several improvements, including the installation of a ship-wide sprinkler system. She operated on the New York City – Bahamas run for less than a year, and was then laid up from 1948 to 1953, save for a two-month period in 1950. The ship was sold to a Liberian company called the Volusia Steamship Company in 1954. She was given an overnight run from Boston to Nova Scotia, and resumed service to the Caribbean in 1955. The ship was sold in 1963 to the Chadade Steamship Company, and her name was changed to Yarmouth Castle that year. She offered service from New York City to the Bahamas for Caribbean Cruise Lines, which went bankrupt that same year. By the end of 1964, Yarmouth Castle was operated by Yarmouth Cruise Lines. The ship ran pleasure cruises on the 186-mile stretch between Miami and Nassau. She was under Panamanian registry. Fire Yarmouth Castle departed Miami for Nassau on November 12, 1965, with 376 passengers and 176 crew members aboard, a total of 552 people. The ship was due to arrive in Nassau the next day. The captain on the voyage was 35-year-old Byron Voutsinas. The fire started shortly after midnight on November 13 in room 610 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 source of the fire could not be determined; it may have been caused by jury-rigged wiring, sparks entering through the ventilation or by carelessness. A watchman did a security patrol between 12:30 and 12:50 a.m. but failed to systematically check all areas of the ship and detect the fire. At some point between midnight and 1:00 a.m. crew and passengers began noticing smoke and heat and started searching for a fire. When they discovered it in room 610 and the toilet above, it had already begun to spread and attempts to fight the fire with fire extinguishers were not effective. Attempts to activate a fire alarm box were also unsuccessful. The bridge was unaware of the fire until about 1:10 a.m. By this time, Yarmouth Castle was 120 miles east of Miami and 60 miles northwest of Nassau. At 1:00 a.m. the engine room alerted the bridge that smoke was coming through the ventilation system. The captain was summoned to the