SS Yarmouth Castle, built as Evangeline, was an American steamship whose loss in a disastrous fire in 1965 prompted new laws regarding safety at sea. The ship was the second of two identical ships built by the William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Company for the Eastern Steamship Lines for service on the New York City – Yarmouth, Nova Scotia route, operating in practice out of Boston as well. During World War II, Evangeline was turned over to the War Shipping Administration, which operated all oceangoing vessels for the United States, and was used primarily as an army troop transport. Eastern Steamship Lines resumed control of the ship on July 1, 1946. After a short period in service, the ship was laid up, and then sold in 1954 and put under Liberian registry, operating from Boston to Nova Scotia, then to the Caribbean. In 1963 Evangeline was sold again, put under Panamanian registry and renamed Yarmouth Castle; the ship was operated by Yarmouth Cruise Lines between Miami and Nassau, Bahamas, from 1964 until the disaster on November 12, 1965. History Construction and early service Evangeline was built for a new service between New York City and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. The ship was laid down at William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Company in Philadelphia as hull number 524 on May 1, 1926. On February 12, 1927, the ship was launched and christened Evangeline, with completion in September and delivery on October 4, 1927. The ship was a twin-screw, steam-turbine-driven vessel of , on waterline, registered length, beam and depth, with a crew of 141. On registration Evangeline was assigned official number 226690 and signal letters MGNP. Evangeline had five decks, the upper three devoted to passengers with one cargo deck specially designed for automobiles. The ship had a glassed-in promenade deck, two social halls, a library, a dancing saloon and a verandah cafe. Six boilers provided steam to two Parsons turbines developing 7,500 shaft horsepower for a speed of . In actual operation Evangeline served on both the Boston and New York routes with seasonal variation. World War II troop transport On January 6, 1942, Evangeline was delivered to the War Shipping Administration (WSA) at New Orleans for wartime service. The ship had been evaluated for use as an Army hospital ship, and considered better than several actually converted, but was never converted nor used as