The captain goes down with the ship The captain goes down with the ship "The captain goes down with the ship" is an idiom and maritime tradition that a sea captain holds ultimate responsibility for both his ship and everyone embarked on it, and that in an emergency, he will either save them or die trying. Although often connected to the sinking of RMS "Titanic" in 1912 and its captain, Edward J. Smith, the phrase precedes "Titanic" by at least 11 years. In most instances, the captain of the ship forgoes his own rapid departure of a ship in distress, and concentrates instead on saving other people.
RMS Titanic in popular culture May 1912 and subsequently shown internationally, it was a major success. However, it is now considered a lost film, as the only known prints were destroyed in a fire in March 1914. Gibson's film competed against the German film "In Nacht und Eis" ("In Night and Ice"), directed by the Romanian Mime Misu, who played the "Titanic"s Captain Smith. It was largely shot aboard the liner SS "Kaiserin Auguste Victoria". The fatal collision was depicted by ramming a model of "Titanic" into a block of floating ice. The impact knocks the passengers off their feet and causes pandemonium on board.