What: Unveiling and blessing of the Conception propeller monument
Where: Chrisman California Islands Center, 4994 Carpinteria Ave., Carpinteria
When: 2:00 Labor Day Monday, September 2, 2024
Who: Sponsored by Ventura County Sheriff’s Search Rescue Upper Ojai Team 2; One805; Santa Cruz Island Foundation

Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown, and Susan Grimmesey, PIO/Chief of Strategy and Community Engagement, will be addressing family, friends and first responders on the 5th anniversary of this greatest of maritime tragedies in Channel Islands history. Father Tom of Mission San Buenaventura will bless the unveiled monument.

Conception (#638133) (1981-2019) was a 75-foot commercial dive boat built in Long Beach in 1981, that operated out of Santa Barbara for 39 years. The Conception was owned and operated by Truth Aquatics Inc. The vessel accommodated 46 people maximum, and had 13 double bunks and 20 single bunks. It had a range of 800 nautical miles. On Labor Day, September 2, 2019 the Conception burned and sank in 65 feet of water at Platt's [Dick's] Harbor, Santa Cruz Island. The captain and four male crewmembers, who had been asleep in crew quarters above deck escaped. One female crewmember and 33 diver-passengers were asleep below decks when the fire occurred just after 3 a.m. They all perished. By 8:30 a.m. the hull had sunk 20 yards offshore. More than 14 state, federal and private agencies participated in the recovery.