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.
Changes in safety practices after the sinking of the RMS Titanic it was agreed that rockets at sea would be interpreted as distress signals only, thus removing any possible misinterpretation from other ships. After the "Titanic" disaster, the U.S. Navy assigned the Scout Cruisers "Chester" and USS "Birmingham" (CL-2) to patrol the Grand Banks for the remainder of 1912. In 1913, the United States Navy could not spare ships for this purpose, so the Revenue Cutter Service (forerunner of the United States Coast Guard) assumed responsibility, assigning the Cutters "Seneca" and "Miami" to conduct the patrol. The "Titanic" disaster led to the convening of the first International Convention for the Safety