Jeffrey Skilling abandoned ship to spend more time with his family, months before Enron hit bottom.

WSJ: O Captain! My Captain!

Premise: that the moon is really a disguised spaceship from a distant star that, after a botched mutiny, has sat dormant for 50, 000 years, its crew having abandoned ship for Earth.

FORBES: Why Grow Up?

Schettino abandoned ship shortly after she landed on Giglio island but, lucky for the passengers, many crew members heroically remained aboard the doomed vessel to search for missing passengers and escort others to safety.

FORBES: Italian Cruise Ship Crew Honored For Bravery At Sea

Passengers described chaotic scenes, and a transcript of a conversation between the Italian coast guard and the ship's captain reveal officials' increasing frustration with the captain, who appeared to have abandoned ship before it had been fully evacuated.

WSJ: Cruise Operators See Shares Fall, Defend Safety

But high winds, and then lower than expected tides meant attempts to move the ship had to be abandoned until this weekend.

BBC: Airbus ship aground - photo by Ray McGowan

The ship was found empty and abandoned.

ECONOMIST: Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rice wine

Colonial rivalry and conflict then ensued, and, in the face of a British attack, the Germans abandoned the port of Kigoma, scuttling their ship, the Graf Goetzen, to stop it getting into British hands.

BBC: Hope yet for African Queen gunboat on Lake Tanganyika

If I abandoned them now, I would be abandoning the ship.

FORBES: CBS Forced CNET To Drop Its 'Best Of CES 2013' Winner, The DISH Hopper

With as much food, water and navigational equipment as could be snatched up in the brief time it took for the ship to sink, the crew of 20 abandoned the Essex in three light open boats.

ECONOMIST: The cannibalism of the sea

In an attempt to deflect the perception that he was fleeing a sinking ship in a million dollar lifeboat, Skilling insisted he never would have abandoned Enron had he known what the future would hold.

NPR: Skilling Takes Stand, Proclaims Innocence at Enron Trial