Originally inhabited by the
Mi'kmaq, the region was known as "Keespongwitk" meaning "Lands End" due to its position at the tip of the
Nova Scotia peninsula.
European settlement The region was visited in 1604 by
Samuel de Champlain, who named it "Cap-Fourchu", meaning "forked or cloven cape." The first Europeans to make a settlement on these shores were the
French Acadians. They set up a small fishing settlement known as "Tebouque" in the mid-1600s and by 1750 the population was 50 people. During the
Seven Years' War the
New England Planters settled at what is now the town of Yarmouth in 1759; the grantees were from
Yarmouth, Massachusetts and they requested that Yarmouth be named after their former home. Yarmouth was founded on June 9, 1761, when a ship carrying three families arrived from
Sandwich, Massachusetts. The ship carried the families of Sealed Landers, Ebenezer Ellis, and Moses Perry. During the
American Revolution, some in Yarmouth were sympathetic to the rebellion. Following the war,
Acadians originally from the
Grand-Pré district who
returned from exile in 1767 settled in the Yarmouth area.
American Revolution There were a number of inhabitants of Yarmouth who supported the American rebels. Despite the American
privateer raids in the
Raid on Yarmouth, Nova Scotia (1775), the inhabitants still sheltered American prisoners after the
Battle off Yarmouth (1777). After the American Revolution, substantial numbers of
United Empire Loyalists arrived in 1785.
Shipbuilding Through the 19th century, the town was a major
shipbuilding centre, at one point boasting more registered tonnage
per capita than any other port in the world. From 1874 to 1885, Yarmouth was the second largest port of registry in Canada following
Saint John, New Brunswick. In 1878, Yarmouth's tonnage peaked at 453 vessels aggregating 166,623 tons, and in 1879, the town had the second largest registered tonnage in Canada. Yarmouth ships were found in most major ports throughout the world at this time, including ships noted for courageous crews such as the ship
Research in 1861 and ships noted for great size such as the ship
County of Yarmouth in 1884, one of the largest wooden hull ships ever built in Canada.
John Patch, the son of a Yarmouth sea captain, developed and built one of the first modern
screw propeller driven ships in 1832 (4 years before
John Ericsson's patent). First demonstrated in Yarmouth Harbour during the summer of 1833, Patch was unsuccessful in a
patent application in that year, but he continued to improve his propeller and received an American patent in 1849 which drew praise in American scientific circles. However, by 1849 there were multiple competing versions of the screw propeller. Patch never received money or recognition and died a poor man at Yarmouth in 1861. The town of Yarmouth was incorporated on August 6, 1890. Baker's steamships operated between Yarmouth and Boston until 1900, when the company was purchased by the
Dominion Atlantic Railway. The DAR and
Halifax and South Western Railway offered connections for passengers arriving in Yarmouth with steamship services operating to New York City and Boston. In 1939, examiners at Yarmouth's Merchant Marine Institution made seafaring history by issuing master's papers to
Molly Kool, the first female ship captain in the Western World. Steamship connections between Yarmouth and Boston / New York were maintained by
Eastern Steamship Lines but were suspended with the start of
World War II; the
SS Yarmouth Castle was one of many vessels which served this route. The service resumed a few years after the war with the S.S. Yarmouth, under the same company. This service continued into the mid 1950s and was then replaced with the M.V. Bluenose.
CNR, CN Marine and Marine Atlantic Following the war, as the economy of western Nova Scotia improved, the need for a year-round daily service was made evident. The service was needed as a more timely route for transport of goods between markets in Nova Scotia and the United States. Demand increased for passenger traffic as well. This led citizens of southwestern Nova Scotia to undertake an extensive lobbying effort with the federal government to establish a ferry service in the
Gulf of Maine connecting Yarmouth with a port in
New England. In 1949 the
Canadian Maritime Commission began to study the possibility of a ferry service connecting with a port in the US. After some controversy as to whether to return to the traditional Boston or New York service, a decision was made to focus the effort on a service from Yarmouth to
Bar Harbor, Maine. In 1954, the federal government contracted
Davie Shipbuilding to construct
MV Bluenose which was launched in 1955 and began service in 1956 under the management of
Canadian National Railway (CNR) and later (1977-1982) under the management of a federal
Crown corporation named
CN Marine. In 1978 CN Marine started operating MV Marine Evangeline on a service from Yarmouth to
Portland, Maine. In 1982 the old
Bluenose was retired from the Bar Harbor service and sold. CN Marine replaced her with a newer vessel MV Stena Jutlandica which was renamed MV
Bluenose to prevent confusion in tourism marketing literature. In 1986, CN Marine was reorganized into the Crown corporation
Marine Atlantic and in 1997, the federal government decided to end its financial support for the Gulf of Maine ferry service, soliciting proposals from private sector ferry companies to operate the route.
Lion Ferry, Prince of Fundy Cruises, Scotia Prince Cruises The growth of post-war automobile-based tourism saw the provincial government encourage additional ferry service with New England, a region with many family connections to
the Maritimes dating to the 18th century and which accelerated during the first half of the 20th century. In 1970 the MV
Bluenose service operated by CNR was joined by the
MS Prince of Fundy on a route connecting Yarmouth with
Portland, Maine operated by
Lion Ferry. The service was supplemented between 1973 and 1976 by
MS Bolero, however by 1976 both vessels were replaced by the
MS Caribe. Lion Ferry sold Yarmouth's second ferry service to
Prince of Fundy Cruises who purchased
MS Stena Olympica and renamed it MS
Scotia Prince. The service underwent another ownership change in 2000 and was renamed
Scotia Prince Cruises. In 2004 the company discovered toxic mould in its Portland terminal, owned by the City of Portland, cancelling its 2005 season. The City of Portland subsequently cancelled the company's lease and evicted Scotia Prince Cruises, thus ending this ferry service.
Bay Ferries In 1997
Bay Ferries, a subsidiary of
Northumberland Ferries Limited, was the successful bidder for the federal government's Gulf of Maine ferry service. Only the operating licence was transferred as well as the right to be the primary user of the federal government-owned ferry terminals in Yarmouth and Bar Harbor; the service would receive no subsidy from the federal government. Bay Ferries purchased MV
Bluenose from Marine Atlantic and used that vessel for the remainder of the 1997 season before selling it. In 1998, Bay Ferries introduced the first
high speed catamaran passenger-vehicle ferry service in North America when it purchased
HSC Incat 046 from
Incat in an aggressive bid to expand the Yarmouth - Bar Harbor ferry service. Throughout the 1990s the market for ferry services in southwestern Nova Scotia was threatened by significant expansions of 4-lane expressways in northern Nova Scotia and across southern
New Brunswick so it was theorized that the Yarmouth - Bar Harbor ferry service could maintain market share if the ferry voyage time was shortened. Marketed as "The Cat", the use of the ferry service grew largely due to Bay Ferries' investment and the novelty of riding the ultra-modern high speed catamaran. In 2002 Bay Ferries traded in HSC
Incat 046 for a larger vessel
HSC The Cat which was also marketed as "The Cat". Beginning in 2003, Bay Ferries began operating HSC
The Cat during the winter months on services in the
Caribbean. Following the end of the service offered by
Scotia Prince Cruises in 2004, Bay Ferries began operating HSC
The Cat in 2006 between Yarmouth to Portland, in addition to Bar Harbor; the old Portland ferry terminal being replaced by the newly built
Ocean Gateway International Marine Passenger Terminal. Following a decline in American tourism to Nova Scotia, as well as record-high fuel prices, Bay Ferries sought subsidies from the federal and provincial governments for its Gulf of Maine ferry service. The federal government refused to provide a subsidy, having removed itself from operating such a service in 1997. However, the provincial government offered a subsidy to cover the operating loss and this was subsequently provided in 2007, 2008 and 2009. In 2009 the provincial government cancelled the subsidy and Bay Ferries announced in December 2009 that it was ending its ferry service and sold the vessel.
Nova Star Cruises In 2013 the provincial government posted a request for proposals for re-establishing a Yarmouth - Maine ferry service, stating that a successful proponent would receive a $21 million subsidy over a 7-year period. In September 2013 it was announced that
Nova Star Cruises was the successful proponent and in November 2013 it was confirmed that the service would start May 1, 2014, with the
MV Nova Star offering daily round trips between Yarmouth and Portland. Nova Star Cruises also announced it was examining the possibility of using the vessel during the winter months on a service between
Colombia and
Panama, bypassing the
Darién Gap. Nova Star's contract to provide ferry services between Yarmouth and Portland was not renewed for 2016.
Return of The Cat On March 24, 2016,
Bay Ferries Limited announced that it had reached an agreement with the
U.S. Maritime Administration and the
U.S. Navy for a multi-year
charter of
HST-2. The vessel will be operated for a passenger/vehicle ferry service in the
Gulf of Maine between Portland, Maine and Yarmouth. The service and vessel will be branded as
The CAT to align with the previous branding used by Bay Ferries. The vessel underwent a refit at a shipyard in
South Carolina and the service began on June 15, 2016.
Second World War During the first year of the
Second World War, Yarmouth was selected as the location for a
British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) facility.
RCAF Station Yarmouth was originally opened in 1940 as three separate training sites (the East Camp, the West Camp and the Air Base). The East Camp was home to a detachment of the
Royal Air Force's No. 34
Operational Training Unit (from
RCAF Station Pennfield Ridge), who trained bomber crews, as well as the
Royal Navy's No. 1 Naval Air Gunners School who were located at Yarmouth from January 1, 1943, to March 30, 1945. The West Camp was home to an
Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Anti-Submarine Bomber Reconnaissance Squadron and several Eastern Air Command Bomber Reconnaissance Squadrons, such as
162 Squadron. The Air Base was home to the 9th Light Anti-Aircraft Artillery, various RCAF and RAF Bomber Squadrons and an Army Co-operation Reconnaissance Flight. Its primary function was as an administrative and logistical support base to the RAF and RCAF squadrons in the area, in addition to providing a Weather Information Section, an Armament Section and a
firing range. A
Lockheed Hudson, a
light bomber, from
Bomber Reconnaissance Squadron 113 in Yarmouth became the first aircraft of the
RCAF Eastern Air Command to destroy a submarine, sinking
U-754 about south of Yarmouth on July 31, 1942. The sinking resulted in 43 casualties and no survivors. Several smaller installations associated with RCAF Station Yarmouth were located in southwestern Nova Scotia, including a
bombing range at
Port Maitland, a fuel depot at
Digby, and radar detachments at
Plymouth,
Tusket,
Bear Point,
Port Mouton and Rockville. In 1944, a detachment of the
US Navy briefly came to Yarmouth to test the effectiveness of a
blimp service. After a crash, the RCAF decided against this venture. RCAF Station Yarmouth closed in 1945. The airfield was sold to the
Department of Transport in 1946 and became the
Yarmouth Airport. A
Canadian Army training camp (known as Camp 60) on Parade Street also provided basic and artillery training for 20,000 soldiers during the war. ==Culture==