In the hopeless condition of the ship, gradually breaking up from the violence of the waves which beat upon the hind part, whilst the fore part was held fast on the bank, all possibility of guarding the prisoners was at an end. "And the soldiers' counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape." They probably feared, that even under such peculiar circumstances, if any of the prisoners under their charge escaped, they would be blamed and punished by the Roman Government; which treated with great severity any fault or carelessness committed by soldiers, or others trusted with the charge of criminals. But the centurion, "willing to save Paul," to whom he must have felt that their safety was owing, "kept them from their purpose; and commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land: and the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship"; in short, anything which would float on the top of the water, and so keep them from sinking, whilst the wind and the waves would drive them to the shore. "And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land." There have been many wonderful escapes of shipwrecked persons, but that 276 people, many of whom could not swim, should all have got safe to the shore in such a storm, must be looked upon as the miraculous fulfilment of the Lord's promise to St. Paul, that there should be no loss of any man's life. "And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita."