The order to abandon ship automatically presupposes two rules: Women and children go first, and the captain is the last to leave or goes down with his vessel. Romanticized by novels and films as well as history, the maxim seems to have almost the force of law. Thus, though all 571 people aboard the Greek cruise liner Oceanos survived its spectacular sinking off the coast of South Africa recently, the ship's captain, Yiannis Avranas, was sadly a castigated as being cowardly and irresponsible. Avranas, 51, left the Oceanos aboard a rescue helicopter while some 160 passengers, including several elderly and infirm, still awaited evacuation. He abdicated the hero's role to a South African entertainer, who not only operated the shipboard radio and made certain everyone was safe but also rescued Avranas own dog and released the captain's pet canary from it's cage, before becoming one of the last to quit the sinking vessel.
In reality there is no law of the sea that requires the captain to remain with his ship to the end. And Avranas, backed by his employers, argued that with communications on board as bad, the evacuation was best directed from shore. But the captain's statements immediately after the disaster did not help his popular standing. "When I abandon the ship, it doesn't matter what time I leave”, he said. If some people want to stay longer, they can"
