The captain

The captain had seen the iceberg warnings.  To be fair, it's not like the captain went out and created the iceberg, climbing onto a glacier or ice shelf to chisel away the berg.  The berg was its own thing, but it could not be denied.  Hence the iceberg warning had been put out.  Intelligent people prepare for the unseen, taking precautions so they can avoid the icebergs coming their way.

The captain ignored the warnings, insisting 'this is the safest, classiest, nicest ship of all time! Only losers are suggesting we should slow it down for icebergs.'  The captain spends most of his day mingling with certain passengers he's trying to impress, or the the ones who kiss his caboose.  That evening, he's not on the bridge but has given specific orders;  'no one is to deviate in course or speed!'

When they see the iceberg, the ship's speed makes it impossible to avoid a collision.  The crew on the bridge did their best but the ship strikes, leaving a massive hole in the side.  Water pours in, the ship stalls, but so far, to most passengers and crew, the real damage isn't apparent. The captain storms onto the bridge and demands everyone salute him, as he repeatedly screams 'I'm in charge!!!' He never once asks about what just happened.

The engines of this ship begin to cool as the water starts flowing into their compartment.  The engine crew see the water, they know what's coming, but a loud barking from the captain on the bridge echoes over the speakers. 'WHY ARE WE STOPPED?!? Get those engines going again! We need to keep moving.  I need to be able to brag about the speed of the ship, and those engines being off is denying me my main bragging point.  GET THEM GOING AGAIN!'

The engineers try to tell him we aren't going to be able to fire up the engines again because there's water in them.  The captain bellows 'LOSERS!'  The captain, instead of inspecting the damage or caring for the ship, heads off to a gathering of his biggest supporters in one of the ballrooms, where he calls the iceberg 'a hoax' and mocks the people showing concern for the ship.

It's at this point the ship begins to noticeably tilt.  Regardless of what the captain wants people to believe, reality is starting to sink in.  With the crew and passengers turning to him, the captain brays 'it's nothing,' how 'the ship will be back to normal soon,' and how 'everyone should just ignore their own eyes.' 'You should also ignore your internal balance if it tells you the ship's starting to tilt worse.'

The captain, realizing the passengers and the crew are starting to question him, puts his second in command in charge to be 'the face of the crisis.'  This allows the captain to make it look like he's taking the problem seriously, but it also creates an individual to blame if the ship does indeed sink.  The second in command starts gathering the information, realizes the ship is indeed sinking, but he knows the truth could upset the captain, a captain who's goal is to get back to bragging about the ship's speed.

The second in command meets with all the passengers and crew on the deck, to reassure everyone the boat is sinking, but slowly enough that the captain has it completely handled (an exaggeration at best).  The captain sees his second in command getting all the ship's attention.  His immediate jealousy at not being the center of attention overrides commonsense and he storms down to the deck.  He takes over the second in command's briefings, painting a false story about how the boat is fine.  He lies.

Many people seem fine with the captain's lie about a tilting further and further ship being perfectly fine, but some of the crew and passengers start noticing people drowning.  They tell the captain, "Look people are drowning!"  The captain calls the people drowning 'losers! It's their own fault.' He adds 'my response to the ship filling up with water has been perfect.'  He also reiterates the passengers and crew need to ignore their eyes and ears if they see or hear people drowning. 'Eyes and ears sensing people drowning are the real problem on the ship!'

With the ship now tilting at an obscene level, individual department heads and passengers, realizing they can't depend on the captain, start taking matters into their own hands.  They start trying to launch the lifeboats.  Grasping there aren't enough lifeboats for the amount of people on board, they now recognize the captain's claim of the ship 'being the safest of all time' was a lie.  They start getting as many people into lifeboats as they can.  It won't be enough.  There are materials on board which could be made into lifeboats, but they need the captain's approval to build them.  The captain refuses, insisting there isn't a need.

It's at this point the captain announces the best place for him to coordinate the disaster, a disaster he claims 1) isn't happening, while at the same time 2) says he's not responsible for, is from his own personal life boat, away from the ship.

The captain still barks at the ship from the safety of his own lifeboat.  In a brief bit of positivity, the tilting of the ship has meant one of the engines is out of the water.  It's restarted.  The second in command and his deputies hoot and howl about their short term success.  When they're informed that over 3 million pieces of coal have tumbled underwater, they insist that's only temporary.  'You see, when we get he ship back to even, all that coal will tumble back towards us.  Problem solved!'

The captain discerns the crew and passengers have decided to stop waiting for him to lead, and in turn are being perceived positively for their efforts to save the people.  The captain can't stand anyone else getting credit, so he starts ordering the people in the life boats to get back onto the ship.  He tries to entice them by promising the popular all you can eat Easter buffet will be open again in 17 hours  'Won't everyone be happy when the ship is righted in 17 hours, and we're all enjoying the delicious Easter buffet.'

Toward the front of the ship, the side that's desperately underwater, one of the crew members screams for the captain to throw them flotation devices so they can have a chance! The captain, not liking the leadership of the crew member, refuses.  He adds 'you really don't need flotation devices, and the people drowning are all your fault.'

The captain then turns to the entire ship, screaming how anyone who's not doing exactly what he orders, and anyone who doesn't think he's the greatest captain in the history of shipping, is personally responsible for the people drowning;  not him.

The body count continues to climb, but the captain hollers, restating how the passengers and crew must ignore their eyes and ears due to bias.  He then introduces everyone to his buddy.  'Only listen to the eyes and ears of this passenger in first class who tells it like it is.'  The first class passenger insists water is a myth, cold water is refreshing and only anti-captain people don't like a midnight swim.  'You know who else hates swimming?  Commies!'

The passengers and crew are overwhelmed.  It's too little too late, as most of them are stuck on the ship.  Even stranger, some of the life boats indeed did return to the sinking ship at the behest of the captain.  The people who were on those lifeboats swear 'anyone who doesn't worship the captain is an anti-captain loser who's ALWAYS hated the captain.  Ignore the haters!  Worship the captain's leadership!  That dampness you feel is just the tears of anti-captain zealots!'

The last engine fails, the lights go out and the now near perpendicular ship starts to dip below the waters.

Most of the people are terrified and scared, dreading the fate they're about to meet.  The captain's fans applaud and raucously cheer.  They scream 'this is the best boat ride we've ever been on' as they sink below the waves.

The captain, looking at the few people around him who managed to survive, starts to scream 'this was not my fault.  It was the best boat ride of all time before the haters got involved.'  He then ignorantly brags how much better everyone is because the was in charge.  'It's good the other captain wasn't in charge for this cruise.  This would've been SO MUCH WORSE!'

His words echo as lifeless corpses float by, thudding noisily against the side of his lifeboat.