The captain goes down with the ship

Both reflect the Victorian ideal of chivalry, in which the upper classes were expected to adhere to a morality tied to sacred honor, service, and responsibility for the disadvantaged.

Rudyard Kipling's poem "Soldier an' Sailor Too" and Samuel Smiles's book Self-Help both highlighted the valour of the men who stood at attention and played in the band as their ship was sinking.

[3] Captain Francesco Schettino, who left his ship in the midst of the Costa Concordia disaster of 2012, was not only widely reviled for his actions, but received a 16-year sentence including one year for abandoning his passengers.

[7] In the United States, abandoning the ship is not explicitly illegal, but the captain could be charged with other crimes, such as manslaughter, which encompass common law precedent passed down through centuries.

If a distress call was successful and the crew and occupants, the ship's cargo, and other items of interest are rescued, then the vessel may not be worth anything as marine salvage and be allowed to sink.

For example, following the water landing of US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River in 2009, pilot in command Chesley Sullenberger was the last person to exit the partially submerged aircraft, and performed a final check for any others on board before doing so.

[36][37][38] Similarly, on October 16, 1956, Pan Am Flight 6 was a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser (en route from Honolulu to San Francisco) that was forced to ditch in the Pacific Ocean due to multiple engine failures.

Airline Captain Richard N. Ogg was the last to exit the airplane during the successful mid-ocean ditching and rescue of all 31 on board by the US Coast Guard cutter USCGC Pontchartrain.

[41] On June 2, 1983, Air Canada Flight 797, a Douglas DC-9, was enroute from Dallas-Fort Worth to Toronto when a fire began in the washroom, filling the cabin with smoke, forcing the pilots to divert to Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.