The Tribune

By ERIC WIBERG

The steam passenger ship SS Yarmouth Castle was halfway through The Bahamas in 1965 when poor management practices on an old ship created an explosion of flames which effected 500 participants, leaving 90 dead.

Thousands of rescuers both afloat and on shore, particularly medical personnel in Nassau and mariners put themselves at risk to save lives. From this preventable tragedy arose a positive impact on safety regulations like SOLAS, or Safety of Life at Sea conventions, as well as the creation of the Bahamas’ first emergency room, and a volunteer corps called Yellowbirds to better cope with large-scale tragedies.

Yarmouth Castle was built in 1927 by William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia for the Eastern Steamship Lines firm. Though possibly named for the castle on Isle of Wight, it was christened Evangeline, whose sister ship, Yarmouth, operated a passenger run across the Bay of Fundy from Boston to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

The steamship was 5,043 gross tons, 378’ long, 56’ wide, 27’ deep, had six boilers and two turbine engines which pushed her at 18 knots. By 1965 her accommodation was for 365 passengers in 186 cabins. She departed Miami for Nassau on November 12, with 376 passengers and 176 crew members aboard, totaling 552 people. The ship was under the command of 35-year-old Captain Byron Voutsinas.

The fire ignited shortly after midnight in room 610 on the main deck, which was was being used as a storage for mattresses, chairs and other combustible materials. No sprinkler head was installed there, and the precise source of the fire is not known, whether by sparks, wiring, through the ventilation, carelessness with a cigarette, or all three.

The fire quickly raged out of control, killing 87 persons on board, most of whom went down with the ship and their bodies were never recovered. Three others were rescued alive, including the ship’s doctor and a stewardess, and died after.

In sum, 462 persons survived, rescued by the passenger ship Bahama Star saved over 350 people, and a cargo ship named Finnpulp, which rescued nearly 100. Numbers are hard to ascertain as helicopters and boats then took some persons off these ships.

Fourteen of the most critically injured rescued were taken by helicopter from Bahama Star to hospitals in Nassau, about 60 miles south. Flashback Miami described the ship as “an ageing liner,” and how the fire started “100 miles out at sea, nine hours after departing”. There followed a rescue operation impressive by any metric, particularly given the radio operator was burned to death before sending a Mayday – the massive pyre could be seen for many miles. Then, in daylight ships were forced away as flames engulfed the stricken hulk. The ship sank at 6.03am, in 11,000 feet.

Among corrective actions implemented with SOLAS were that passenger ships calling in United States ports were required to have steel bulkheads and decks, fireproof passenger areas shielded from engine room and galley, and proper fire shelter for radio operators. This inspired Gordon Lightfoot to compose and sing Ballad of the Yarmouth Castle. It generated several helpful medical studies in the treatment of large burns by Mary Kelly, Hilda Neely. Virginia Ballance, medical school archivist, published an article in the Bahamas Historical Society Journal. She notes that “the post-disaster emergency care resulted in the establishment of the intensive care unit at the government hospital and the establishment of a hospital volunteer corps… out of the disaster came some important legacies”.

Aside from crew response, the state of the vessel speaks to the casualties. It is said that Yarmouth Castle had so many coats of paint it was said to be “held together by paint.” A troop transport in WWII, it was laid up for many years up to 1953.

In 1964, she was bought by the Chadade Steamship Company, indirectly owned by Canadian Jules Sokoloff, then living in Nassau, who ran them to Baltimore and New York and Nassau until repeated breakdowns moved them between Miami to Nassau, and $300,000 was spent on upgrading safety aboard by 1965. That night Finnpulp was a short distance ahead trying to beat the passenger ship into Nassau, and Bahama Star was behind – all watching one another. At 1.25 am the captain ordered “Abandon Ship”, though a general alarm was never issued. By 1.45 am the only motorised lifeboat was launched. Many passengers gave up on jammed lifeboats and either slithered down the side or jumped into the waters. Finnpulp’s crew noticed the ship stopped moving forward.

The first boat off was filled with Yarmouth Castle crew including Captain Voutsinas, though he later returned to the ship. By 1.54, the Finnish captain was able to reach the US Coast Guard by radio, some 1.5 hours after the fire started. Captain Brown of Bahama Star took overall charge, and by 4am all survivors that could be were pulled from the water. A US Coast Guard helicopter took its first evacuee from the Finnpulp at 5.15am. When the ship sank it let out masses of air which emitted erie sounds, like groaning or wailing. The head of Nassau’s medical effort, Dr Richard Cory, was woken at 5.30 am. His young daughter Sally and Marlene and Kay Thompson were on board the Yarmouth Castle.

Emergency personnel fanned out to the airport (Windsor Field), Prince George Dock, and Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH). Pretty much every volunteer and public service organization in the capital turned out. They are too many to name, but “the response over everyone in Nassau was maginificent”. A photo of Bahama Star arriving in daylight shows hundreds out and ready to receive her victims. The 13 patients arrived three at a time via helpicopter. Police had to keep Shirley Street clear to enable a stream of ambulances into PMH, and the public donated large volumes of bood for the strangers on their shores. Without a burn unit or ER room, patients flooded into the male ward, private surgery, and eye units.

The British Colonial Hotel set up a reception centre in the lobby to sort out survivors and distribute information and families and international press arrived. Airlines, BASRA, and the American Women’s Club provided toiletries, cigarettes, meals and other basics to survivors, many of whom landed with nothing but pajamas. Most simply “wanted to get home”, as Ballance put it.

In Nassau hospitals, 36 patients went to emergency treatment for burns and cuts from breaking windows. Nineteen remained afterwards, five were airlifted to Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital, one died from smoke inhalation in Nassau, and two died in the US. Many people were traumatized even though not on board the ship – nurses, doctors, reporters and others in the maritime and land transport sectors – anyone who witness such horrific burn injuries. Victims were among the first to be treated with .5 percent aqueous silver nitrate, which was pionered just the year before by Dr Carl Moyer in the US. Doctors came to Princess Margaret Hospital to learn about this therapy.

The Yellowbirds, or Princess Margaret Hospital Auxilary, were founded out of this experience, as was the first Intentive Care Unit there. A contributor to this effort was US Embassy Vice Consul Olive Jensen. In this effort the Ministry of Health administrators were ably and enthusiastically supported by Mrs Nancy Kelly and Mrs Peggy Jones. Growing from 60 to over 100 volunteers, this organisation has flourished and is vital to the nation’s emergency preparedness – after all we continue to hosts ships, hotels and aircraft filled with visitors. The Nassau Tribune was awarded a Merganthaler Award for coverage of this story, and Captain Brown was honored by the government of The Bahamas.