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.
Sinking of the RMS Titanic to take the ship farther south. At 13:45, the German ship SS "Amerika", which was a short distance to the south, reported she had "passed two large icebergs". This message never reached Captain Smith or the other officers on "Titanic"s bridge. The reason is unclear, but it may have been forgotten because the radio operators had to fix faulty equipment. Although the crew was aware of ice in the vicinity, they did not reduce the ship's speed, and continued to steam at , only short of her maximum speed of . "Titanic"s high speed in waters where ice had been