Basic Trope: The captain of a ship will not Abandon Ship if it sinks.
- Straight: The S.S. Failboat is sinking. Captain Bob stays on board and drowns when it sinks.
- Exaggerated:
- Along with his wife and kids, his first mate, and his dog.
- All the senior officers remain on the Failboat, having evacuated the passengers, enlistees, and junior officers.
- Downplayed: Captain Bob stays on board long enough to make sure everyone else evacuated, and gets off just as the Failboat sinks.
- Justified:
- Captain Bob feels it would be dishonorable to abandon ship.
- There are pirates on the Failboat going after the crew. Captain Bob is fighting them to stall for time while everyone else escapes.
- Captain Bob has been mortally wounded. Abandoning ship with his crew won't save his life, so he may as well die on the Failboat.
- Captain Bob is suicidal.
- The incident that doomed the Failboat was Bob's fault, so he goes down with her as atonement.
- The captain is manning one of the auxiliary bilge pumps, buying precious few seconds (if not minutes) for the passengers to get to safety at the cost of his own life.
- Admiral Evulz will punish Captain Bob with a Fate Worse than Death for losing the ship, so Bob decides to go down with the ship rather than face Evulz's wrath.
- The Failboat is surrounded by an enemy fleet who would torture Captain Bob for information if he survives.
- Inverted: When the S.S. Failboat sinks, Captain Bob is the first to get in a lifeboat.
- Subverted: Captain Bob stays onboard to coordinate the evacuation, and then gets on a lifeboat
- Double Subverted: He is about to board the lifeboat, only to demand to be left behind.
- Parodied:
- Captain Bob gives a Rambling Old Man Monologue about his days at sea as the S.S. Failboat sinks with him on it.
- Captain Bob makes his Number Two Charlie the captain, and tells him to go down with the ship. Charlie then uses his new authority to re-appoint Bob the captain, and tells him to go down with the ship. Bob then re-appoints Charlie the captain...etc. And then they both go down when the Failboat sinks.
- Zig-Zagged: Captain Bob determines that the ship is going to go down, so gives the order to prepare evacuations. Just before the Lifeboats are dropped, the problem is fixed and the ship doesn't need to be abandoned.
- Averted:
- The S.S. Failboat does not sink.
- Captain Bob abandons ship, honor be damned!
- The S.S. Failboat sinks before anyone can evacuate, except for a few lucky people.
- Enforced:
- "Captain Bob appears to be disliked by the audience... let's get rid of him!"
- Truth in Television
- Lampshaded: "A captain must go down with his ship."
- Invoked:
- The S.S. Failboat is attacked with Captain Bob aboard. The attacker even makes sure that Bob is on board when he attacks, saying, "No ship should go down without her captain."
- Charlie the XO hates Captain Bob. When the Failboat starts sinking. Charlie leaves Bob tied up on The Bridge and escapes, leaving him to drown.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied:
- Captain Bob decides it's more important to see that everyone on board gets to safety, and to help with the lifeboats, so he gets off the ship, too.
- Or he thinks it's silly to essentially commit suicide just because his boat sinks, and wants to sail another ship.
- Captain Bob's Number Two, Charlie, pulls him off the Failboat before it sinks.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Implied:
- The S.S. Failboat sinks. Captain Bob is never seen again.
- The only skeleton on the sea-wreck wears the tattered remains of a three, maybe four, striped cuff on its left arm.
- Deconstructed: Despite whatever caused the Failboat to sink, Bob is still a damn good captain. Losing him along with his ship is a major blow to his navy.
- Reconstructed: But losing Bob along with the Failboat inspires the navy to make sure that what doomed them both never happens again.
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