Towboatlaw – Towboat & Barge Lawyer, Admiralty & Maritime Law on the Rivers

Guilty Verdict in D/V CONCEPTION Captain’s Federal Criminal Trial

In the Labor Day 2019 D/V CONCEPTION casualty, 33 passengers and one crewmember perished, all below deck in the passenger bunkroom as the dive excursion vessel burned to the waterline just offshore Santa Cruz Island, near the California coast. The U.S. Department of Justice prosecuted the vessel’s captain for gross negligence under the Seaman’s Manslaughter Act. The DOJ press release on this past Monday’s jury verdict finding the captain guilty is linked here:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/captain-santa-barbara-based-dive-boat-burned-and-sank-resulting-34-deaths-found-guilty

Share on: