Acts 27:17

Acts 27:17. They used helps, undergirding the ship. It is evident that the timbers were in danger of parting. Hence they artificially strengthened the vessel by passing ropes round it over the gunwale and under the keel, and tightening them on deck by levers. This process is called ‘frapping' in the English navy; and before the large use of iron in modern shipbuilding, the process was by no means uncommon in cases of great peril. Several instances are given in Conybeare and Howson's Life and Epistles of St. Paul. In the times of the Greeks and Romans, the probability of this method being required was such that ‘helps' were sometimes carried on board in the form of ropes made ready. Compare Hor. Od. i. 14, 6 : ‘Sine funibus vix durare carinæ possint imperiosius æquor;' and see the Excursus.

Fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands. This means a certain very definite part of the sea called the Greater Syrtis, full of shoals, on the north coast of Africa. The ancient navigators dreaded this place very much. Here Virgil placed the shipwreck of Æneas. The Syrtis lay to the south-west of the present position of the ship. Thus we have another element here for determining the direction of the wind. If they continued to run before the wind, they feared lest they should be driven into the Syrtis. Hence the wind blew from the north-east. To avoid this danger, they adopted the plan which is described in the next words.

Strake sail. The verb used here (χαλα ́ σαντες) is the same which is employed below (Acts 27:30) of the lowering of the boat into the sea, and of the lowering of St. Paul, after his conversion, from the wall of Damascus (Acts 9:25; 2 Corinthians 11:33). What they brought down upon deck was, no doubt, the heavy top-hamper (το ̀ σκευ ͂ ος) of the masts. The rig of ships at this date consisted of heavy square sails, each with an immense yard, and this would necessitate the presence of other heavy gear. To suppose that the sailors ‘strake sail,' in this instance, in the sense of setting no sail at all, would be a great mistake. They could not have adopted a more dangerous course, for thus they would have drifted before the wind into the very Syrtis which, above all things, they dreaded. What they did was this. They laid the ship to; and, her head being already to the north, they laid her to on the starboard tack, or with her right side to the wind. This is done by setting a small amount of sail, and with the united action of the wind on this sail, and of the rudder on the water, keeping the ship's head as near the wind as possible. This is a method familiar to all sailors, when their design is not to make progress, but to ride out a storm.

So were driven. More accurately,' so they drifted.' It is worth while to notice that here the word is ε ̓ φε ́ ροντο, whereas above (Acts 27:15) it is ε ̓ φερο ́ μεθα, the reference being now more specific to the result of the action of the sailors in the working of the vessel.

When a ship is laid to, she does not remain stationary, but drifts; and two questions arise first, as to the direction in which, and secondly, as to the rate at which, she drifts. As regards the rate, any experienced sailors would say that, under the circumstances now before us, the rate would be about a mile and a half an hour. The direction depends on two conditions. First, we must inquire how near the vessel would lie to the wind. Now, it may be said with confidence, that if this Alexandrian ship could sail and make progress in fair weather within seven points of the wind, she would be within about six points of the wind when laid to. Thus, the wind blowing from the east-north-east, her head would point due north. A ship, however, does not under such circumstances make progress in the direction in which her bow points. Allowance must be made for lee-way: she drifts more or less to leeward; and here, using the experience of sailors as our guide, we may say that this lee-way would amount to about seven points. Thus the actual course of the ship was within thirteen points of the wind, or west by north.

Here, then, we have the ship under the lee of Clauda made ready as well as possible for the contingencies of the storm, with the boat taken on board, undergirded or frapped, laid to on the starboard tack, and drifting west by north at the rate of a mile and a half an hour. We must not anticipate what the result must be as to the coast which she will reach, but must proceed with the narrative. It is impossible to know how long the storm will last, or whether, in the course of it, the vessel will not founder.