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 respond was SS "Mount Temple", which set a course and headed for "Titanic"'s position but was stopped en-route by pack ice. Much nearer was , which had warned "Titanic" of ice a few hours earlier. Apprehensive at his ship being caught in a large field of drift ice, "Californian"s captain, Stanley Lord, had decided at about 22:00 to halt for the night and wait for daylight to find a way through the ice field. At 23:30, 10 minutes before "Titanic" hit the iceberg, "Californian"s sole radio operator, Cyril Evans, shut his set down for the night and went to