Fire on dive boat Conception in CA

[rjack321]

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If you don't have any water pressure you might. Or the last time you actually did a fire drill was 3 years ago. Or the flames blocked your access or or or.

I have seen no evidence the crew were cowards in the face of disaster here.

 

[george_austin]

A T boat with 6 crew and 33 passengers absolutely has to have someone awake 24/7.

Not that its an excuse, but I would like to know if the sleeping watch was by accident or the captain actually allowed it. I can definitely imagine a mate helping customers all day in the sun falling asleep inadvertently at 2 or 3 am. People fall asleep at the wheel driving everyday, which is one reason DOT enforces rest breaks on truckers.

You wake the captain and tell him you can’t stay awake. You wake another crew and tell her to help, you can’t stay awake. You spend your 2 hour watch or 4 hour watch standing up, drinking Monster drinks or coffee.

You can’t accidentally fall asleep.

God help you if I find you asleep on watch

 

[dmaziuk]

I'm here to tell ya, you smell the chargers get hot. If you are anywhere near where the chargers were, and not one deck away, asleep in your bunk.

Well, in all fairness, if you're not asleep in the wheelhouse and the chargers are one deck away... or for that matter any "magic smoke" (there is distinctive smell to smouldering electrical components) when there's a deck open to sea breeze between you and it.

Just an observation -- there is no excuse.

 

[Wookie]

I have been read the entire thread from start to finish and am fully aware of this fact. Read my post again. Nowhere did I say a smoke detector was ever required in the galley. My intent was merely to point out that technology has changed and that it may now be possible to place smoke detectors in cooking areas, whereas it wasn't in the past.

If I muddled things a bit with my last sentence, wherein I simply tried to make it clear that I was speaking generally with no expertise or intent to provide guidance in maritime matters, I apologize. I have studiously tried to avoid being a keyboard expert on these forums.

I misunderstood. I apologize.

 

[Texas Torpedo]

I just don’t get emotional about things, I like to have all available information and there are still two of the crew who haven’t been heard from (by us) and we may or may not hear from them in the near future.

I’m not clear on the requirement of the watch standard, the wording of the regulation, to me an admittedly nonpro in this sort of vessel, maintaining watch throughout the night can mean, and this is where the first hand knowledge that I don’t have comes in, periodic inspection at various times throughout the night, it seems vague to me as a nonpro.

We may hear from them in the distant future, but you can bet we won't until the criminal investigation and whatever follows takes place. I'm sure they all lawyer'd up once the criminal investigation started.

As for the responsibilities of the watch. It has been outlined here by both regulation, and by other professionals / captains that have considerable liveaboard experience.

I'm not trying to be argumentative... Just saying that while you don't get emotional about things at this point, plenty of others see enough facts to feel outraged at the loss of life. Not to mention, knowing it could have been anyone of us on that boat.

 

[rjack321]

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LEAVING ONLY TO GIVE CONTEXT)

Normalisation of deviance ?

I don't know.

1) I'm not sure who the night watch actually was? Was it one of the 5 on the top deck or the one in the bunk who died?
2) I'm not sure all five were actually in bunks or if one of the two who's interviews are not reported was asleep - but not actually in a bunk and it was accidental
3) I'm not sure what was accidental vs what was permitted (by a lax/complacent captain)

To me there's a subtle but not insignificant difference in both liability and culpability between "falling asleep" and being "allowed to sleep"

 

[vlxjim]

Here is what remains.

 

[rjack321]

If he fell asleep, that’s not great but it’s ‘only’ negligence.

If he is allowed to sleep, like you said, it is much worse.

I think this speaks to the CG advisory which didn't really go into anything except what they "should" have been doing already. But CG and NTSB quickly realized that:
Watch standing was lax
Firefighting skills and training were inadequate

So sending a "reminder" bulletin was something (!) that they could do right away to address these deficiencies.

 

[outofofficebrb]

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I can only imagine how bad that fire must have been for them to feel the need to jump off immediately, and one of them breaking their leg at that. They did try to return to the boat to try to get in and find survivors so it's not like they didn't try. It is very easy to armchair here and in execution be very different.
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[pauldw]

Here is what remains.
View attachment 539759

Thanks for posting that salvage photo. It's interesting. And one of the few posts that should have been made in the past hour.

Edit: OK, that last part might have been a tad harsh. Sorry. But the preliminary report, despite being carefully and well written for what it said and for what it didn't say, is still preliminary, and despite the res ipsa loquitur feel of this case, none of us still know anything.