Acts 27:39-44 - The Shipwreck

³⁹ When daylight came, they could not make out what land it was, but, observing a creek in which there was a beach, they consulted as to whether they could run the ship safely into it. ⁴⁰ Then they cast off, and abandoned the anchors, and at the same time unlashed the gear of the steering oars, hoisted the foresail to the wind, and made for the beach. ⁴¹ They got, however, into a kind of channel, and there ran the ship aground. The bows stuck fast and could not be moved, while the stern began breaking up under the strain.

⁴² The advice of the soldiers was that the prisoners should be killed, for fear that any of them should swim away and make their escape. ⁴³ But the Roman Officer, anxious to save Paul, prevented their carrying out their intention, and ordered that those who could swim should be the first to jump into the sea and try to reach the shore; ⁴⁴ And that the rest should follow, some on planks, and others on different pieces of the ship. In these various ways every one managed to get safely ashore.