Why does “the captain go down with the ship”?
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In addition to the safety responsibilities for passengers and crew that people have mentioned, there are two other factors I can think of.
One is that the captain is usually financially tied to the fate of the ship. Either the captains owns part or all of the ship and its cargo, or else it is a big financial responsibility entrusted to the captain by an investor, government, or employer. Particularly before modern insurance and liability practices, a captain would be professionally and financially ruined by the loss of their ship. They lose their livelihood and reputation and likely will be in debt for the rest of their life. The captain has an incentive to stay with the ship until the last possible moment in the hope that it can be salvaged.
Another is that it is a kind of martial tradition, similar to a general refusing to surrender their post to the enemy. Just like an officer might chose to fight to the death to give his men the most time to escape, or to have an outside chance of holding a fortress or objective that is about to be overrun, a captain of a navel vessel might refuse to abandon ship until it was destroyed.
So on the one hand there is definitely a concrete responsibility to get everyone else off safety. On the other, there is a ‘death before dishonor’ aspect where the captain is tying their own fate to the fate of the ship itself. It’s a romantic ideal of devotion to your duty and honor.
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