Tropes:
- Faking the Dead: Amy planned to fake her drowning, hide in the cargo hold until docking in New York, and elope with Johnny.
- Foreshadowing: Linus Calvert, Mr. MacFarlane's rival, makes a crack that insurance claims are the only way to make money in their business. That is precisely why Mr. MacFarlane and Owen hire a bomber to sink the S.S. Keewatin.
- Going Down with the Ship: Mr. MacFarlane, full of guilt for his scheme almost getting Amy killed, refuses to escape in the lifeboat.
- Historical Domain Character: Annie Edson Taylor, the first person to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel, appears in Crabtree's B plot.
- Rich Suitor, Poor Suitor: Amy is arranged to marry her father's business partner Owen, but she's secretly in love with Johnny, an Indigenous ship hand.
- Shout-Out: A sinking ship is the scene of an Inter-Class Romance. Sound familiar? Also, George makes a vague reference to Twitter when talking about wireless telegraphy and privacy issues.
- Wire Dilemma: Subverted when Murdoch has to disarm a bomb found in the cargo hold, leading to this exchange:Brackenreid: How do you know which wires to cut?Murdoch: It doesn't really matter.
