In a statement, U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna said Boylan “by his misconduct, negligence, and inattention to his duties” was responsible for the deaths of one crew member and 33 recreational divers, all from the Bay Area, who had chartered the boat for the weekend.
“As a result of the alleged failures of Captain Boylan to follow well-established safety rules,” the statement said, “a pleasant holiday dive trip turned into a hellish nightmare as passengers and one crew member found themselves trapped in a fiery bunkroom with no means of escape.”
Boylan, a 67-year-old Santa Barbara resident, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
The Conception, a 75-foot vessel comprising three decks, was anchored in a cove off Santa Cruz Island on Sept. 2, 2019, when a fire broke out around 2:35 a.m. One of the surviving crew members noticed a glow coming from the salon area on the boat’s middle deck, one above where 33 passengers and one crew member slept.
None of those in the lower deck, who ranged in age from 17 to more than 60 years old, survived the fire.
The boat sank quickly and, by the time Coast Guard rescue teams arrived from the mainland about 20 miles away, much of it rested on the seabed 65 feet below. Boylan and four other crew members survived.
A 13-month investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board could not determine a cause of the fire, although there were indications that it sparked up from a tangle of cellphones charging in the salon area.
The board blamed the Conception staff for failing to post a required roving night watch, a delayed safety briefing for passengers and a lightly trained crew, one of whom had been aboard for just two months.
The indictment singled out those elements in charging Boylan, who the U.S. attorney’s office said was expected to surrender to federal authorities in the coming days.
“With this indictment and our commitment to vigorously prosecute the case, we seek a small measure of justice for the victims and their loved ones,” Hanna said in the statement.