The captain of the Conception dive boat that caught fire near Santa Cruz Island in 2019, killing all 33 passengers and one crew member, is expected to be sentenced by a federal judge Thursday.
Jerry Boylan, who was convicted last year of a federal Civil War-era charge known as seaman’s slaughter, faces up to 10 years in prison.
He and four other crew members abandoned ship on Sept. 2, 2019, as the passengers, which ranged in age from 16 to their 60s, were trapped below deck in the middle of the night during the fire. The ship eventually sank not far offshore.
The fire is considered one of the worst modern maritime disasters.
The exact cause of the fire was never determined, but a final report from federal safety investigators blamed the boat’s operator, Truth Aquatics, for numerous safety lapses. A key one, prosecutors argued, was the fact that Boyan failed to have a roving night patrol on the 75-foot vessel as passengers and crews slept, allowing the fire to spread undetected until it was too late.
“This ship captain’s unpardonable cowardice led to the deaths of 34 lives,” Martin Estrada, U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said in a statement. “As the jury found, this tragedy could have been avoided had Mr. Boylan simply performed the duties he was entrusted to carry out.”
Defense attorney attempted to place blame on the ship’s owner for not requiring Boylan to have more safety measures in place.
The tragedy prompted a lawsuit by the family and victims and new safety rules requiring boats to install fire detection and suppression equipment.
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