34 people feared dead after boat catches fire off California's Santa Cruz Island: officials

Okay, this is a conspiracy site, right?

So, here's a conspiracy theory for you...(a very sinister one at that)

After a night of partying on Labor Day weekend all the passengers go to bed, the captain and crew decide to board their dingy and go to a friend's boat nearby for some partying of their own. But before they leave they decide to secure the hatch on the sleeping quarters just so no passengers will come topside and see them gone. They're only going to be gone for a little while, so no one will know.

After a while they look over and see their boat on fire. So they dash over and try to open the hatch for the passengers to escape, but the fire is too intense. So they retreat to another nearby boat and concoct a story about their boat having caught fire, but they couldn't save anyone.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

At best, if he had to wait to get to another ship to call, that is going to take a lot of time that can't be spared.

Sounds like a poor crew.

The delay in the call does make one wonder if they were on the ship. No time to call before jumping? How fast the the ship go up.

I watched an interview with the owner and he seemed matter of fact about the whole situation. Something seemed off but maybe he really wasn't bothered by the whole event.

a reply to: roadgravel

I don't understand why a hatch would be "locked" (in the words of the CG dispatcher). Can't imagine why you'd close and dog-off a hatch, especially if it was the only means of escape...unless you didn't want anyone coming out (for a while).

I sure hope they've gotten a blood test from the captain at this point! All the crew too!

s for the surviving crew members, “They jumped off’’ the burning boat and were rescued by a “good Samaritan vessel” called the Grape Escape, she said.

That boat is owned by Bob and Shirley Hansen. Shirley Hansen, told the LA Times that they awoke to loud thumping on their vessel and witnessed the distraught crew, including the captain, outside on a dingy.

“It was horrific, the pounding,” she said. “Our boat is very well made. Having that sound come through [showed] they were very in need of help.”

She said that one of the crew members had gone back to see if anyone had jumped overboard but the boat was completely engulfed in flames.

Link

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Just because the CG mentioned locked doesn't mean it was. He could have misunderstood or just thought that was the case.

It isn't clear from what is released if the crew stated "locked".

If doors,etc were locked, that might be a big problem for someone.

a reply to: roadgravel

Understood.

However, the CG asked the captain if the door was locked and he confirmed it. Now granted, this confirmation was given during an extreme condition at the time, but still the dispatcher got it from somewhere. Dispatchers generally don't make stuff up. They heard something which caused them to say that.

I just find the whole distress call very odd. Why would the captain say the things he did? For example, why not just say the vessel was on fire and there were people still onboard? Why would he say they were trapped, unless he knew that to be true? And why would he say "the vessel that's on fire"? It's like he's on another vessel reporting what he sees going on, and that he knows the hatch is locked or dogged off in some way.

a reply to: roadgravel

Right. A group of divers would have been able to swim away from the boat better than anyone. This was not a boat full of your typical tourists.

How did the captain call in to 911, if he was floating in the water. Waterproof phone?

a reply to: carewemust

I think it must have been from the radio on the Grape Escape.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I thought he made the call from another ship. The crew abandoned ship and head to another, from what is being reported.

I just wonder why they didn't have time to call from their ship. That is a big question. Goes toward what you are also wondering.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Good day-

I know this boat.

So I didn’t read through the thread to see other comments, but two important things.
1- my wife is an under ocean photographer and this was supposed to be her boat until we got stationed east coast. Her best friend just transferred off of it 6 days ago, and the BFFs dad was one of the five who survived. Scary and sad to no degree explainable.
2- this boat has one way in or out of the below decks area, and it goes past the galley. I have refused to sleep in the bunks, and so has my wife- it’s why I bring a hammock. It’s not a hard fire to foresee, and it’s a hard one to put out if the galley blows.

Just thought I’d share some facts.

I find it hard to believe that a Cpt and crew who’s main goal and business is to insure their clients safety while on the boat and diving, would watch as 34 people burned to death, unless they had absolutely no way to save them. Whatever the circumstance was I don’t think they could get to them. This certainly doesn’t mean that I don’t think there’s a possibility that they were negligent in some way. We’ll have to wait till they finish their investigation to know more. The locked hatch, if indeed that was the case, raises an eyebrow though. Whatever happened, happened fast which is why I’m leaning to an explosion of sorts, propane or fuel.

As others have stated, cylinders become rockets. I heard a story of one going off and it was insane what they told me, flying through walls and such and it traveled always too.

a reply to: ThouArtGod

Great information.

Thanks

a reply to: mtnshredder

Take this for what it's worth, but I read a comment in a news article which said there were reports of a stove pilot light being out and an odor of gas.

Propane being heavier than air it may have collected in the sleeping area and ignited.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Thank you for sharing- but damn, even after three tours, that bit is too horrible to handle. My wife pointed out the 17 year old celebrating a birthday in that group (with her parents. $5 guess as to what my wife did (and where) on her 17th...? It’s a tragedy, made sadder by all the horrid remarks many are leaving.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: mtnshredder

Take this for what it's worth, but I read a comment in a news article which said there were reports of a stove pilot light being out and an odor of gas.

Propane being heavier than air it may have collected in the sleeping area and ignited.

No pilot light then the gas gets turned off. The device should be out of service. If this is the case someone made a bad mistake.

The below-deck sleeping area had 20 single bunks and 13 doubles, some stacked three-high, to accommodate up to 46 people.

At the bow end of the bunk room was a curving staircase that led up to the galley area. Toward the stern, an escape hatch was situated above one of the bunks and led to the salon deck, which included the galley.

“It’s on a ceiling of the bunk room or the floor of the galley,” said Bruce Rausch, 69, a veteran dive master in Orange County and a retired San Onofre nuclear engineer who’d been on more than a dozen dive trips aboard the Conception. “All you have to do is get up to a bunk and keep going up and you use the bunk as ladders.”

Link

More background in the article.

That hatch exits to the same deck as the galley.

originally posted by: roadgravel

The below-deck sleeping area had 20 single bunks and 13 doubles, some stacked three-high, to accommodate up to 46 people.

At the bow end of the bunk room was a curving staircase that led up to the galley area. Toward the stern, an escape hatch was situated above one of the bunks and led to the salon deck, which included the galley.

“It’s on a ceiling of the bunk room or the floor of the galley,” said Bruce Rausch, 69, a veteran dive master in Orange County and a retired San Onofre nuclear engineer who’d been on more than a dozen dive trips aboard the Conception. “All you have to do is get up to a bunk and keep going up and you use the bunk as ladders.”

Link

More background in the article.

That hatch exits to the same deck as the galley.

Tough to read that as I can only imagine the chaos that was playing out during those hectic secondsminutes.
I wonder if they were informed of that but again it's easy to second guess it from a distance vs being in the scenario.

the crew was up top deck sleeping somewhere else...the divers were ALL below deck and trapped

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: roadgravel

From some former guests aboard the same boat...

Both said the sleeping area is comfortable but tight, however, with bunk beds stacked next to one another on the lowest deck. Coming to the top deck to get off requires navigating a narrow stairway with only one exit. If the fire was fast-moving, Reid said, it’s very likely divers couldn’t escape and the crew couldn’t get to them.

Source

I included the last sentence so as not to be akin to the MSM who selectively quote things.

Still begs the question of where were the fire alarms, and why did only the crew escape?

Do we still not know who were the passengers and their connections, if any, to each other?