A prudent ship captain task would be to 'isolate" the flooded portion from the rest of the ship.
What does a doctor do when he treats a patient with an unhealed ulcer for years together?
His immediate concern would be to treat the ulcer if the patient does not respond to the treatment the doctor would go ahead with amputation, lest ulcer spreads to other parts of the body.
Likewise, in "reputed families" when a boy or a girl go astray the "prudent" parents would hive off the rotten ones and they would be designated as a separate entity.
