The intensive 5-day search for closure with regards to what happened to the Titan submersible has come to an end. On June 22, the US Coast Guard confirmed that the vehicle imploded underwater; today, families and friends are grieving the loss of the 5 lives involved. The devastating events surrounding the Titan submersible last week…
It was a busy weekend for the U.S. Coast Guard along the West Coast, including two medical evacuations from vessels underway offshore. First, on February 19, 2021, the Coast Guard responded to hails from the 10,000 TEU containership M/V HYUNDAI JUPITER 40 nautical miles to the west of San Luis Obispo, California. A person aboard…
On December 10, 2020, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board issued a summary report detailing the most important maritime safety lessons learned from marine incidents during the year 2019. The report is known as the Safer Seas Digest. The Safer Seas Digest 2019 includes lessons learned from 30 different incidents in 2019. These included allisions,…
On Christmas Eve, a 50-year-old mother and her three children (ages 21, 17, and 13) were aboard a 15-foot vessel when it capsized off the west coast of Baranof Island in Southeast Alaska. At 2300 hours, a friend reported to the United States Coast Guard that the family’s vessel was overdue to return. Coast Guard…
D/V CONCEPTION caught fire and sank off the coast of California in 2019. The incident killed 34 people. On December 1, 2020, the captain of the Vessel was indicted on federal manslaughter charges under The Seaman’s Manslaughter Statute, codified at 18 U.S.C. § 1115. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, the captain…
In the wake of the deadly fire aboard D/V CONCEPTION in September 2019, lawmakers have advanced a new fire safety bill for small passenger vessels, the Small Passenger Vessel Safety Act. The legislation was proposed by Senator Dianne Feinstein and Representatives Salud Carbajal and Julia Brownley. It was rolled into the National Defense Authorization Act…
M/V STAFF SGT. MICHAEL OLLIS is the first-in-class of three new ferry vessels being built for the Staten Island Ferry system in New York City. After a series of delays, the vessel is going through its final checks before making her way up the east coast and entering service. The vessel is being built by…
During the Oct. 20, 2020 meeting of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, the NTSB determined the probable cause of the Sept., 2019 fire casualty aboard D/V CONCEPTION was the failure of Truth Aquatics, Inc., the owner and operator of the vessel, to provide effective oversight of the boat and crew operations. Specifically, they failed…
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has publicly released voluminous documentary evidence relating to the fire aboard D/V CONCEPTION on September 2, 2019, which resulted in the deaths of 34 people. The only survivors of the incident near Santa Cruz Island in California were five crewmembers who dove into the water for safety. Everyone else…
