Santa Cruz Island boat fire

[Jim Eshelman]

3:30 AM call from 75' Diving Vessel with 39 people aboard, engulfed in flames. It sank 20 yards offshore in 64' of water off Platts Harbor, on the north side of Santa Cruz Island.

5 people, all crew members, evacuated (on a pleasure boat named the Grape Escape.) All crew were awake and able to jump off. Passengers were asleep below.

34 people are missing. A half dozen fire departments are working with the Coast Guard. It's probably a recovery now, not a rescue. They are searching for people who may have made it to shore.

[Jim Eshelman]

3:30 AM call from 75' Diving Vessel with 39 people aboard, engulfed in flames. It sank 20 yards offshore in 64' of water off Platts Harbor, on the north side of Santa Cruz Island.

5 people, all crew members, evacuated (on a pleasure boat named the Grape Escape.) All crew were awake and able to jump off. Passengers were asleep below.

34 people are missing. A half dozen fire departments are working with the Coast Guard. It's probably a recovery now, not a rescue. They are searching for people who may have made it to shore.

I saw this news flash this morning as we were driving south through Ventura County along the coast. I looked for something bright or burning out in the water, but the fog (as usual) was far too dense to see very far off shore.

Per LA Times, this counts as "one of California's worst maritime disasters in decades." Apparently the crew first noticed the fire "in the dark," so probably before sunrise. I woke while it was barely hinting at getting light not far from there a few minutes after 6 AM, so "in the dark" sounds like 5:30 AM or earlier.

Ah, the mayday call was 3:15 AM per NY Times. [UPDATE: Coast Guard officials say the fire started at 3:14 AM which matches this.] The boat, Conception, was moored in Platts Harbor, north of Santa Cruz Island. [UPDATE: Reports now say it wasn't docked, but was "at open sea," presumably near the harbor.] By the time we were on the road, it was past the active burn stage and "smouldering," and it sank a bit later. Of the 39 people on board, five crew members escaped, eight people are currently known to be dead, and the other 26 are missing and presumed dead. UPDATE 9/3: 25 are now confirmed dead, I expect the final number to be 34.

The fire itself was surely a bit earlier than this, but 3:15 AM is the only time we have to work with so I'll use it. The harbor is at 34N02'51'', 119W44'06''. At the time of the mayday, Saturn and Pluto had recently passed angles. Moon had just left partile orb of square to Pluto, while Sun was partile conjunct Mars for the day,

CANSOLAR: The area had been vulnerable since the Cansolar set up July 17 (and the surrounding area in Santa Barbara County remains perilously vulnerable to fire). Mars is 2°00' past MC, Uranus 1°22' past Dsc, Moon on IC squares Uranus closely (0°19') and opposes Mars more widely (3°51' in mundo).

CAPLUNAR: Saturn is 1°18' from MC with Moon exactly square Asc (0°33').

TRANSITS TO CAPSOLAR: Transiting Mars and Sun are 0°01' from exact conjunction and within 2° of Capsolar MC.