All Six ‘Conception’ Crew Members Were Asleep When Fire Started

[RAMd®d]

All Six ‘Conception’ Crew Members Were Asleep When Fire Started

All six crew members of the Conception were asleep when the dive boat caught fire in the predawn hours of September 2, according to a preliminary report released today by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

The finding is a major revelation in the investigation of the worst maritime disaster in modern California history. It confirms earlier reports that the Conception crew likely violated federal safety regulations covering small passenger vessels that require a roving “night watchman” to remain awake and patrol the boat for fires and other dangers.

The NTSB report, which offers the first full accounting of the disaster, states that “at the time of the fire, five crewmembers were asleep in berths behind the wheelhouse, and one crewmember was asleep in the bunkroom.” A crewmember in the wheelhouse berth “was awakened by a noise,” the report says, and got up to investigate. “He saw a fire at the aft end of the sun deck, rising up from the salon compartment below. … As crewmembers awoke, the captain radioed a distress message to the Coast Guard.”

https://www.independent.com/2019/09/12/a...e-started/

[Racer X]

in centuries past, you were put to death for deraliction of duty on military vessels when you slept on watch.


Subchapter T 100 ton license since I was 18.

[MrNoBody]

Crew of six not enough to maintain the watch without someone falling asleep?
The Conception's skipper may be held liable even though the owner(s) may
have 'cut corners' in the personnel department.

Tragic accident that should have never occurred.

[Filliam H. Muffman]

I still don't understand how they had bunks for 6+ people (USCG Master license required) without multiple easy egress options. Either the Captain or some company exec needs to spend 7 years in prison.

I hope they have mandatory counseling, many people in situations like this end up with Survivor guilt.

[RAMd®d]

without multiple easy egress options

There were two, a ladder and a hatch, and it seems both were fully involved by the time the crew was awake.


many people in situations like this end up with Survivor guilt.

The passengers may have been overcome by smoke inhalation of toxic gases, but it seems to me that some of the crew would have heard screaming. I'd thing that would be a huge burden to carry.

That and the lack of somebody not standing their fire watch.

[Paul F.]

Filliam H. Muffman wrote:
I still don't understand how they had bunks for 6+ people (USCG Master license required) without multiple easy egress options. Either the Captain or some company exec needs to spend 7 years in prison.

And if they'd swamped in 7 foot seas because water flowed in a hatch, would you be saying "I don't understand why a passenger vessel needed so many hatches for the water to flow in in such mild seas!". You can't have everything in boat design.
Now, someone on fire-watch... THAT you can have!

[Filliam H. Muffman]

Paul F. wrote: And if they'd swamped in 7 foot seas because water flowed in a hatch...

You know that there were submarines with waterproof hatches 150 years ago, right?

[Ombligo]

I wonder if someone was assigned a watch but fell asleep or wasn't woken for their shift. This could easily be the fault of one person who didn't do their job. Either the watchstander who was asleep, the previous watchstander who failed to their replacement was up, or the Captain for not assigning a watch.

[Harbourmaster]

Night-watch is SOP on Every commercial vessel while at sea. Somebody didn't do there job and it cost a lot of people there lives including the lone crew member (on only her second trip on the vessel) that was sleeping in the bunkroom.

[RAMd®d]

Night-watch is SOP on Every commercial vessel while at sea. Somebody didn't do there job and it cost a lot of people there lives including the lone crew member (on only her second trip on the vessel) that was sleeping in the bunkroom.

Agreed.

Whether somebody wasn't assigned, a stretch unless that was SOP aboard the Conception which is still unacceptable) or somebody fell asleep on watch, somebody didn't do their job.

I hope the Coast Guard can determine the exact cause and circumstances, but that just may not be possible.

So far it seems the fire spread very fast, possibly due to the Li-Ion batteries, certainly helped by the wood structure, making both exits impassable.