Proper Procedure?

[Thunderbeard]

After reading the etiquette thread, I thought I'd ask this question.
I'm still new to crewing, and something happened where I wasn't sure how to procede.

After boarding a vessel, our ship's captain was killed in battle, leaving just 3 of us aboard. I checked the wheel, and we were in a port ready to anchor.
I left the wheel, figuring the captain/owner would tele back to us from jail.
Meanwhile, this low level guy grabs the wheel and starts sailing the ship. The rest of us couldn't bump him off the wheel.
The owner never came back while this guy sailed us to Tortuga in a badly damaged ship that wasn't his and anchored.

So, when something like this happens, should one wait for the owner to come back, or anchor the ship as soon as possible?

My instinct is to wait or at least head to safety then wait.