History Main / ConvenientEscapeBoat

* Somewhat inverted in ''VideoGame/TimeCrisis'', as it's one of the Bad Guys who escapes this way, and you have to give chase on your own motorboat.

* Happens repeatedly in Creator/TimDorsey's ''Serge A. Storms'' novels, although sometimes Serge arranges things in advance, as in ''Electric Barracuda.''

* OlderThanTelevision: In the Literature/SherlockHolmes adventure ''Literature/TheSignOfFour'' (1890), the bad guys try to escape Holmes and the police on a steam boat, but the police have their own patrol boat ready and give chase, exchanging bullets [[ItMakesSenseInContext and poison darts]].

** An example is ''The Snow Storm'' in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'', where after you fight your way out of the hospital you can continue to push through the police on land, or take the easy route and jump in a nearby boat.
** The same game has a mob boss pull this stunt, forcing you to chase him along the coast on a bike (good thing he didn't think to travel out to sea...)
** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII'' and ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'' had the problem of [[SuperDrowningSkills 'instant drowning']], which made leaving the boat problematic. The hero of ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' could swim (and nobody else could) so often just leaping out into open water was a viable escape strategy. And funny, if anyone tried to follow.
* In ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' it happens in the second scenario after the characters find the town that you spend the first couple of chapters trying to flee to has already been overrun and they decide to head to the river.

* ''Series/TheProfessionals''. In "Blind Run", Doyle and the [[LiveActionEscortMission people he's escorting]] are being besieged in a BigFancyHouse. Fortunately the house backs onto a canal, so Bodie requisitions a canal boat. However the boat isn't very fast so their pursuers are able to cut them off (by driving ahead of them, then pushing another boat across the canal to block it) forcing them back on foot again.

* In ''Literature/WatershipDown'', a group of ''rabbits'' manage to pull this off, though the author quickly comments that it worked mainly by chance and circumstance. Not quite a straight example, however, as they knew the boat was there and planned their whole escape around using it. The book also addresses the problems they have leaving the boat once the pursuit is over, as the river is too fast and too deep for them to swim to shore: The boat gets stuck at a bridge and the river has a calm pool just past the bridge.

* Greenback Jane arc of ''Manga/BlackLagoon'' features such an emergency escape. Only some of the pursuers manage to follow.

* In ''Fanfic/ShadowAndRose'', when Alistair and his companions rescue Brother Genitivi from Haven, they're lucky enough to find a boat tied up on the dock that they can steal to get the injured monk away from the pursuing mob.

%%* This happens in ''Film/WhiteLightning'', and inspired a similar act in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' (see below)
* Happens in ''Film/InBruges'' when Colin Farrell's character is attempting to outrun [[spoiler:Ralph Fiennes, the boss of his crime syndicate]].

* This is done somewhat in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing,'' when the Nazgûl are chasing the hobbits-- and the hobbits ''pull off'' in the ferry, before Frodo even gets there. Naturally, Frodo has to jump for it-- and makes it... just in time. (In the book, it was nowhere this dramatic; the Nazgûl follows them to the river, but is unseen until long after they've pulled off).
* This is also done in the movie ''Film/SomeLikeItHot,'' where Jack Lemmon's "Fiance" just happens to be there waiting for him in a boat.
* This is how [[HistoricalDomainCharacter Sun Yat Sen]] escapes the authorities at the end of one of the Wang Fei Hong movies.

* Parodied in ''Film/FiftyFirstDates'' when Adam Sandler's character pretends to be a CIA agent, he leaps off the dock and onto some guy's jet ski. He bribes the guy to just keep driving as if this was normal.
* Subverted and inverted in ''Film/TheGhostWriter''. The main character is being tailed and manages to get on board the only ferry off the island. [[HopeSpot His pursuers are prevented from boarding at first]], until he looks back and the guard reluctantly lets them on. He still manages to give them the slip, and [[InvertedTrope leaps off back onto the island]].

* InvokedTrope in ''Film/TheTakingOfPelhamOneTwoThree''. The hijackers [[RunawayTrain send the subway train down a line leading to the harbour]] so the police will think they're escaping via boat, when they've actually got off the train already.
* Likewise in ''Shoot to Kill'' aka ''Deadly Pursuit'' (1988). The mysterious killer escapes the police via a boat he has waiting at a pier. However when the police chase it down with their own boat, they find the steering controls have been tied off with ropes, and the killer is actually slipping away beneath the pier on foot. The climax of the movie also has the 'leaping on a ferry as it's departing the pier' version, as a means of [[ThisIsSomethingHesGotToDoHimself separating the protagonists from the other pursuing police]] for their final confrontation with the killer.

* Franchise/JamesBond
** ''Film/LiveAndLetDie'': After escaping the alligator farm and burning down the drug lab, Bond steals a convenient escape boat to flee the bad guys. This leads to an awesome chase across the bayous as Bond is pursued by the villains and the police.
** ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun''. Bond is being chased by goons in Thailand, and finds a longtail boat to escape down the canal. Unfortunately it stalls before he's gone too far. A StreetUrchin who swims out to the boat is able to get it started again, but [[UngratefulBastard Bond throws him over the side]] as the villains have caught up with him again.

* OlderThanTelevision: In the Literature/SherlockHolmes adventure ''The Sign of Four'' (1890), the bad guys try to escape Holmes and the police on a steam boat, but the police have their own patrol boat ready and give chase, exchanging bullets [[ItMakesSenseInContext and poison darts]].
* In ''Literature/WatershipDown'', a group of ''rabbits'' manage to pull this off, though the author quickly comments that it worked mainly by chance and circumstance. Not quite a straight example, however, as they knew the boat was there and planned their whole escape around using it. The book also addresses the problems they have leaving the boat once the pursuit is over, as the river is too fast and too deep for them to swim to shore: The boat gets stuck at a bridge and the river has a calm pool just past the bridge.

* Played with in ''[[Literature/GarrettPI Sweet Silver Blues]]'', twice. The first time, Garrett gives a thug the slip by running out to the end of a dock and onto a ship, then keeps going ''off'' the ship into the water. The thug backs off rather than encounter the [[spoiler: Crown agents]] whose ship it is. The second time, Morley plays this trope straight as he runs along the dock to the ship that's taking him and Garrett home ... only he's arranged for his pursuer to be nabbed by [[spoiler: those same Crown agents]] who are waiting in ambush at the dockyard.
* Subverted in ''Literature/TheFifthElephant'', in which the very clever werewolves have one of their pack ''waiting on board'' the ConvenientEscapeBoat.
* The absence of one of these is a source of profound shock in ''Literature/ThePyrates''. As Colonel Blood says:

* ''Literature/TimeScout'': During one of his many escapes, Skeeter ends up in the Tiber. Fortunately a boat happens to be right at hand. Also, a Convenient Escape Horse, in that as soon as he gets out of the water he happens upon a champion racing horse.
* Happens repeatedly in Creator/TimDorsey's Serge Storms novels, although sometimes Serge arranges things in advance, as in ''Electric Barracuda.''

* When the protagonists of the Creator/JulesVerne's ''Literature/InSearchOfTheCastaways'' find a [[DeusExMachina convenient pirogue]] on the shore, and an equally convenient ship a bit away, while [[ChasedByAngryNatives being pursued by the Maori]], this is all fine and dandy. What they ''didn't'' expect is the ship being their own ''[[CoolBoat Duncan]]''.

* ''Series/{{Psych}}'': In "You Can't Handle This Episode" Juliet's secret-agent brother Ewen is introduced by having him jump obstacles and dodge bullet fire while being chased. He runs onto a public beach, jumps into the water, knocks a civilian off of a Jet Ski and zooms off to safety. ''All while having a conversation with Juliet on the phone''.

* In ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' it happens in the second scenario after the characters find the town that you spend the first couple of chapters trying to flee to has already been overrun and they decide to head to the river.

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