Jury Convicts Boat Captain in 34 Deaths

Jerry Boylan, the first to jump ship, could be sentenced to 10 years in prison
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Nov 6, 2023 7:40 PM CST
Captain Who Jumped Ship Before 34 Died Is Convicted
The burned hull of the dive boat Conception is brought to the surface by a salvage team off Santa Cruz Island, California, on Sept. 12, 2019.   (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via AP, File)

A federal jury on Monday found a scuba dive boat captain was criminally negligent in the deaths of 34 people killed in a fire aboard the vessel in 2019, the deadliest maritime disaster in recent US history. The US Attorney's Office in Los Angeles confirmed Jerry Boylan was found guilty of one count of misconduct or neglect of ship officer, a pre-Civil War statute colloquially known as seaman's manslaughter that was designed to hold steamboat captains and crew responsible for maritime disasters. Boylan was the only person to face criminal charges connected to the fire. He could get 10 years behind bars when he's sentenced Feb. 8, the AP reports.

The verdict comes more than four years after the Sept. 2, 2019, tragedy, which prompted changes to maritime regulations, congressional action, and civil lawsuits. The Conception was anchored off the Channel Islands, 25 miles south of Santa Barbara, when it caught fire before dawn on the final day of a three-day excursion, sinking less than 100 feet from shore. Thirty-three passengers and a crew member perished, trapped in a bunkroom below deck, per the AP. Among the dead were the deckhand, who had landed her dream job; an environmental scientist who did research in Antarctica; a globe-trotting couple; a Singaporean data scientist; and a family of three sisters, their father and his wife.

Boylan was the first to abandon ship and jump overboard. Four crew members who joined him also survived. Although the exact cause of the blaze remains undetermined, the prosecutors and defense sought to assign blame throughout the trial. The US Attorney's Office said Boylan failed to post the required roving night watch and never properly trained his crew in firefighting. The lack of the roving watch meant the fire was able to spread undetected across the 75-foot boat. Boylan's attorneys sought to pin blame on boat owner Glen Fritzler, saying he was responsible for training the crew in firefighting, as well as for creating a lax seafaring culture they called "the Fritzler way," in which no captain who worked for him posted a roving watch. While the criminal trial is over, several civil lawsuits remain ongoing.

(More Conception dive boat stories.)

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