 2 months in 1950. A Liberian company with the name of the Volusia Steamship Company bought the ship and resumed its services in 1955. Evangeline was given an overnight run between Boston and Nova Scotia before resuming its regular run to the Caribbean.

Answer: 1964

The Evangeline's name was changed to the Yarmouth Castle in 1964 when it was bought by the Caribbean Cruise Lines which was owned by the Chadade Steamship Company. Unfortunately, the line went bankrupt the same year. As a result, it was then given to the Yarmouth Cruise Line. It started doing pleasure cruises runs between Miami and Nassau.

Answer: November 12, 1965

The Yarmouth Castle was reconditioned and given several coats of paint to make her look new. After passing a fire drill and inspection, it set sail on November 12, 1965 from Miami under the command of Captain Byron Voutsinas. He had 552 passengers and crew aboard. The ship was due to dock in Nassau the next day. At this point, The ship was also under Panamanian registry.

Answer: 610

The fire started when a pile of mattresses stacked too close to a light bulb started to smoulder. It was in Room 610. It was an unused stateroom because the room was directly over the boiler room and got too hot inside for passenger use. A night watchman, who was making his rounds, failed to notice the smoke rolling out of the room. Around 1 AM, crew members noticed a badly burned passenger in a stairwell and noticed smoke and flames racing through the stairwell. Troubles were just starting and the worse was yet to come!

Answer: No

When Voutsinas was alerted to the fire, he sent for his second officer to sound the fire alarm. Before the officer could sound the onboard alarm, the bridge burst into flames. As the radio operator went to send out the call for help, the radio room also caught fire! At this point, the whole bow of the ship is completely engulfed!

Answer: stayed behind to help passengers and crew

Voutsinas and several members of the crew took off in a lifeboat before the other passengers were off. As required, the captain is supposed to be the last one off his ship; no matter the circumstances.

Answer: they heard screaming and running in the hallways

Since the officers weren't able to sound the alarm an the sprinklers did not work, most of the passengers started running and screaming in the halls as others tried to find an escape route.

Answer: Finnpulp

The Finnpulp noticed the Castle had lost speed and was at a near stand-still. When the Finnpulp's captain turned around, he saw the glow on the horizon that could only come from the Castle. He ordered the ship around and headed full speed towards the scene. On the way, he contacted the Miami Coast Guard and informed them of the situation.

Answer: The first lifeboat contained Voutsinas and crew members, but only 5 passengers

When the Finnpulp arrived, the captain was angered at the fact that the first lifeboat arrived at the side with Voutsinas and part of his crew arrived in. Voutsinas stated that he left in the lifeboat to catch up with the Finnpulp and get a distress signal out. The captain of the Finnpulp ordered Voutsinas and his crew back to the Castle to rescue more passengers.

Answer: Bahama Star

The Bahama Star was following the Castle when it noticed a glow and some smoke on the horizon. Realising it was the Castle on fire, he radioed the Miami Coast Guard and then raced to the scene to help.

Answer: False

There was plenty of problems with the lifeboats. Some of the forward boats caught fire before they even had a chance to be launched. Some of the other boats that were not on fire yet had problems with the ropes jamming in the davits because of the thick coats of paint that were on them. Then some of the boats did not have oarlocks to properly move the boats away from the ship.

Answer: 6

Only about 6 of the Castle's 13 lifeboats were able to be launched. Some burned up and some got jammed in the davits because of the paint. The first two or three boats that were launched, though, only had 5 passengers total; rest were crew including Castle's captain Voutsinas.

Answer: 6 AM

At around 6:05 AM, the Castle finally rolled over or listed to port and sunk beneath the surface. Just before she went, both captains heard a series of sounds and groans coming from the ship. This was caused by exploding boilers and the breaking glass. Steam was also escaping through the whistles as she went down. Witnesses later said the whole ship was glowing red and the sea around her was actually boiling.

The fire was so hot at one point that when the Finnpulp pulled along side to assist passengers from one ship to the other, she had to make a speedy getaway because the paint on her hull was boiling and burning.

The fire was measured to be around 2000 degrees at it's hottest moment.

Answer: 87

If you chose 90, you were partially correct. Eighty-seven people died that night. There were also 14 people who were critically injured at the time. After being rescued and taken to a Nassau hospital, 3 of the 14 had passed away. That would then bring the total to 90.

Answer: dereliction of duty

Captain Voutsinas and part of his crew were charged with dereliction of duty for leaving the ship before the rest of his passengers and crew. Under the law, the captain is not supposed to leave the ship until everyone else is off.

Answer: mattresses stacked too close to a lit light bulb

Besides the dereliction of Voutsinas and his crew, the inquiry found that the original paint was not stripped first and was painted over with fresh coats of oil based paint. They also found that there was only one radio operator onboard. By law, all ships are required to have two radio operators.

They also found the fire hoses to be inadequate and in por shape as well as the fire doors onboard not activated.

Answer: SOLAS

SOLAS stood for Safety Of Life At Sea. This law required that all vessels carrying more than 50 people were expected to have evacuation plans in place in case of an emergency arises. It also required that all vessels for overnight travel were to be made entirely of steel.

This was because the Castle's all wooden superstructure was the main cause for the fire that happened. Hope you enjoyed tis quiz.