Jerry Boylan, the captain of the dive boat Conception that caught fire and sank off the coast of California last year, was indicted Tuesday, December 1, on federal manslaughter charges. The federal charges against Boylan were brought under a pre-Civil War law aimed at holding steamboat captains and crew responsible for watery disasters that were far more frequent at the time. The Captain was one of five crew members who escaped the fire.
The 75-foot Conception, with 33 passengers and six crew aboard, was anchored in Platts Harbor, just off Santa Cruz Island, when it caught fire in the early morning of Sept. 2, 2019. All 33 passengers and one crewmember died of smoke inhalation after they were trapped in the berthing area while a fire ignited on the deck above them.
Boylan, 67, was charged with 34 counts of seaman’s manslaughter for “misconduct, negligence and inattention” by failing to train his crew, conduct fire drills and have a roving night watchman on the Conception when fire broke out Sept. 2, 2019, the indictment said. Each count carries a possible 10-year prison term, if convicted.
Boylan has been at sea his whole life. His father was a US Coast Guard officer. He began diving at age 5. He’s been piloting dive boats at Truth Aquatics since 1985.
Federal prosecutors said they have informed Boylan’s attorneys of the indictment, and he was expected to surrender to federal authorities in the coming weeks. Boylan’s former defense lawyer, Michael Lipman, said they had expected the charges for more than a year. Federal safety investigators faulted the owners of the vessel for a lack of oversight, but they have not been charged with any crime, though the investigation is ongoing.
Upon investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the lack of a night watch allowed the fire to spread quickly and trap victims below deck. The NTSB also faulted the Coast Guard for not enforcing the night watch requirement, citing records showing no one has been cited for failing to provide one since 1991. Crew members told investigators they were asleep on the upper deck when the fire broke out below around 3 a.m.
Boylan and four other crew members, who had all been sleeping, escaped from the flaming boat after he made a mayday call. They jumped off the boat and were rescued by a nearby vessel named the “Grape Escape”. The Coast Guard responded to the call at 3:14 a.m. that morning.
In a written statement, U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna said “As a result of the alleged failures of Captain Boylan to follow well-established safety rules, a pleasant holiday dive trip turned into a hellish nightmare as passengers and one crew member found themselves trapped in a fiery bunk room with no means of escape”.
After extensive investigations lasting more than a year, there is still no conclusive cause of the fire, and may be impossible to find. It appears to have began in an area the the galley where divers had plugged in phones, flashlights and other items with combustible lithium ion batteries. It has been speculated that the batteries on a device caught fire.
Before the disaster, Boylan and Truth Aquatics had an excellent reputation with both their regular customers and the boating community in Santa Barbara, where the company had a fleet of three boats. The 75-foot long Conception had passed its two most recent Coast Guard safety inspections and had an excellent safety record. Though rarely filled to capacity, the dive boat could carry 46 people maximum, with 13 double bunks and 20 single bunks. The craft could also carry up to 1600 gallons of fuel. It had rescue rafts and jackets for 110 passengers. It also had a 16-foot chase boat.