Acts 27:6-8 The centurion found a
ship from Egypt that was bound for Italy. The next part of this segment of the
trip took them close to Cnidus, which is at the tip of a peninsula on the
southwest corner of modern Turkey. Cnidus is primarily known for the sea battle
that took place there in 394 BC during the Corinthian war. The distance of this
leg of the trip was approximately 200 km. At this point the captain of the ship
probably wanted to sail due west for the shortest transit to Italy, but due to
the prevailing winds was unable to, and so went essentially due south to Crete.
Luke's comment that they sailed slowly and with difficulty from Myra to Cnidus
suggests that they were beating into the wind, tacking back and forth, in order
to sail against the wind. To sail crosswind to Crete would have been relatively
quick, but would have gotten them no closer to their destination. Salmone, on
the eastern end of Crete, was a voyage of approximately 200 km from Cnidus.
From there they sailed on the south side of the island as far as Fair Havens,
about 130 km, pretty much due west, and as Luke notes, again with great
difficulty.
Acts 27:9-12 Paul was not trained as
a sailor, but having seen day after day of sailing into the window, tacking
back and forth, laboriously trying to advance upwind, even an observer could
perceive that the voyage was difficult. Paul had the advantage of hearing from
The Lord although he did not in this passage cite that The Lord had told him
that the voyage would be accompanied with loss of cargo, ship, and life. (And
in the end, no lives were lost, so it wasn't fully of The Lord). But Paul was
an amateur so the captain of the ship and the pilot thought they could make it
to Phoenix, a mere 55 km or so further west from Fair Havens.
Acts 27:13-14 So when they set out,
the storm hit them. Euraquilo (Gr. eurokludon)
was literally a violent east wind. Coming out of the east, one might think it
would have pushed them more or less in the direction they wanted to go. Late in
the fall, the weather turns nasty anywhere in the northern hemisphere. This
storm is referred to as a tuphonikos,
presumably to emphasize the severity of the storm as being like a tempest.
Acts 27:15-17 The ship was caught in the wind which was so
violent the sailors were unable to steer it, so they were forced to simply run
alee. This quickly brought them to the island of Clauda or Cauda, now called
Gavdos, less than 40 km from the southern coast of Crete. The ship's boat was
evidently a small boat being towed behind the larger ship, which was probably
bobbing around at the end of its rope uncontrollably due to the heavy seas. So
they brought it up and tied it to the main ship. It should be noted that this
was a fairly large ship since it had 276 people on board (Acts 27:37). Passing
by the island, they feared that the wind would drive them into the sandbars off
the north coast of Africa known as Syrtis where they would founder. There is
some confusion about what they let down; sea-anchor is the NIV rendering of skeuos, which could also be translated
instrument or gear. In fact, according to Strong, this is a root of uncertain
affinity, but is used in several other words, including things such as packing
baggage, preparing equipment, preparing oneself, tackling of a ship. Lowering
the sea-anchor and letting themselves be driven along could also be lowering
the sail and letting themselves be driven along. The context does not seem to
provide further guidance. If they lowered the sail, the wind would not be able
to drive them as hard. If they let down the sea anchor, the current would have
more influence on the direction of the ship than otherwise. If they did both,
perhaps that would reduce the likelihood of being driven to the shoals of
Libya. Whatever it was, the sailors felt this was the best way to reduce the
risk of being driven southwest and running aground on the shallows of Syrtis.
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