Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 27:42

"And the soldiers` counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any [of them] should swim out, and escape." — Acts 27:42 (ASV)

And the soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners.—The severity of Roman law, which inflicted capital punishment on those who were in charge of prisoners and allowed them to escape (see Notes on Acts 12:19; Acts 16:27), must be remembered, as explaining the apparent wanton cruelty of the proposal. In putting the prisoners to death, the soldiers saw the only chance of escaping death themselves.