I'll use this as a jumping off point for a question that's always disturbed
me....

IMHO if Capt. Smith was guilty of anything, it was a clear ability to *not*
think outside the box. So..... could they have offloaded the extra
passengers to "the" iceberg? Or any other berg?


You wouldn't ask if you understood the nature of icebergs.

Icebergs will "roll" with little or no warning.
The ice mass below the surface is melting faster than the portion of the berg
exposed to subfreezing air. As a berg melts, the COG changes, getting higher as
the lower portions melt away. After enough ice melts below the surface, the
berg just rolls over to restore a "heavy side down" position. This can happen
at any time. The portion of an iceberg that you see above the surface today
could have been underwater yesterday, and may be again tomorrow. Putting
passengers onto an iceberg would tend to stress the precarious balance that
prevents a roll over.

If the ship managed to stay afloat, but all the passengers died because an
iceberg rolled over, Capt. Smith would look pretty lame.