In one scene the captain has just received a report about icebergs in the area. The ship's owner comes along with a vision of grand newspaper headlines if the boat were to arrive in New York a day ahead of schedule. He encourages the captain to fire up the last two boilers and get the boat moving faster. The captain orders full speed ahead. Sometime later, after being unable to slow the ship enough to avoid an iceberg, the owner, the captain, the ship's builder and others are assessing the damage.
Reports confirm that five holds are flooding.
The engineer explains that with four holds flooded, the ship could stay afloat, but not with five. When the five filled with water the weight would pull the bow down allowing water to flow over the top of the retaining wall into the sixth hold, then into the seventh and the eighth and . . . The great ship of civilization is steaming ahead on the sea of time. We are running into obstacles in the form of depleting fish stocks and fuel reserves, the de-stabilization of the atmosphere, contamination of soil, water and air, reduced soil fertility, species loss, growing unemployment and cultural disintegration. We are already taking on water.