In 1963, Eastern Steamship Line sold the SS Evangeline to the Chadade Steamship Company, Panama, which formed a new subsidiary line, Yarmouth Cruise Line. The SS Evangeline was re-named Yarmouth Castle.
On 12 November 1965 Yarmouth Castle departed Miami for Nassau, with 376 passengers and 176 crew members aboard, a total of 552 people. The ship was due to arrive in Nassau the next day. A fire started shortly after midnight on 13 November 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 fire resulted in the ship sinking.
Fourteen people were critically injured and taken by helicopter from S/S Bahama Star to Nassau hospitals. Bahama Star rescued 240 passengers and 133 crew. Finnpulp rescued 51 passengers and 41 crew. 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.
The Yarmouth Castle fire was the worst disaster in North American waters since 1949.
