Acts 27:9-26

To Malta. The Fast of the great Day of Atonement fell on the 10 th of Tishri (Sept.- Oct.). The season for shipping ended November 11, and opened again March 5; but voyages were counted dangerous after the middle of September. Paul speaks as an experienced traveller, and one who has been thrice shipwrecked (2 Corinthians 11:25). He is against setting sail again (Acts 27:21). The centurion, who had authority to control the navigation since the corn ship was a government vessel (Ramsay, St. Paul, p. 321), does not listen to him; quite rightly he is guided by the experts who are responsible for the navigation, the master of the ship and the owner. The experts agreed with Paul so far that they did not wish to leave the shelter of Crete (Acts 27:12); they considered Fair Havens unsuitable for wintering, and were for holding along the S. shore of Crete till they came to a harbour suitable for that purpose. Phoenix, the best harbour of Crete (now Lutro), has an island at its mouth and looks, it is said, down the SW. and the NW. wind (mg.), i.e. affords shelter from these winds; it is 40 miles from Fair Havens, over open water. (Acts 27:12 would, as Wellhausen points out (Acts, p. 17), read better after Acts 27:8.) The hurricane which came down from the mountains of Crete is called in the old text Euroclydon, SE., which may mean East-billower; in the text followed by RV it is Euraquilo, NE., which answers well to the circumstances. The bow of the ship could not be brought up to this wind, so they let her away and drove before it. The little island Cauda, or Clauda, gave so much shelter, that the boat the ship had been towing behind her could, though with great difficulty, be hauled on board. The operation next described, they used helps (Ramsay, - attempts to ease the ship-') undergirding the ship, is no longer practised since ships are built of iron, but was frequently carried out on wooden ships even in the nineteenth century; the timbers were to be prevented from opening, through the straining of the mast under the great sail, by passing cables round her waist. Acts 27:17 b has been explained in different ways. The ship is now in the open sea, and the NE. wind would of itself drive her upon the Syrtis, the great sands on the N. coast of Africa. To prevent this the rate of drifting might be reduced; most German commentators consider that this was the intention, and that a sea-anchor of something heavy was lowered from the stern. The Gr. words might be used of such an apparatus. But the ship drifted westwards, to Malta, and the operation, if we take the gear to be the yard and sail, was aimed at that result. Sail was shortened, so that the ship could lie to and not be carried to the S. but drift W. This would increase the rolling of the ship, and let the waves wash more freely over her; lightening operations were therefore resorted to, so that she might rise in the water; a beginning was made with the cargo, though enough was left to act as ballast (Acts 27:38), and the day after, the deck lumber (Smith thinks the great yard) was thrown out. (The AV gives this in the first person; the passengers had to help.) The sun and stars (Acts 27:20) were the mariner's compass in these days; without seeing them he could not tell in what direction he was going; and the wind still blew strong. But Paul, who had been shipwrecked thrice before, and had a fixed conviction that he was yet to see great things, did not yield to the despair that had fallen on the ship's company (Acts 27:21). He is sure all who are in the ship will be saved; he has had a message to that effect; God's designs with him will have that consequence. An island will receive them.