{"product_id":"yarmouth-castle-burning-the-deadliest-passenger-ship-disaster-off-the-coast-of-the-united-states-since-1934-9780764369872","title":"Yarmouth Castle Burning: The Deadliest Passenger Ship Disaster Off the Coast of the United States Since 1934","description":"Eighty-four passengers and two crew died in the early-morning hours of November 13, 1965, when the cruise liner SS\u003cem\u003e Yarmouth Castle\u003c\/em\u003e caught fire and sank near Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas. Four others would die later from their injuries. Her total loss marks the deadliest passenger ship disaster off the coast of the United States since the burning of the liner SS \u003cem\u003eMorro Castle\u003c\/em\u003e off New Jersey in 1934. The survival of over 450 people from the inferno was nothing short of a miracle. The subsequent accident investigation and voluminous press coverage exposed the cavalier operational practices of cruise lines at the time and eventually changed US and international standards for the construction and operations of passenger ships. Based on the authors' collection of firsthand narratives from survivors and their families, thousands of pages of testimony from the United States Coast Guard accident investigation, and contemporaneous press coverage, the book is primarily the story of the night the \u003cem\u003eCastle \u003c\/em\u003eburned and, secondarily, the legal and regulatory aftermath of the disaster.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTakakjian, Eric:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eEric Takakjian\u003c\/strong\u003e is the master of the \u003cem\u003eChincoteague\u003c\/em\u003e, a 504-foot, oceangoing articulated tug and barge engaged in the coastwise petroleum transportation trade. He has been sailing ships and oceangoing tugboats to various corners of the world since 1978. Takakjian and his wife, Lori, owned and operated the oceanographic research vessel \u003cem\u003eQuest\u003c\/em\u003e for 17 years, conducting oceanographic and shipwreck research in the northeastern United States. He has conducted extensive historical research on the naval history of the region. A diver since 1972 and an avid shipwreck diver since 1975, Takakjian has been a National Fellow of the Explorers Club since 1997. He has been a member of the Steamship Historical Society of America since 1989 and has served on their board of directors since 2016. He lives in Massachusetts.\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePeffer, Randall:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eRandall Peffer\u003c\/strong\u003e is the author of 12 nonfiction books as well as over 350 travel-lifestyle features for \u003cem\u003eNational Geographic\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eSmithsonian\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eReader's Digest\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eSail. \u003c\/em\u003eHis travel features have appeared in most US major metro dailies, including the \u003cem\u003eNew York Time\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003es\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cem\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/em\u003e. The son of a career naval officer, Peffer holds a 100-ton master's license and has logged over 100,000 miles at sea. He has been the captain of the research schooner \u003cem\u003eSarah Abbot\u003c\/em\u003e for 38 years and has been elected to the prestigious seafarers' organization the Cruising Club of America. After more than three decades of teaching writing and literature at Phillips Academy, Andover, he has left teaching to write full time. He sails out of his homeports of Marion, Massachusetts; Great Guana Cay, Abaco Islands; and Long Beach, California.","brand":"Schiffer Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51615527174418,"sku":"9780764369872","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_f4a3ddb4-e8c9-4182-a68b-7f1d0a431db8.jpg?v=1758101188","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/yarmouth-castle-burning-the-deadliest-passenger-ship-disaster-off-the-coast-of-the-united-states-since-1934-9780764369872","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}