Scuppered

Captain Fletcher of her Majesty's Royal Navy gallantly stood before the tribunal. If he was aware that he faced court-martial, whipping, and possibly even death, he showed no sign of it in his stoic demeanor.

This was, of course, not his first appearance before the tribunal. In fact, it was the seventh time that he had scuppered one of his vessels, and his commanding officers rightly wondered about his abilities to captain, though they eventually acquitted him.

Years later, it was learned that the true reason for his constant failures was that he just really enjoyed using the word scuppered.