Acts 27:40

And when they had taken up the anchors The verb in the original implies that they cast loose all the anchors round about the stern of the vessel where they had laid them out. So the R. V.rightly gives "And casting off the anchors." When they had thrown overboard a load of corn, they would have no wish to encumber themselves with the weight of the anchors or to take the trouble of hauling them up.

they committed themselves unto the sea The italics of the A. V. shew that "themselves" is unrepresented in the original. It is far better to refer the verb to the anchors already mentioned, and render (with R. V.) "they left them in the sea."

and loosed the rudder bands The original has an adverb which is feebly represented by the conjunction of the A. V. Read (as R. V.) "at the same time loosing," &c. The rudders, of which the ancient ships had two, had been made fast, and raised out of the water, when the anchors were laid out in the stern. Now that an attempt is to be made to steer the ship toward the beach they are let down again into the water.

and hoised up the mainsail The Gk. Word "artemon" here used, was in old times the name given to the "foresail" of the vessel, and so it should be rendered here. Cognate words are now employed for the larger sails of vessels in the Mediterranean, but the "foresail" was all they here had left.

toward shore i.e. toward this beach, which seemed a suitable place where they might try to land.