CONCEPTION

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Latest news

Captain sentenced to four years in prison

The captain of the 'Conception' was sentenced to four years in prison and three years of supervised release by a federal judge on May 2, 2024. Jerry Boylan was convicted last year of a federal Civil War-era charge known as seaman’s manslaughter and prosecutors had been seeking 10 years in prison. Boylan is scheduled to surrender in July. U.S District Judge George H. Wu heard more than 17 victim impact statements for several hours in the crowded courtroom, including from the mother of the youngest victim, 16-year-old Berenice Felipe, and the Quitasol family, who lost five people in the fire.

Captain found negligent for death of 34 people

A federal jury at a Los Angeles court on Nov 6 found the captain of the 'Conception', Jerry Boylan, 69, criminally negligent for the deaths of 34 people. The jury found Boylan guilty of one count of "misconduct or neglect of ship officer," more commonly known as “seaman’s manslaughter.” The 19th century law was meant to prevent deaths from fires on steamboats. U.S. attorneys said he failed to employ a night patrol that could have averted the disaster. Kristy Finstad, who was killed in the fire, co-owned the Santa Cruz-based Worldwide Diving Adventures. She had chartered the 'Conception' out of Santa Barbara and was leading the diving trip. Ther sentencing is scheduled for Feb 8, 2024. Boylan faces up to 10 years in prison.

First deckhand of the Conception testified

Milton French, the first deckhand of the 'Conception' told jurors how the captain jumped overboard as the other crew members were trying to find a way to reach the passengers trapped below, on Oct 27 tp a federal jury in downtown Los Angeles. French, who was 28 at the time of the fire, recounted before the jury how, after he was awakened and had seen that the stairs from the upper deck down to main deck were already blocked by the flames, he and the other crew members climbed down over the railings to get down and find a way the rescue the passengers, while Boylan stayed in the wheelhouse to radio the Coast Guard for help. He was woken up by other crew members in the middle of the night, the flames from the vessel's main deck were already 15 feet high and coming over the railing of the upper the deck where most of the crew were sleeping. He climbed down to the bow of the boat, but the walkway to the back of the boat where the fire stations were located was already blocked by the flames shooting out of the windows of the salon. French and the boat's second captain then tried to open the central window of galley to access the salon, where the stairs to the below-deck bunk room was located as well as the escape hatch from below. Remembering that there was a fire ax in the wheelhouse with which they could break the galley's windows, French tried to get attention of Boylan who he could see in the wheelhouse as it was filling up with smoke. However, before he was able to get Boylan's attention, the captain had jumped from the wheelhouse over the crew members scrambling around on the boat's bow and into the ocean. The second captain dove in the water to assist Boylan. But the captain was unharmedm, and when he came up he told the three crew members, one of whom had broken his leg jumping from the upper deck, to get off the boat. French next went into the water and swam to the stern of the 'Conception' to see if he could enter the salon from there. However, when he climbed on board, he saw that the entrance to the salon as well as the two fire stations with hoses that could spray seawater on the fire were completely engulfed. Eventually, the five surviving crew members used the vessel's skiff to reach a nearby anchored sport-fishing boat to radio the Coast Guard. French and the second captain then went back to the burning 'Conception' in the skiff to look for any survivors in the water in the hope that some of the passengers might have gotten off the boat before the flames and smoke had blocked their way out of the bunk room. Boylan is accused of failing to train and drill the crew in the use of the Conception's fire fighting equipment, as well as failing to direct them to fight fire during the fatal night, such as using the fire extinguishers or the fire axe, or trying to rescue the passengers.