The Captain of Conception’s sister ship stands up for his colleagues. See video of sistership Vision with emergency escape hatch shown. Scroll down for a picture of the emergency exit. All pretty useless if this leads to the same space as the stairways.
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I seem to be having trouble getting past this horrible accident. Having worked many years in the Santa Barbara channel, this vessel was one of many I would see pass by almost daily. What I’m struggling with is an exchange between the Captain and CG about a locked hatch? Is it possible the escape hatch was locked? I know they have homeless problems where this vessel docks in Santa Barbara. It was a homeless man who stole it and ran it aground awhile back. I hope to God there wasn’t a lock on that hatch.
I’m pretty sure the Vision isn’t a sister boat. I want to say its a bit bigger than the Conception.
That call does need to get sorted out. It sounds like a one sided conversation and all we were hearing is the uscg side of it…which it sounds like he was having a hard time keeping calm while in coms…and i think that was done by accident on how the media delivered it.
It somewhat ambiguous because only the CG side is in the transcript but a locked escape route certainly seems like a possibility.
In the following audio from a mayday call from the Conception as relayed by Broadcastify, only the Coast Guard broadcasts can be heard, not the responses.
Coast Guard: Your vessel is on fire, is that correct?
Vessel: (Unintelligible)
CG: Roger, you’re on board Conception?
Vessel: (Unintelligible)
CG: Roger, there are 33 people on board the vessel that’s on fire and they can’t get off?
Vessel: (Unintelligible)
CG: Roger, are they locked inside the boat?
Vessel: (Unintelligible)
CG: Roger, can you get back on board and unlock the doors so they can get off?
Vessel: (Unintelligible)
CG: Roger, you don’t have any firefighting gear at all, no fire extinguishers or anything?
Vessel: (Unintelligible)
CG: Is this the captain of the Conception?
Vessel: (Unintelligible)
CG: (Unintelligible). Roger, was that all the crew that jumped off?
Vessel: (Unintelligible)
CG: Roger, is the vessel fully engulfed?
Vessel: (Unintelligible)
CG: Roger, and there’s no escape hatch for any of the people on board?
In 1985 the Vision was launched and is considered by some to be California’s crown jewel of dive boats. Similar in design to the Conception, the Vision is larger by 5 feet in length and 1 foot in width.
This is why the media shouldn’t have released that conversation. I know the uscg was gathering as much intel as possible but we have no idea what the responses were and it seems awfully suggestive what was being asked.
It’s all house! Not much for forty people to live on, even so.
So, you think an exit trunk leading to the upper deck?
I know what your saying, reading this stuff with no connection is bad enough.
This is a great time to fill the sudsy water bottle, check propane fittings, propane alarm, and have a fire drill. Then dry suit locker placement should be noted. Maybe moved, Kinda like where paint locker is. Lithium charging station should be regarded just like stove enclosure. Lithium powered devices no longer allowed below deck in “ confined space” or passenger quarters. As these may be near in subchapter T overnight carriage vessels, and things prudent mariners in charge should consider last Monday morning.
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It sounded to me as though they were trying to verify what they’d already been told, or thought they had. And not every Coast Guard watchstander is the sharpest tool in the shed. I strongly suspect that the unheard party was trying to convey that the people were trapped, not that they were locked in.
Locking the doors to keep the people in is what garment factories (Triangle Shirtwaist) and big chicken processors do, not people running an expensive tourist boat.
Maybe…without hearing the other end we will never know. The agitation in the uscg’s voice probably didn’t help the interpretation of what he was hearing either.
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Seems like what is being said is the crew quarters are just aft of the wheelhouse, On the main deck with all the big windows is what is being called the galley. So presumably the passengers sleeping quarters are below the main deck running below the galley forward of the engine room.
Doubtful. The emergency exit goes into the opposite end of the galley that the main stairwell is.
That seem like the most likely explanation. But if the escape hatch was locked likely unlocking it was something that was overlooked rather than a deliberate act. Especially if locking it was a new procedure or something not normally done.
@Ctony I meant as an alternative to having the two escape routes debouch into the same compartment.
I doubt it was locked. Its a flush hatch in the deck of the galley probably.
If anything would be locked, it would be the main doors to the main cabin when they are dockside with no people on board. There is no way in hell those would be locked underway.
I saw a drawing somewhere showing the galley being the forward end of the saloon.
I doubt it too. I would think that given the nature of diving the crew would be very detail oriented.
Yeah i get that…i’m betting that will be a retrofit for years to come