Morro Castle Cruise Ship Fire

On the evening of September 7th Captain Robert Willmott had his dinner delivered to his quarters.

Morro castle cruise ship fire. Nothing could have been more terrifying than being a passenger or crew member aboard the Morro Castle in the early morning hours of September 7 1934 when fire erupted in two places on the 508 long 11250 gross tons of elegant ship. Should be handled with care. In fact the entire investigation into the Morro Castle incident was kept a little too secret for a passenger ship.

Joseph Bregstein were aboard the Ward Line SS Morro Castle on September 7 when a strange sequence of events. On 14 March 1935 what remained of the Morro Castle was towed away but some accounts say that she sank on the way to the scrapyard. He was hours into his new position as captain of the cruise ship Morro Castle when the liner caught on fire approximately 15 miles off Barnegat Light.

The SS Morro Castle named after a fortress that guards Havana Bay was a luxury cruise ship of the 1930s that was built for the Ward Line for runs between New York City and Havana. His actions would become one of the most famous stories to ever take place on the New Jersey shore. See hyperlink for more.

The cause for the fire was never identified or at least never shared with the public. The Ward Line luxury liner had left port from Havana Cuba three days before running into some rough weather along the way. Her final journey began on September 5th 1934.

1934 SS Morro Castle. The SS Morro Castle had acted as a passenger liner between Cuba and New York City since 1930. It was built for its New York to Havana cruises and made one round trip every week.

Liner SS Morro Castle burns. 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 fire could have been contained if the crew had used fire.