This fine bronze bell once graced the Steel Steamer Yarmouth, of Nova Scotia, Canada. With an excellent verdigris patina to the bronze, the bell retains a strong, resonant tone when struck. Marked "YARMOUTH 1887"; with the smaller foundry mark of "J.M. Broomall" across the top.
Built by Archibald McMillan & Son, Dumbarton-on-the-Clyde, Glasgow, the Steel Steamer Yarmouth measured 220 feet long p/p with a 35 foot beam, traveling at a speed of 14 knots. Designed specifically to ferry passengers and goods for the Yarmouth Steamship Company, at the time she was launched in May of 1887 she was the finest steamship to ply the routes between the United States and Eastern Canada.
The Yarmouth Steamship Company (YMC) brought reliable transportation between New England and Nova Scotia and the Bay of Fundy with sailings between Yarmouth and Boston, Halifax and St. John. Started as the Yarmouth Line in 1885 the ships were at first just a way for its owner, L.E. Baker, to support his existing import and mercantile business. By 1887, when the YMC was established, the routes were key to transportation and commerce in the region with the YMC not only bringing tourists to the province but eventually building hotels and other developments at ports of call along with creating rail connections with their ships.
The photo of the ship at dock is the SS Yarmouth in Nova Scotia and the second image is of an advertisement for the Yarmouth line steamships. These images are shown for historical reference and are not included.
