I believe the ship’s officers still fully expect American taxpayers to be able to lift the ship off the iceberg and swim with it on their backs for 1,000 miles to get it to a port where it can be repaired.
Of course, the half of America that doesn’t pay taxes will remain safely aboard the ship during this rescue effort. The idea that they would be asked to help out is apparently odious to the ship’s commander, as to him, that would be just so UNFAIR.
“Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.”
-USSC Justice Louis D. Brandeis: Dissenting Opinion in “Olmstead v. United States” (1928)