I think "rats" is likely to mean "coward" who run away when they have a problem. If some one, or some people run when difficulties arise, or when things get bad, they are compared to rats deserting a sinking ship. The rats only care for their own safety, and will not stay to help prevent the ship from sinking or to help others
You probably are thinking of the word "scuttling" here. To scuttle a ship is to open holes in the hull and let in the water. It means to sink your own ship on purpose.
to get something off your chest means to get it done.
Tentative means to be unsure or uncertain about something.
To get on board a ship. It comes from the word "bark", a type of ship. It is also used when you get on an airplane. Figuratively, it means to start a journey or new project.
rats "Rats deserting a sinking ship" is a cliche.
That means literally jumping off a ship.
Bilge rats
What exactly are you asking? Why would you want to rewrite it?Are you asking what the saying means?
The three attendants' safety is threatened because the ship is teeming with ravenous rats.
definetely rats can swim how else could they leave a sinking ship
Yes. In fact, When the Black Plague was unleashed into Europe, the rats, most times, would only choose humans as their victims only after they had infected and killed off most of the rats nearby, on a ship, etc.
The black death was transmitted by fleas carried on rats. Conditions on ships were unhygienic during these times and so rats lived on ships to get scrap food. When a ship docked, some rats ran off the ship, carrying the infected fleas with them. the fleas then bit humans and the disease spread.
The act of disembarking.
In the story "Three Skeleton Key," the rats were brought to the island by a ship that wrecked near the island's lighthouse. The ship was carrying a cargo of rats which escaped and found their way onto the island, leading to a terrifying invasion.
Rats desert a sinking ship.
This idiom means that when things are going wrong, people will abandon a failing situation or person to protect themselves. Just as rats would leave a ship that is sinking to save themselves.