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 rolled over 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 10,800 feet below 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. Investigation An investigation into the sinking was launched by the U.S. Coast Guard, which issued a 27-page report on the disaster in March 1966. The board of inquiry found that the proximate cause of the disaster was the failure to detect the fire early on. Contributing to this were