The captain of the Conception dive boat, which caught fire and killed all 33 passengers on board and one crew member in 2019, was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison in federal court in Los Angeles. Capt. Jerry Boylan, now 70, faced a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.
Irfan Khan
Boylan was found guilty in 2023 of one count of ship's officer misconduct or negligence, also known as “manslaughter of a seaman,” for one of the deadliest maritime disasters in recent U.S. history.
The fatal fire occurred in the early morning hours of September 2, 2019, while the dive boat was anchored off the coast of Santa Cruz Island, which is located about 22 miles southwest of Santa barbara
A total of 39 people, 33 passengers and six crew, were on board the ship when it caught fire. Those who were asleep below deck were still alive and needed help to escape, prosecutors said. Boylan and four crew members escaped.
The U.S. attorney's office said Boylan failed in his duties as captain by being the first crewman to abandon ship without using the public address system to warn occupants of the fire. In addition, federal prosecutors claimed Boylan failed to attempt to fight the fire with onboard equipment, which included a fire extinguisher, and failed to post a night watch, allowing the fire to spread throughout the ship without be detected
Defense attorneys argued the flames quickly closed in on Boylan, but he stayed on board until he made the May call to the Coast Guard and only jumped when he was sure he wouldn't live otherwise .
Surviving crew members told the National Transportation Safety Board that the ship's smoke alarms never went off. A preliminary NTSB report found that the six crew members were asleep when the fire broke out, Coast Guard regulations requiring a night watchman to be on duty were violated.
Although federal security investigators the cause of the fire was never found, officials blamed the boat's owners, Truth Aquatics Inc., for a lack of oversight, though they were not charged with any wrongdoing. The fire was originally thought to have been caused by overheated lithium-ion batteries.
It took about an hour for rescue boats to reach the disaster. At that moment, the Concepcion was completely engulfed in flames and the 34 victims had died.
“The key issue here is the defendant's duties as captain,” according to the US Attorney's office.
Boylan was initially charged in December 2020 with 34 counts of involuntary manslaughter of sailors, but after the defense objected, prosecutors refiled an indictment on the single count covering all the deaths.
“The defendant has never apologized, let alone taken responsibility for the atrocity he caused,” according to the prosecution's sentencing documents.
At his sentencing Thursday, Boylan was ordered to turn himself in on or after July 11 to begin his prison term.
