The Discovery Channel ran a documentary last night on the Yarmouth Castle...I didn't get to watch it, so I don't know if they included Gord's song.

Saw a PBS show on Canadian Railway Journies that did use CRT a few years ago.

I saw about 40 minutes of the hour. No music in that portion. No mention of a card game either but most likely the boat had a casino (Shut up and deal).

One interesting fact was that the ship was originally named "Evangeline." (There were pictures of the ship bearing that name.) There is a superstition that it is bad luck to rename a ship. That proved true in this case.

Three things were particularly shocking about the story. First, the lifeboats were covered with so many coats of paint that some of them were stuck in place. Second, there was a watchman who was supposed to check the entire ship in his rounds. During his rounds, he passed the corridor where the fire was just beginning but did not check.
Most shocking was the "captain in his lifeboat." Not only did he abandon ship, he was one of the first to do so. Many of these passengers were on deck watching him and many of his crew rowing away.

The fire appears to have started near an interior stairwell at the end of a corridor. Once the fire had gotten well started, there was very little that might have been done for the passengers in the interior cabins because the paint used on board and many of the wood (teak) trimmings were highly flammible. The passengers who escaped were primarily those who were able to get to the bow and stern. After climbing down rope ladders and jumping into the sea, they were rescued by the Bahama Star. At least one passenger tried to jump into a lifeboat and fatally shattered his legs.

Like a toy ship on a mill pond she burned all through the night, then slipped beneath the waves in the mornin." The show had some video of the ship burning (it was hard to tell which was actual video and which was staged re-enactment.

There was an investigation of the actions of the captain and crew but I was unable to view that portion of the show. The captain maintained, without much credibility, that he had left the ship to try to get help.

If anyone has more info on the program or on the Yarmouth Castle, I'd love to hear it.


[This message has been edited by 2Much2Lose (edited May 24, 2000).]

Bill,

I saw that episode last year. I was waiting for the Lightfoot music to start but it never did. I really enjoyed the show and up until that time I thought the Yarmouth Castle was ficticous. In fact that is probably why I was so interested in the show. It seemed that with the exception of the 'shut up and deal' line which might have happened it seemed that everything else in the song did.

I am going to check the paper right now to see if it going to be on again this week.

'for the ragged hoses in their racks no pressure do they hold and the captain in his lifeboat is-a-leaving'

Great song, sad story, tragic incident...
dan