“837. THE VOYAGE—ACTS 27:1-26”

The Voyage—Act_27:1-26

It having been determined to send Paul to Rome, a ship was soon found in which he and other prisoners were embarked, under the charge of a centurion of the imperial cohort, named Julius, whose courteous attention to the apostle on all occasions may seem to intimate, that he had formed the acquaintance of the prisoner during his long detention in the barracks of the Praetorium. The ship was of Adramyttium, and was bound for its own port, having probably touched at Caesarea on a return voyage from Egypt. A fair wind wafted them by the next day to Sidon, and the ship ran in there, probably to discharge or to take in some portion of its cargo. Understanding that Paul had friends at this place, the centurion kindly allowed him to go on shore to “refresh himself” with them. He was, doubtless, chained by the wrist to one of the soldiers of the guard sent with the prisoners; but in that age the sight of persons going about in this manner was too familiar in all the cities of the Roman empire, to excite much attention.

Loosing from Sidon, the vessel was forced by winds, now become somewhat adverse, to pass under the lee of Cyprus, which is determined on sufficient grounds Note: By James Smith, Esq., of Jordanhill, to whose kindness we are indebted for the designs for the frontispiece and vignette of this volume, and from whose admirable work on the Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul, London, 1848, the contents of this and the following paper are mainly drawn; this work having, to a great degree, superseded the results of the writer’s personal acquaintance with Malta (acquired during nearly two years’ residence in the island), and with so much of the sea track of this voyage as lies between it and Crete. to have been along the north side of the island, between it and the mainland, but nearer to the mainland than to the isle, in order to catch the favoring influence of the land breeze, and of the current which constantly runs to the westward along the south coast of Asia Minor. With breeze and current thus favorable, they arrived without any recorded incident at Myra of Lycia, then a flourishing sea-port, but now a desolate waste.

To have proceeded much father in this course would have been out of the way, and Julius was, therefore, glad to find, as he had expected to find, at Myra, a ship bound for Rome, to which he might transfer his prisoners and the soldiers who guarded them. This ship was, as we afterwards learn, laden with corn, and bound from Alexandria to Rome, of which Egypt was one of the granaries. The habit, in ancient navigation, necessitated by the want of the compass, of sailing as much as possible within sight of the coast, explains the seemingly strange fact of our finding in a port of Asia Minor a ship bound from Egypt to Rome—a ship, the name of which (and ancient ships had names) we do not know, but which, even without a name, will be forever memorable. These ships were large—equal, in fact, to the largest merchantmen of modern times—and we need not, therefore, be surprised at the number of persons (276) embarked, as we afterwards find, in this one, and in another of the same sort, which eventually took them to Italy in addition to her own crew.

Their progress in this Alexandrian ship, after leaving Myra, was exceedingly slow, either from calms or contrary winds, for “many days” elapsed before they came “over against Cnidus,” at the entrance of the Aegean Sea, which with a fair wind might be accomplished in a single day. Here the advantage of the land breeze and the current, which had enabled them to work on thus far, though slowly, altogether ceased, and they were exposed at once to the full force of the Etesian wind. Finding it impossible to make head against it, their only course, as since to many other navigators in these seas, was to abandon their direct course to the north of Crete, and, steering southward to it, run under the lee of that island. After working up along its southern coast, they reached Fair Havens, which is the farthest point that an ancient ship navigating under the lee of Crete could reach with north-west winds; for beyond Cape Matala, six miles further on, the coast sweeps round to the north-west, and against the prevailing blasts no vessel could double that promontory. They therefore waited in the anchorage of the Fair Havens for a change of wind, but none occurred until the advanced state of the season rendered the prospects of navigation dangerous. The time is denoted by the fact that “the fast,” or great day of Expiation, which was celebrated about the time of the autumnal equinox, was already past. All hope of completing the voyage during the past season was therefore abandoned, and the other question was whether the vessel should remain in the Fair Havens, or that the danger of doubling Cape Matala should be risked, in order to reach the safe harbor of Phenice, which lay about forty miles to the west. A consultation was held on this point, at which Paul assisted, and strongly urged that they should winter in the Fair Havens, predicting great danger in the attempt contemplated: “Sirs, I perceive this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives.” The officers of the ship were, however, of a different opinion; and the centurion, having a serious responsibility upon him, naturally preferred the judgment of the experienced seamen to that of the apostle, notwithstanding his general respect for him.

It was still, however, needful to wait for a change in the wind. This long-desired event at length occurred. A gentle breeze from the south having sprung up, they immediately took advantage of it to weigh anchor, and set sail with every prospect of being enabled to reach Phenice in a few hours. Having doubled the Cape, their course lay across the great southern bight to the west thereof. They had not proceeded far, however, when a sudden change in the weather took place. The ship was caught in a typhoon from the northeast (not unusual at that season, and called Euroclydon), which blew with such violence that they could not face it, but were forced, in the first instance, to scud before it to the south-west for twenty-three miles, when they neared the little island of Clauda (now called Gozzo), and rounding its eastern end, ran under the lee of the shore. Here they busied themselves in preparing the vessel to resist the fury of the storm. They now got in the boat, which they had not done at first, because the weather had been moderate, and the distance they had to sail was short. This was a work of no small labor, as it had been completely swamped in being dragged so far though a tempestuous sea. They then “undergirded the ship,” by passing a strong cable several times round her hull to keep her timbers together, which must have been greatly strained by the leverage of a single mast, with a ponderous yard at the upper end. Their next care was to make the ship “snug,” by lowering the sail, and bringing down upon deck her spars and rigging.

It next became a serious question in what course they should endeavor to keep the vessel. They could not scud before the wind, not only from the danger of a heavy sea beating upon it and rendering steering difficult, but because twenty-four hours’ drift, in the direction of the storm, would have borne them to certain destruction upon the great Syrtis or sand bank of the African coast. They must therefore have “hove to.” They could not have hove to on the port tack—that is, with the left side of the vessel to the wind (which blew from the east north-east), for then it must have drifted upon the coast of Libya, which lay at no great distance, and would, moreover, have been driven quite out of her course. The only remaining alternative was to heave to on the starboard tack, or to the right in a north-westerly direction. Thus, with the boat secured, the ship undergirded and made snug, and with storm-sails set to keep the vessel steady, they proceeded, steering as close to the wind as the gale would permit. On the following day, the gale continuing unabated, they threw overboard the heaviest and least valuable part of the cargo. “Every step hitherto taken,” says Mr. Smith, “indicates skilful seamanship. In an old French work on maritime law, I find every one of these precautions pointed out as proper to be taken by able mariners under similar circumstances.”

On the third day they threw overboard the tackling of the ship. Luke says, “We cast it out with our own hands.” It is probable that the mainyard is denoted or included, this being an immense spar, possibly as long as the ship, and which would require the united strength of passengers and crew to launch overboard. The relief would be equivalent to that which a modern ship receives from the throwing overboard of its guns.

A dismal interval of several days now ensued, during which the storm continued with unabated violence, so that at length the poor voyagers lost all hope of being saved. The leakage could not be kept down, and it became clear that the vessel must founder at sea unless the land were soon made. But as ancient ships had no compass, and as the clouded sky had for many days prevented any observation of the sun or stars, the reckoning was lost, and the mariners knew not where they were, nor in what direction to steer for the nearest land It was for this reason that they lost hope, for, apart from this, the mere continuance of the storm might have been as likely to drive them into safety as into danger. All on board had hitherto borne up their spirits nobly, and their present despair must in part have been the result of the continued labor and want of rest inevitable under such circumstances, as well as of the abstinence constrained by the loss or spoiling of provisions, and by the impossibility of dressing any food.

Then it was, on the fourteenth day of the voyage, that Paul, the prisoner, stood forth with words of encouragement and hope. He gently reminded them that all this harm and loss had ensued from their previous neglect of his advice. But now he assured them that not one of their lives should be lost, though the vessel in which they were could not be saved. The ground of his assurance was that the angel of the God he served had appeared to him that night, and had told him that he was yet to appear before Caesar, and that God had given to him the lives of all who sailed with him. “Howbeit,” he added, “we must be cast upon a certain island;” but the prospect of this was a gladness to those who were out at sea, storm-driven, in a sinking ship.

Autor: JOHN KITTO