There was a time when sea captains really did go down with the ship. Like the captain of Titanic; he did all he could do and then remained in the wheelhouse as the unsinkable ship did just that.

Leaving passengers stranded on a vessel in extremis is not only against maritime tradition, but the optics are very bad, particularly with a jury. It is also highly improbable that a veteran sea captain could truly be judged by a jury of his or her ‘peers.’ The captain of the dive boat Conception learned this lesson the hard way.