The relevant passage from Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics:
"Done under compulsion" means that the cause is external, the agent or patient contributing nothing towards it; as, for instance, if he were carried some-where by a whirlwind or by men whom he could not resist.
But there is some question about acts done in order to avoid a greater evil, or to obtain some noble end; e.g. if a tyrant were to order you to do something disgraceful, having your parents or children in his power, who were to live if you did it, but to die if you did not — it is a matter of dispute whether such acts are involuntary or voluntary.
Throwing a cargo overboard in a storm is a some- what analogous case. No one voluntarily throws away his property if nothing is to come of it, but any sensible person would do so to save the life of himself and the crew.
From the translation of F.H. Peters
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