This was forwarded to me about an hour ago. The author of it, LeeAnne Pantuso Clark, is a sailor, scuba diver, underwater photographer, writer, wife and mother.
I just spent a half hour talking with the gentleman who rescued the five crew members from Conception. Ran into him in the line at Vons down here in Channel Islands Harbor. A really sweet man named Bob, owner of Grape Escape.
He gave me quite a bit of insight that hasn't been reported, or has been reported wrong in the media. Keep in mind, this is from my memory of our conversation so don't take it to the bank, but here's what he told me.
First of all, let's clear up a few misconceptions:
1. There was NO PROPANE on that boat. Everything in the galley was electric.
2. The divers were NOT "locked in". There's been some speculation about that because of what was heard in the 911 call by the captain of Conception, but all that was heard was the dispatcher's side of the conversation, in which he asked if they were locked in, and asked if he could get back on the boat to unlock it. It wasn't locked.
3. The crew were all up in the wheelhouse. By the time they realized there was a fire, the galley was already fully aflame. The single stairway out of the bunk room below-deck goes into the galley. THERE WAS NO WAY TO SAVE THEM. The crew didn't "abandon" the divers to die. They had no choice but to jump, or perish themselves.
4. The crew weren't plucked out of the water. They jumped off and made their way to the dinghy tied to the stern, cut it away and dinghied over to the Grape Escape, where they were able to call emergency services.
5. They were not cooking breakfast at the time. It was 3:30 in the morning, everyone was asleep.
So that's just clearing up the wrong info that's been out put out there. He told me lots of other stuff as well - keep in mind, this is all unconfirmed. He said one crewman told him that he heard a bang in the galley around 1:30 am, but he assumed it was just a diver banging into something after coming upstairs for a drink or something. But now Bob thinks that may have been whatever set off the fire. I've speculated from the beginning the fire started in the galley, so that seems likely to me.
He also said that one of the crew members' girlfriend was sleeping down below. So obviously they would have done everything they could to save them.
There was more but that's all I can remember off the top of my head. Poor Bob is being besieged by the media - they even called his mother out-of-state! He's doing Anderson Cooper at 11:00 (in about an hour), and he says that's all he wants to do. He's devastated and traumatized. And he doesn't like people calling him a hero - he says he was a "Good Samaritan", and did what any boater would do out there. I agree - of course we all would have done what we could to help. Doesn't take away from his amazing kindness in trying to help these traumatized crew members. And he himself is hurting bad, and will be for a very long time. I gave him a very long hug.
Richard Spindler, Mike Laban, Bill Bushing, Walt Conklin, Jan Larson, Debbie Karimoto, Ken Kollwitz, Don Beary - I know you're all very interested in what's going on and what's being reported, so I'm tagging you so you'll see this. Let me know if I can answer any questions, as I'm sure I'll remember more of our conversation as time goes on.
