VIP I caught leaving doomed ship (5)
I believe the answer is:
titan
'vip' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I don't see?
I don't understand the rest of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for titan that I've seen before include "Goddess" , "Mythological giant" , "Giant god of Greek myth" , "Largest satellite of Saturn" , "Person of great strength - moon of Saturn" .)