A moral dilemma

There is a moral dilemma below. Read it carefully and think about it for a while. After that write your opinion - did the boat's captain do the right thing and why.

In 1842, a ship struck an iceberg and more than 30 survivors were crowded into a lifeboat which was made for only 7. As a storm threatened, it became clear that the lifeboat would have to be made less heavy if they wanted to survive. The captain said that the right thing to do in this situation was to make some people jump out of the boat and drown. Such an action, he thought, was not unjust to those thrown overboard, because they would have drowned anyway. If he did nothing, however, he would be responsible for the deaths of those whom he could have saved. Some people opposed the captain's decision. They claimed that if nothing were done and everyone died as a result, no one would be responsible for these deaths. On the other hand, if the captain attempted to save some, he could do this only by killing others and their deaths would be his responsibility; this would be worse than doing nothing and letting all die. The captain rejected this idea. Because the only possibility for rescue required great efforts of rowing, the captain decided that the weakest would have to be sacrificed. In this situation it would be absurd, he thought, to decide by throwing a dice who should be thrown overboard. As it turned out, after days of hard rowing, the survivors were rescued and the captain was tried for his action. If you had been on the jury, how would you have decided?