Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 27:17
Which when they had taken up, they used helps, undergirding the ship; and, fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands, struck sail, and so were driven.
17. which when they had taken up ] [ R. V. “and when they had hoisted it up”]. The sense of the verb is thus fully brought out, as it indicates the labour which the work required.
helps ] These were strong cables, which were drawn several times round the hulls of vessels, to help in keeping the timbers from parting. The technical term for the operation is “to frap” a vessel, and it is only in modern times that the process has been abandoned.
should fall into the quicksands ] [ R. V. “lest they should be cast upon the Syrtis”]. The Syrtis Major and Syrtis Minor are two quicksands on the north coast of Africa, of which the Syrtis Major lies most to the east, between Tripoli and Barca, and was the shoal on to which the sailors at this time were afraid of being driven.
strake sail ] [ R. V. “lowered the gear”] The noun is a very general one, signifying “tackling” or “implements” of any kind. What was done was to lower everything from aloft that could be dispensed with. They could not have struck sail, because to do so would be to give up all the chance which remained of using the wind to avoid the Syrtis, which was what they desired to do.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Which when they had taken up – When they had raised up the boat into the ship, so as to secure it.
They used helps – They used ropes, cables, stays, or chains, for the purpose of securing the ship. The danger was that the ship would be destroyed, and they therefore made use of such aids as would prevent its loss.
Undergirding the ship – The ancients were accustomed to pass cables or strong ropes around a vessel to keep the planks from springing or starting by the action of the sea. This is now called frapping a vessel. The operation of frapping a vessel is thus described in Falconers Marine Dictionary. To frap a ship is to pass four or five turns of a large cable-laid rope round the hull or frame of a ship to support her in a great storm, or otherwise, when it is apprehended that she is not strong enough to resist the violent efforts of the sea. An instance of this kind is mentioned in Lord Ansons voyage round the world. Speaking of a Spanish man-of-war in a storm, he says, They were obliged to throw overboard all their upper-deck guns, and take six turns of the cable round the ship to prevent her opening.
Lest they should fall into the quicksands – There were two celebrated syrtes, or quicksands, on the coast of Africa, called the greater and lesser. They were vast beds of sand driven up by the sea, and constantly shifting their position, so that it could not be known certainly where the danger was. As they were constantly changing their position, they could not be accurately laid down in a chart. The sailors were afraid, therefore, that they should be driven on one of those banks of sand, and thus be lost.
Strake sail – Or, rather, lowered or took down the mast, or the yards to which the sails were attached. There has been a great variety of interpretations proposed on this passage. The most probable is that they took down the mast, by cutting or otherwise, as is now done in storms at sea, to save the ship. They were at the mercy of the wind and waves, and their only hope was by taking away their sails.
And so were driven – By the wind and waves. The ship was unmanageable, and they suffered it to be driven before the wind.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 17. Undergirding the ship] This method has been used even in modern times. It is called frapping the ship. A stout cable is slipped under the vessel at the prow, which they can conduct to any part of the ship’s keel; and then fasten the two ends on the deck, to keep the planks from starting: as many rounds as they please may be thus taken about the vessel. An instance of this kind is mentioned in Lord Anson’s Voyage round the World. Speaking of a Spanish man-of-war in a storm: “They were obliged to throw overboard all their upper-deck guns, and take six turns of the cable round the ship, to prevent her opening.” P. 24, 4to. edit. The same was done by a British line-of-battle ship in 1763, on her passage from India to the Cape of Good Hope.
The quicksands] , Into the syrt. There were two famous syrts, or quicksands, on the African coast; one called the syrtis major, lying near the coast of Cyrene; and the other, the syrtis minor, not far from Tripoli. Both these, like our Goodwin Sands, were proverbial for their multitude of ship-wrecks. From the direction in which this vessel was driven, it is not at all likely that they were in danger of drifting on any of these syrts, as the vessel does not appear to have been driven near the African coast through the whole of her voyage. And as to what is said, Ac 27:27, of their being driven up and down in Adria, , it must mean their being tossed about near to Sicily, the sea of which is called Adria, according to the old Scholiast upon Dionysius’s Periegesis, ver. 85: they call this Sicilian sea, Adria. We are therefore to consider that the apprehension, expressed in Ac 27:17, is to be taken generally: they were afraid of falling into some shoals, not knowing in what part of the sea they then were; for they had seen neither sun nor stars for many days; and they had no compass, and consequently could not tell in what direction they were now driving. It is wrong therefore to mark the course of this voyage, as if the vessel had been driven across the whole of the Mediterranean, down to the African coast, and near to the syrts, or shoal banks; to which there is scarcely any reason to believe she had once approximated during the whole of this dangerous voyage.
Strake sail] . What this means is difficult to say. As to striking or slackening sail, that is entirely out of the question, in such circumstances as they were; when it is evident they could carry no sail at all, and must have gone under bare poles. Some think that lowering the yards, and taking down the top-mast, is what is intended; but in such a perilous situation this would have been of little service. Others think, letting go their main or sheet anchor, is what is meant; but this seems without foundation, as it would have been foolishness in the extreme to have hoped to ride out the storm in such a sea. Passing by a variety of meanings, I suppose cutting away, or by some means letting down the mast, is the action intended to be expressed here; and this would be the most likely means of saving the vessel from foundering.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
They used helps; not only using all instruments fit for their purpose, but all hands were employed too.
Undergirding the ship, with cables, to keep the sides of the ship the closer and faster together.
The quicksands: there were two quicksands especially famous in Africa, the one the greater, the other the lesser, called Syrtes, because these mountabes of sand under water did seem, as it were, to draw and suck up ships, they were so soon swallowed up by them.
Strake sail; by the word here used, sails and their tackle, or the top-mast, may be understood decks.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. undergirding the shipthatis, passing four or five turns of a cable-laid rope round the hull orframe of the ship, to enable her to resist the violence of the seas,an operation rarely resorted to in modern seamanship.
fearing lest they should fallinto the quicksands“be cast ashore” or “strandedupon the Syrtis,” the Syrtis Major, a gulf on the Africancoast, southwest of Crete, the dread of mariners, owing to itsdangerous shoals.
they strake“struck”
sailThis cannot be themeaning, for to strike sail would have driven them directly towardsthe Syrtis. The meaning must be, “lowered the gear”(appurtenances of every kind); here, perhaps, referring to thelowering of the heavy mainyard with the sail attached to it [SMITH].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Which when they had taken up,…. When they had got the boat into the ship:
they used helps; the mariners made use of other persons, called in the assistance of the soldiers, and passengers, and prisoners; or for the help of the ship, they made use of cords, chains, and such like things:
undergirding the ship: with cords and ropes, which they drew under the keel of the ship, and so bound both sides of the ship, that it might not split and fall to pieces; which may be what is now called “frapping”, and is done by putting large ropes under the keel, and over the gunwale; and is used when a ship by labouring hard in the sea breaks the bolts in her sides, and this keeps her from parting. Horace z refers to this use of ropes in tempests, when he says, “Nonne vides ut–sine funibus vix durare carinae possint imperiosius Aequor?” do not you see that without ropes the keels can scarcely endure the more imperious sea? Isidorus a makes mention of several sorts of ropes made use of in storms; “spirae”, he says, are ropes that are used in tempests, which the mariners after their manner call “curcubae; tormentum” is a long rope in ships, according to the same writer, which reaches from head to stern, by which they are bound faster together:
and fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands: which were on the African coast, here called “Syrtes”; either from the conflux of sand and slime, and such like things, which made them very dangerous for shipping, and being covered with water, could not be seen and guarded against, and especially in a storm; or from their drawing of vessels into them, which they retain, suck in, and swallow up; and such the mariners might know were not far off: there were two very remarkable ones on the coast of Africa, the one is called the greater “Syrtes”, the other the lesser b; the greater was more to the south than the lesser, and also more to the east, and the lesser was to the west: of these “Syrtes”, Jerom c says, they are sandy places in the great sea very terrible, and to be feared, because they use to draw all into them; they are near the Egyptian sea; the Lybian sea, which washes the African shore, is by Seneca called from them the “Syrtic sea” d: wherefore,
they strake sail; let down their sails; so read some manuscripts in New College, Oxford; in the Greek text it is, “they let down the vessel”; not the boat they had taken in, of which we read after; nor an anchor, or anchors, which would have been improper in a storm; nor the mast, it can hardly be thought that should be the first thing they should cut down, when they did not cast out the tackling till the third day; the storm was vehement on the first, more vehement on the second, when they lightened the ship, and most vehement on the third, when they cast out the tackling; and as Scheffer e observes, the mast is never cut down before the loss of other things; wherefore this is to be understood of letting down the sail yard, and contracting the sails; the Syriac version renders it, “we let down the main sail”; or, “the sail”, using the Greek word “Armenon”, which signifies “a sail”:
and so were driven; about in the sea, wheresoever the winds and waves carried them; or very likely the ship was driven before the wind under her bare poles.
z Carmin. l. 1. ode 14. a Originum, l. 19. c. 4. p. 163. b Vid. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 4. Sallust. in Jugurtha Melam. l. 1. c. 7. c De locis Hebraicis, fol. 96. I. d De Militia Naval Veterum, l. 1. c. 4. p. 35. e Scheffer, ib. p. 297-300.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Helps [] . Any apparatus on hand for the purpose : ropes, chains, etc.
Undergirding [] . In modern nautical language, frapping : passing cables or chains round the ship ‘s hull in order to support her in a storm. Mr. Smith (” Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul “) cites the following from the account of the voyage of Captain George Back from the arctic regions in 1837 : “A length of the stream chain – cable was passed under the bottom of the ship four feet before the mizzen – mast, hove tight by the capstan, and finally immovably fixed to six ringbolts on the quarter – deck. The effect was at once manifest by a great diminution in the working of the parts already mentioned; and, in a less agreeable way, by impeding her rate of sailing.”
Quicksands [ ] . The rendering of the A. V. is too general. The word is a proper name, and has the article. There were two shoals of this name – the “Greater Syrtis” (Syrtis Major), and the “Smaller Syrtis” (Syrtis Minor). It was the former upon which they were in danger of being driven; a shallow on the African coast, between Tripoli and Barca, southwest of the island of Crete.
Strake sail [ ] . Lit., as Rev., lowered the gear. See on goods, Mt 12:29. It is uncertain what is referred to here. To strike sail, it is urged, would be a sore way of running upon the Syrtis, which they were trying to avoid. It is probably better to understand it generally of the gear connected with the fair – weather sails. “Every ship situated as this one was, when preparing for a storm, sends down upon deck the ‘top – hamper, ‘ or gear connected with the fair – weather sails, such as the topsails. A modern ship sends down top – gallant masts and yards; a cutter strikes her topmast when preparing for a gale” (Smith, “Voyage,” etc.). The stormsails were probably set.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Which when they had taken up, they used helps
(hen arantes boetheias echronto) “Which when they had lifted up, hoisted on board the ship, they used the helps in the little boat,” used the life-boat equipment.
2) “Undergirding the ship,” (hupozonnuntes to ploion) “Undergirding, repairing the ship,” using “frappings,” or cables to prevent the timbers of the ship from being strained, breaking, or coming apart under pressure of the storm and the waves, around the hull and frame of the ship.
3) “And, fearing,” (phoboumenoi te) “And being fearful,” all the time, with continuing fear, tormented by fear of sudden death from the storm, 1Jn 4:18.
4) “Lest they should fall into the quicksands,” (me eis ten surtin ekpesosin) “That they might fall out onto the quicksand,” lying to the southwest of Clauda, a treacherous, well known shallow quicksand area of the Mediterranean Sea, known by sailors as Syrtis Major, off the coast of Africa southwest of Crete.
5) “Strake sail,” (charasantes to skeuos) “Lowering the tackle,” the gear, the things that had temporarily held the ship near the small island of Clauda,” apparently lowering the mainsail a bit, to try to alter the course of the ship some, as they let loose the primary holds on the sails to drift with the winds, to avoid sinking.
6) “And so were driven.” (houtos epheronto) “They were thus adrift,” again in the winds, upon the reckless waves of the sea, hopelessly drifting, except by providential intervention of Him who rules the storms and waters of the sea, for “the Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm,” Nah 1:3.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(17) They used helps, undergirding the ship.The word helps answers to what we should call precautions, or remedial measures. The process described, technically known as frapping, consisted in carrying a strong cable several times round the ship from stem to stern, so as to keep the planks from starting, and guard against the consequent leakage. The practice has always been a common one. Thucydides (i. 29) mentions the Corcyreans as having recourse to it. The Russian ships taken in the Tagus in 1808 were kept together in this manner in consequence of their age and unsound condition (Arnold, on Thuc. i. 29). We have probably an allusion to it in the lines of Horace (Od. i. 14).
Ac sine funibus,
Vix durare carin,
Possint imperiosius
quor.
[And scarcely can our keels keep sound,
Een with the ropes that gird them round,
Against the imperious wave.]
Fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands.Literally, the Syrtis. There were two quicksands of this name, the Greater and the Lesser, on the north coast of Africa. The former lay just to the west of Cyrene, the latter further west, and nearer Carthage. St. Luke probably speaks of the Greater. These quicksands were the terror of all Mediterranean sailors (Jos. Wars, ii. 16, 4). A fine description of them is given by the Evangelists namesake, Lucan, in his Pharsalia (ix. 303-310):
When Nature gave the world its primal form,
She left the Syrtes neither sea nor land.
There neither sinks the shore and welcomes in
The deep seas waters, nor the coast can hold
Its own against the waves, and none can track
Their way within the uncertain regions bounds.
The seas are marred with shallows, and the land
Is broken by the billows, and the surge
Beats on the shore loud-sounding. Nature leaves
This spot accursed, and of use to none.
Comp. Miltons Paradise Lost, ii. 939:
Quenched in a boggy Syrtes, neither sea
Nor good dry land.
The voyagers knew that the gale was bearing them in that direction, and did not dare to let the ship sail on full before the wind any longer.
Strake sail.The English fails to give the sense of the original. Had they struck sail altogether the ship would simply have drifted in the very direction which they were anxious to avoid. Some sail was absolutely necessary to keep the ship steady. What is meant is that they lowered the ships gear, the spars and rigging, and especially, perhaps, the heavy yard and ropes which the ancient ships carried, and which would, in such a gale, make the ship top-heavy.
And so were driven.Better, thusi.e., in this state, undergirded and with storm-sails set. They aimed at sailing as close as possible to the wind, making for the north-west, so as to avoid the Syrtes.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. Helps Props placed under loosened timbers to prevent their falling. Or, more properly, the helps may refer to the materials used for undergirding, as follows.
Undergirding Powerful ropes were wound around the loosening ship, as a person draws a girdle around the waist, in order to bind its loosening timbers fast and prevent its going to pieces. This was an ancient practice, and cables were anciently carried on board as the helps prepared for emergencies. It is sometimes practised in modern times on small craft, and is called “frapping the ship.”
Quicksands The immense sandbanks on the northern coast of Africa, called on the map Syrtes. These were fatal to ships, and a persistence in its southwest course would have carried the present ship directly thither.
Strake sail Strake, old English for struck. Ancient ships had from one to three masts. On the principal mast was the large square mainsail, which with the others was now lowered, and they drifted with naked masts.
Driven By the northeaster.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Act 27:17. The quicksands, The greater and lesser Syrtis on the African shore, infamous for their destruction of mariners. Many approved writers of antiquity have described them. Undergirding the ship, was binding it round with ropes and cables, in order to prevent it from bulging.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Act 27:17 . And after they had drawn this up, they applied means of protection, undergirding the ship . This undergirding (Polyb. xxvii. 3. 3) took place, in order to diminish the risk of foundering, by means of broad ropes ( , tormenta ) which, drawn under the ship and tightened above, held its two sides more firmly together. [172] Comp. Plat. Rep. p. 616 C: , ; Athen. v. 37; and see generally, Boeckh, Urkunden b. d. Seewesen des Attischen Staats , p. 133 ff.; Smith ( The Ships of the Ancients ), p. 173 ff.; Hackett, p. 426 ff. By is to be understood all kinds of helpful apparatus (Aristot. Rhet. ii. 5) which they had in store for emergencies, as ropes, chains, beams, clamps, and the like; see Wetstein. The referring it to the help rendered by the passengers (Grotius, Heinsius, and others), which was a matter of course amidst the common danger, makes the statement empty and unnecessary.
. . .] and fearing to strike on the (nearest) Syrtis . It is entirely arbitrary to understand , without linguistic precedent, in the wider sense of a sandbank ( , , , ), and not of the African Syrtis . Of the two Syrtes, the Greater and the Lesser, the former was the nearest. As the ship was driven from the south coast of Crete along past the island of Clauda, and thus ran before the north-east wind, they might well, amidst the peril of their situation, be driven to the fear lest, by continuing their course with full sail, they might reach the Greater Syrtis; and how utterly destructive that would have been! See Herod. iii. 25 f., iv. 173; Sallust. Jug. 78 f.; Strabo, xvii. p. 834 f.
, of ships and shipwrecked persons, which are cast (out of the deep, navigable water) on banks, rocks, islands, shoals, or on the land, is very common from Homer onward; Locella, ad Xen. Eph. p. 239; Stallb. ad Plat. Phil . p. 13 D.
] the gear, the tackle , is the general expression for all the apparatus of the ship (Plat. Crit. p. 117 D: , Dem. 1145. 1 : , 1145. 9; Xen. Oec. viii. 12. Polyb. xxii. 26. 13; and see Hermann, Privatalterth . 50. 20). The context shows what definite tackle is here meant by specifying the aim of the measure, which was to prevent the ship from being cast upon the Syrtis , and that by withdrawing it as far as practicable from the force of the storm driving them towards the Syrtis. This was done by their lowering the sails, striking sail , and accordingly choosing rather to abandon the ship without sails to the wind, and to allow it to be driven ( ), than with stretched sails to be cast quickly, and without further prospect of rescue, on the Syrtis. Already at a very early date was justly explained of the sails, and Chrysostom even read . According to Smith, the lowering of the rigging is meant, by which the driving of the ship in a straight direction was avoided. But this presupposes too exact an acquaintance with their position in the storm, considering the imperfection of navigation in those times; and both the following description, especially Act 27:20 , and the measure adopted in Act 27:29 , lead us to assume that they had already relinquished the use of the sails. But the less likely it is that in the very exact delineation the account of the striking of the sails, which had not hitherto taken place (in opposition to Kypke and Kuinoel), should have been omitted, and the more definitely the collective meaning is implied in , the more objectionable appears the view of Grotius, Heinsius, Kuinoel, and Olshausen (after the Peshito), that is the mast . Still more arbitrary and (on account of ) entirely mistaken is the rendering of Kypke: “demittentes ancoram ,” and that of Castalio and Vatablus: “demissa scapha ” (see, on the other hand, Act 27:30 ).
[172] Yet it is doubtful whether the procedure was not such, that the ropes ran in a horizontal manner right round the ship (Boeckh, Stallb. ad Plat. l.c .). But see Smith.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
17 Which when they had taken up, they used helps, undergirding the ship; and, fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands, strake sail, and so were driven.
Ver. 17. Undergirding the ship ] With trusses or strong ropes, for fear lest she should split.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
17. ] , having taken on board .
] measures to strengthen the ship , strained and weakened by labouring in the gale. Pliny (ii. 48) calls the typhoon ‘prcipua navigantium pestis, non antennas modo, verum ipsa navigia contorta frangens.’ Grot., Heinsius, &c., are clearly wrong in interpreting ., ‘ the help of the passengers .’
. . ] undergirding , or frapping the ship. “To frap a ship ( ceintrer un vaisseau ) is to pass four or five turns of a large cable-laid rope round the hull or frame of a ship, to support her in a great storm, or otherwise, when it is apprehended that she is not strong enough to resist the violent efforts of the sea: this expedient, however, is rarely put in practice.” Falconer’s Marine Dict.: Smith, p. 60, who brings several instances of the practice, in our own times. See additional ones in C. and H. ii. 404, f. Horace seems to allude to it, Od. i. 14. 3, ‘ac sine funibus Vix durare carin Possint imperiosius quor.’ See reff.
] The Syrtis , on the African coast; there were two, the greater and the lesser ( , Jos. B. J. ii. 16. 4), of which the former was the nearer to them.
] See reff. and add , Herodot. viii. 13.
. . ] “It is not easy to imagine a more erroneous translation than that of our authorized version: ‘Fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands, they strake sail, and so were driven.’ It is in fact equivalent to saying that, fearing a certain danger, they deprived themselves of the only possible means of avoiding it.” Smith, p. 67. He goes on to explain, that if they had struck sail , they must have been driven directly towards the Syrtis . They therefore set what sail the violence of the gale would permit them to carry, turning the ship’s head off shore, she having already been brought to on the starboard tack (right side to the wind). The adoption of this course would enable them to run before the gale, and yet keep wide of the African coast, which we know they did. But what is . ? It is interpreted by Meyer, De W., and most Commentators, of striking sail (as E.V.): but this (see above) could not be: “In a storm with a contrary wind or on a lee-shore, a ship is obliged to lie-to under a very low sail: some sail is absolutely necessary to keep the ship steady, otherwise she would pitch about like a cork, and roll so deep as to strain and work herself to pieces.” Encycl. Brit. art. ‘Seamanship:’ Smith, p. 72, who interprets the words, lowering the gear , i.e. sending down upon deck the gear connected with the fair-weather sails, such as the suppara , or top-sails. A modern ship sends down top-gallant masts and yards, a cutter strikes her topmast, when preparing for a gale. In this case it was perhaps the heavy yard which the ancient ships carried, with the sail attached to it, and the heavy ropes, which would by their top-weight produce uneasiness of motion as well as resistance to the wind. See a letter addressed to Mr. Smith by Capt. Spratt, R.N., quoted in C. and H. ii. p. 405, note 5.
] i.e. “not only with the ship undergirded, and made snug, but with storm-sails set, and on the starboard tack, which was the only course by which she could avoid falling into the Syrtis.” Smith, ib.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Act 27:17 . : “and when they had hoisted it up” into the ship, see on Act 27:13 . . : they used helps . undergirding the ship, A. and R.V., on see Act 27:3 , cf. 1Co 9:12 ; 1Co 9:15 ; often compared to the custom called in modern language frapping , or undergirding the ship with cables to prevent the timbers from being strained, or to hold them together during a storm, Plato, Rep. , 616, , Polyb., xxvii., 3, 3, Horace, Od. , i., 14, 6. The difficult point to decide is whether the girders were put longitudinally round the ship, i.e. , passed from stem to stern, or under the ship transversely. Breusing, p. 670 (so Goerne and Vars), defends the former at great length, following Bckh. The passage from Plato, u. s. , he admits may possibly make for the latter view, but it is evident that the description is not very definite or precise, and the passage in Isidore of Seville, Orig. , xix., 4, 4, “tormentum ( ) funis in navibus longus, qui a prora ad puppim extenditur, quo magis constringantur,” which Bckh quotes (so also Vars, L’Art Nautique , p. 219) is much clearer. Moreover, the girding was often performed when the ships were on land, on the stocks, and it is not likely that the operation in the circumstances under discussion could have meant passing a cable under the keel. Further, by girding the ship transversely, i.e. , underneath the ship (p. 175), only the timbers in the middle of the ship would be held together, whilst a girding longitudinally was needed to secure the whole plankage of the ship. But see on the other hand Ramsay, p. 329, who agreeing with Smith holds that the cables were passed underneath round the ship transversely. Either operation, one would suppose, would have been difficult during a storm. For instances of this practice in modern times, see Smith, and C. and H., small edit., p. 645. Wendt (1899) refers to Naber’s conjecture of for . as very plausible. .: “on the great quicksands,” Ramsay; “the Syrtis,” R.V., not merely “the quicksands,” as A.V., but the Syrtis Major , “the Goodwin Sands of the Mediterranean”(Farrar), lying at a distance to the south-west of Clauda; upon them the sailors knew that they would be cast, unless they could manage by some means to alter their course. : a regular nautical term, to fall off, , i.e. , from a straight course, Eur., Hel. , 409, Herod., viii., 13, others supply “from deep water” and render . to be cast away , Grimm-Thayer, sub v., cf. Act 27:26 ; Act 27:29 . . : “lowered the gear,” R.V., they reduced sail,” Ramsay; here and in Act 27:30 used as a nautical term; the tempting reference to Isa 33:23 , LXX, cannot be sustained, for the meaning of the words is very doubtful. The article with the singular (in Act 27:19 , the plural) seems to indicate “ the gear,” the mainyard carrying the mainsail (so Page, Wordsworth, Humphry). Of the A.V., J. Smith says that no more erroneous translation could be imagined, as “they struck sail” would imply that the ship had no means of escaping danger, but was left to flounder hopelessly in the storm, although Meyer-Wendt take the words to mean that they preferred to let the ship drift without any mast or sail than to be driven on upon the Syrtis, as was inevitable with the ship kept in full sail. Chrysostom explains . as = , but some sail was necessary, and they had still the artemon or storm sail, so J. Smith, who thinks that they lowered the great sail and mainyard some way , but not apparently entirely. The aim of the sailors was not merely to delay their course (which would only bring them upon the Syrtis), but to alter it, and it is therefore quite possible that . may denote a series of operations, slackening sail, lowering as much of the gear as they could, but leaving enough sail spread to keep the ship’s head to the wind, i.e. , to the north instead of drifting to south-west upon the quicksand (Ramsay). Breusing, p. 177 ff., who thinks that the mainsail had been lowered at the commencement of the storm, adopts quite a different meaning for the words, and interprets them as implying that weights and great stones were let down by ropes into the sea for the purpose of retarding the progress of the vessel, and with this view Blass and Knabenbauer are in agreement (Wendt, 1899, evidently inclines to it, and Goerne adopts it); this curious view, which Ramsay finds it difficult to regard seriously, Breusing supports by a passage in Plut., Moral. , p. 507, A (so Hesychius’ explanation, ), which intimates that and were frequently employed to check the course of a ship in a storm; but even if the Greek words admit of this explanation, the object of the sailors was nothing less than to alter the course of the vessel, and Breusing’s supposition would not conduce to this. : “so were driven,” R.V., i.e. , in this state, “and drove on so,” Rendall; meaning that we let the ship drift in that position, viz. , undergirded, with storm sail set and on the starboard tack; J. Smith, so Ramsay, not simply “were driven hopelessly”. For , Act 17:33 , Act 20:11 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
taken up. Greek. airo. See Act 27:13.
used. Greek. chraomai. See Act 27:3.
helps. Greek. boetheia. Only here and Heb 4:16.
undergirding. Greek. hupozdnnumi. Only here. The process of passing a cable or chain round a ship to prevent her going to pieces is called “frapping”.
lest. Greek. me. App-105.
fall. Greek. ekpipto. Occurs thirteen times; here: Act 27:26, Act 27:29, Act 27:32; Act 12:7. Mar 13:25. Rom 9:6, &c.
quicksands. Greek. surtis. Only here. There are two gulfs on the north coast of Africa, full of shoals and sandbanks, called Syrtis Major and Syrtis Minor. It may be the former of these, now Sidra, into which they were afraid of being driven.
strake sail. Literally having lowered the gear.
strake. Gr chalao. See Luk 5:4.
sail. Greek. skeuos. The great yard to which the sail was attached. Occurs twenty-three times. Always rendered “vessel”, except here; Mat 12:29. Mar 3:27 (goods). Luk 17:31 (stuff).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
17.] , having taken on board.
] measures to strengthen the ship, strained and weakened by labouring in the gale. Pliny (ii. 48) calls the typhoon prcipua navigantium pestis, non antennas modo, verum ipsa navigia contorta frangens. Grot., Heinsius, &c., are clearly wrong in interpreting ., the help of the passengers.
. .] undergirding, or frapping the ship. To frap a ship (ceintrer un vaisseau) is to pass four or five turns of a large cable-laid rope round the hull or frame of a ship, to support her in a great storm, or otherwise, when it is apprehended that she is not strong enough to resist the violent efforts of the sea: this expedient, however, is rarely put in practice. Falconers Marine Dict.:-Smith, p. 60, who brings several instances of the practice, in our own times. See additional ones in C. and H. ii. 404, f. Horace seems to allude to it, Od. i. 14. 3, ac sine funibus Vix durare carin Possint imperiosius quor. See reff.
] The Syrtis, on the African coast; there were two, the greater and the lesser ( , Jos. B. J. ii. 16. 4), of which the former was the nearer to them.
] See reff. and add , Herodot. viii. 13.
. . ] It is not easy to imagine a more erroneous translation than that of our authorized version: Fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands, they strake sail, and so were driven. It is in fact equivalent to saying that, fearing a certain danger, they deprived themselves of the only possible means of avoiding it. Smith, p. 67. He goes on to explain, that if they had struck sail, they must have been driven directly towards the Syrtis. They therefore set what sail the violence of the gale would permit them to carry, turning the ships head off shore, she having already been brought to on the starboard tack (right side to the wind). The adoption of this course would enable them to run before the gale, and yet keep wide of the African coast, which we know they did. But what is . ? It is interpreted by Meyer, De W., and most Commentators, of striking sail (as E.V.): but this (see above) could not be: In a storm with a contrary wind or on a lee-shore, a ship is obliged to lie-to under a very low sail: some sail is absolutely necessary to keep the ship steady, otherwise she would pitch about like a cork, and roll so deep as to strain and work herself to pieces. Encycl. Brit. art. Seamanship: Smith, p. 72, who interprets the words, lowering the gear, i.e. sending down upon deck the gear connected with the fair-weather sails, such as the suppara, or top-sails. A modern ship sends down top-gallant masts and yards, a cutter strikes her topmast, when preparing for a gale. In this case it was perhaps the heavy yard which the ancient ships carried, with the sail attached to it, and the heavy ropes, which would by their top-weight produce uneasiness of motion as well as resistance to the wind. See a letter addressed to Mr. Smith by Capt. Spratt, R.N., quoted in C. and H. ii. p. 405, note 5.
] i.e. not only with the ship undergirded, and made snug, but with storm-sails set, and on the starboard tack, which was the only course by which she could avoid falling into the Syrtis. Smith, ib.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Act 27:17. , which) the boat.-, they used helps) which the boat afforded.-, undergirding) Gyraldus, in his book concerning voyages, says (ch. xv), that the mitra (girdle) is the rope with which a ship is girded in the middle. Add Raphelius.- , the Syrtis) quicksands towards Africa.- ; the tackling) [that wherewith the ship was furnished]) the sails, etc., Act 27:19, in order that they might be driven on the Syrtis with less violence.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
fall
be cast upon the Syrtis.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
fearing: Act 27:29, Act 27:41
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
7
Act 27:17. The boat referred to was a lifeboat, which had been towed up to now because the waters were calm when they started. The word for boat is from SKAPHE which Robinson defines, “A skiff, boat.” They hoisted this boat (with “much work,” verse 16) up on deck, then gave their attention to the ship. To strengthen the hull, they passed ropes or chains around it and drew them up tight. Strake sail means they lowered the sails for fear the wind in them would force the ship into the quicksands. From now on they let the ship drift as it would with the wind and waves.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Act 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 Howsons 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 carin possint imperiosius quor; 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 neas. 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 () is the same which is employed below (Act 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 (Act 9:25; 2Co 11:33). What they brought down upon deck was, no doubt, the heavy top-hamper ( ) 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 ships 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 , whereas above (Act 27:15) it is , 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 arisefirst, 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.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
See notes on verse 14
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
17. Which lifting up, they use helps, undergirding the ship, i. e., under the temporary protection of the island Clauda, with the greatest effort and peril they manage to get ropes around the ship, tying it up tight, lest it break all to pieces in the violence of the storm. During the storm above mentioned on the Atlantic Ocean our ship would crack loud as thunder, impressing me that she was breaking in two in the middle. Fearing lest they may fall into quicksands, lowering the gear, they were thus borne along,
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 17
Undergirding; some measure adopted, in those days, to strengthen the ship, in order to enable her better to resist the straining produced by the sea.