Why Does The Caption Go Down With The Ship?

If you've every watched any show where the ship sinks, you know the Captain usually goes down with the ship.  Because this is a commonly accepted belief, several Captains have ended up in the public light for not going down with their ship, in fact, they escaped with or ahead of the passengers.  So is this true in real life, or only in the movies?

We know the Captain of the Titanic went down with the ship but it didn't have enough life boats for its passengers.  In fact, they asked women and children to be evacuated first before the men since there were only 20 lifeboats designed to carry just over 1,100 people out of the 2,200 on board.

So this may be why we think the captain goes down with his ship but this saying came from early times when an abandoned ship could be claimed for salvage and the captain could salvage things for his employers.  As long as the captain were on board, no one could claim it but things have changed since then but the saying hasn't.  In fact things began changing back, just after the Titanic sank.

In 1914, the first version of the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLS) passed as a direct result of the Titanic sinking.  It made the captain responsible for making sure all passengers got off the ship safely. Furthermore, the rules state that all passengers should be able to evacuate the ship within 30 minutes of the alarm ringing. The last version passed in 1974. It did not say the captain had to go down with the ship.  Currently, it is expected the captain will facilitate the evacuation of all passengers before he leaves the ship.  In fact, all ships are supposed to have a system of emergency management in place, delineating the responsibilities of crew members during an emergency.

Recent news events of the past 20 years where captains made the news for not going down with the ship were focused more on the captain abandoning the ship before all the passengers were safely off.  One captain claimed he directed everything from a helicopter but its much easier to direct the evacuation from onboard ship than from a life boat or helicopter.

Many of these captains face charges based on their own countries rules for this but it is acknowledged  none of these countries require them to leave early.  Most require them to get people safely off before leaving themselves. The issue is these captains did not ensure the safety of their passengers.

Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.