Tropes at Sea

Tropes related to oceans and the deep blue sea.

Because Space Is an Ocean, a lot of these tropes also show up in Space Opera, or have space-operatic equivalents.

Tropes

• Accordion to Most Sailors: Sailors tend to play accordions.
• Alien Sea: The oceans of alien settings are depicted as strange and unusual to emphasize the area's unearthly nature.
• Artistic License – Ships: Ships and their handling depicted unrealistically for plot expedience.
• The Bermuda Triangle: An area of the Atlantic Ocean notable for alleged mysterious goings-on.
• Boarding Party: When a group of sailors goes to another ship and tries to take control of it by force.
• Born Under the Sail: A culture whose lifestyle is heavily centered on sailing and the sea.
• Boundareefs: Fence-like, closely-spaced that conveniently bound off the paths you need to take in a game.
• Burial at Sea: People being buried by being submerged in the ocean.
• The Cabin Boy: A very young sailor who serves as a servant of sorts on a ship.
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• The Captain: The person in charge of a ship, with all the authority, badassery, and coolness that implies.
• Commanding Coolness: Anyone who holds the naval rank of Commander is cool.
• Creepy Old-Fashioned Diving Suit: Old deep-sea diving suits portrayed as uncanny and scary.
• Crescent Moon Island: An island shaped like a crescent moon to show that it's important.
• Cruise Episode: Episodes of a series set on a cruise.
• Davy Jones: The folkloric lord of the seafaring afterlife.
• Deserted Island: An island bereft of human settlement.
• The Drunken Sailor: A sailor who's drunk. Since back in the day alcohol was used as a disinfectant for water, and as a tool to improve morale, this was seen as the default kind of sailor.
• Eldritch Ocean Abyss: The depths of the ocean are a frightening, alien place.
• Emergency Cargo Dump: When you could get to safety if only the ship were a bit lighter and/or faster, so you start dumping things overboard.
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• "Far Side" Island: A small sandy hemisphere home only to a single palm tree and to bedraggled castaways.
• Father Neptune: An old, gritty, experienced sailor.
• Flooded Future World: In the future, the world becomes covered by the rising oceans.
• Friendly Pirate: Pirates who, despite their usual occupation are quite friendly and hospitable.
• Hello, Sailor!: The stereotype of sailors who are gay, either by nature or due to being deprived of the company of women for extended periods of time.
• Horny Sailors: Those sailors who didn't find company in each other's arms after months at sea are naturally keen to find more feminine company as soon as they get ashore.
• Island Base
• Island of Mystery
• Isle of Giant Horrors: An isolated island home to gigantic monsters.
• Lighthouse Point
• Lord of the Ocean: A Poseidon-like figure who rules over the seas.
• Lost at Sea
• Married at Sea
• Mega Maelstrom: A giant whirlpool that sucks in the sea and anything on it.
• Nautical Knockout
• Naval Blockade: A country uses it's navy to try to prevent any trade from getting into or out of the ports of an enemy.
• Not-So-Safe Harbor
• Ocean Awe
• Ocean Madness
• Ocean of Adventure: The sea portrayed as a place of mystery, wonder and adventure.
• Ocean Punk
• Parting the Sea: A body of water is split apart by some fantastic means.
• Pirate: Engagers of seaborne larceny and mayhem.
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Pirates who don't actually do any piracy, in order to keep them sympathetic to the audience.
• Plucky Middie
• Port Town: a harbor district often host to an unsavory or criminal subdistrict filled with smugglers, Black Market goods, privateers and pirates, thieves and prostitutes.
• Prongs of Poseidon: Using a trident as a weapon. Usually associated with sea gods and others with sea association. (Type I)
• Robinsonade: a plot about characters being stranded in the wilderness far away from civilization, such as on a Desert Island, and forced to live off the land in order to survive. Robinsonade takes its name from the 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.
• Running the Blockade: A navy is blockading a port or country, and someone tries to break through the blockade by stealth or evasion.
• Ruthless Modern Pirates
• Seadog Beard: Sailors usually have beards.
• Seadog Peg Leg: Sailors usually have wooden peg legs.
• Sea Mine: A spherical, studded bomb attached to a chain, which floats in the water and goes boom when approached.
• Sea Monster: Giant hungry things that live in the sea.
• Semiaquatic Species Sailor: Anthropomorphic semiaquatic animals tend to be sailors, pirates, or captains.
• Super-Sargasso Sea
• Superstitious Sailors
• Symbolic Serene Submersion
• Tropical Island Adventure
• Turtle Island: Islands which are actually large, living creatures.
• Viking Funeral: A dead body is placed on a boat which is pushed out to sea and set on fire.
• Waltz on Water