1AND when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus’ band.
2 And entering into a ship of Adramyttium, we launched, meaning to sail by the coasts of Asia; one Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us.
3 And the next day we touched at Sidon. And Julius courteously entreated Paul, and gave him liberty to go unto his friends to refresh himself.
4 And when we had launched from thence, we sailed under Cyprus, because the winds were contrary.
5 And when we had sailed over the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia.
6 And there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing into Italy; and he put us therein.
7 And when we had sailed slowly many days, and scarce were come over against Cnidus, the wind not suffering us, we sailed under Crete, over against Salmone;
8 And, hardly passing it, came unto a place which is called The fair havens; nigh whereunto was the city of Lasea.
9 Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them,
10 And said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives.
11 Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul.
12 And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice, and there to winter; which is an haven of Crete, and lieth toward the south west and north west.
13 And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, loosing thence, they sailed close by Crete.
14 But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon.
15 And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive.
16 And running under a certain island which is called Clauda, we had much work to come by the boat:
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.
18 And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship;
19 And the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship.
20 And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.
21 But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss.
22 And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship.
23 For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve,
24 Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Cæsar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.
25 Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.
26 Howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island.
27 But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down in Adria, about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country;
28 And sounded, and found it twenty fathoms: and when they had gone a little further, they sounded again, and found it fifteen fathoms.
29 Then fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day.
30 And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, when they had let down the boat into the sea, under colour as though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship,
31 Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved.
32 Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat, and let her fall off.
33 And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing.
34 Wherefore I pray you to take some meat: for this is for your health: for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you.
35 And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat.
36 Then were they all of good cheer, and they also took some meat.
37 And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls.
38 And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat into the sea.
39 And when it was day, they knew not the land: but they discovered a certain creek with a shore, into the which they were minded, if it were possible, to thrust in the ship.
40 And when they had taken up the anchors, they committed themselves unto the sea, and loosed the rudder bands, and hoised up the mainsail to the wind, and made toward shore.
41 And falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the forepart stuck fast, and remained unmoveable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves.
42 And the soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape.
43 But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose; and commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land:
44 And the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land.

1And when it was determined, that wee should saile into Italy, they deliuered Paul, & certaine other prisoners, vnto one named Iulius, a centurion of Augustus band.

2And entring into a ship of Adramyttium, wee lanched, meaning to saile by the coasts of Asia, one Aristarchus a Macedonian, of Thessalonica, beeing with vs.

3And the next day wee touched at Sidon: And Iulius courteously entreated Paul, and gaue him libertie to goe vnto his friends to refresh himselfe.

4And when we had lanched from thence, we sailed vnder Cyprus, because the winds were contrary.

5And when we had sailed ouer the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, wee came to Myra a citie of Lysia.

6And there the Centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing into Italy, and he put vs therein.

7And when wee had sailed slowly many dayes, and scarse were come ouer against Gnidus, the wind not suffering vs, wee sailed vnder Creete, ouer against Salmone,

8And hardly passing it, came vnto a place which is called the Faire hauens, nigh whereunto was the citie of Lasea.

9Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the Fast was now alreadie past, Paul admonished them,

10And said vnto them, Sirs, I perceiue that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not onely of the lading & ship, but also of our liues.

11Neuerthelesse, the Centurion beleeued the master and the owner of the shippe, more then those things which were spoken by Paul.

12And because the hauen was not commodious to winter in, the more part aduised to depart thence also, if by any meanes they might attaine to Phenice, and there to winter; which is an hauen of Creete, and lieth toward the Southwest, and Northwest.

13And when the South wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, loosing thence, they sailed close by Creete.

14But not long after, there arose against it a tempestuous winde, called Euroclydon.

15And when the ship was caught, and could not beare vp into the winde, we let her driue.

16And running vnder a certaine yland, which is called Clauda, wee had much worke to come by the boate:

17Which when they had taken vp, they vsed helps, vnder-girding the ship; and fearing lest they should fall into the quicke-sands, strake saile, and so were driuen.

18And being exceedingly tossed with a tempest the next day, they lightened the ship:

19And the third day we cast out with our owne handes the tackling of the shippe.

20And when neither Sunne nor starres in many dayes appeared, and no small tempest lay on vs; all hope that wee should be saued, was then taken away.

21But after long abstinence, Paul stood foorth in the middes of them, and said, Sirs, yee should haue hearkened vnto mee, and not haue loosed from Creete, and to haue gained this harme and losse.

22And now I exhort you to be of good cheere: for there shall be no losse of any mans life among you, but of the shippe.

23For there stood by me this night the Angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serue,

24Saying, Feare not Paul, thou must be brought before Cesar, and loe, God hath giuen thee all them that saile with thee.

25Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheere: for I beleeue God, that it shall be euen as it was tolde me.

26Howbeit, we must be cast vpon a certaine Iland.

27But when the fourteenth night was come, as wee were driuen vp and downe in Adria about midnight, the shipmen deemed that they drew neere to some countrey:

28And sounded, and found it twentie fathoms: and when they had gone a little further, they sounded againe, and found it fifteene fathoms.

29Then fearing lest we should haue fallen vpon rockes, they cast foure ancres out of the sterne, and wished for the day.

30And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, when they had let downe the boat into the sea, vnder colour as though they would haue cast ancres out of the fore-ship,

31Paul said to the Centurion, and to the souldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saued.

32Then the souldiers cut off the ropes of the boat, and let her fall off.

33And while the day was comming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that ye haue taried, and continued fasting, hauing taken nothing.

34Wherefore, I pray you to take some meat, for this is for your health: for there shall not an haire fall from the head of any of you.

35And when hee had thus spoken, hee tooke bread, and gaue thankes to God in presence of them all, and when he had broken it, he began to eate.

36Then were they all of good cheere, and they also tooke some meat.

37And we were in all, in the ship, two hundred, threescore and sixteene soules.

38And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat into the sea.

39And when it was day, they knew not the land: but they discouered a certaine creek, with a shore, into the which they were minded, if it were possible, to thrust in the ship.

40And when they had taken vp the ankers, they committed themselues vnto the sea, & loosed the rudder bands, and hoised vp the maine saile to the winde, and made toward shore.

41And falling into a place where two seas met, they ranne the shippe a ground, and the forepart stucke fast, and remained vnmoueable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waues.

42And the souldiers counsel was to kil the prisoners, lest any of them should swimme out, and escape.

43But the Centurion, willing to saue Paul, kept them from their purpose, and commanded that they which could swimme, should cast themselues first into the sea, and get to land:

44And the rest, some on boords, and some on broken pieces of the ship: and so it came to passe that they escaped all safe to land.

 

1 When it was decided that we should sail to Italy, they handed Paul and some other prisoners over to a centurion named Julius of the Cohort Augusta. 2 We went on board a ship from Adramyttium bound for ports in the province of Asia and set sail. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us. 3 On the following day we put in at Sidon where Julius was kind enough to allow Paul to visit his friends who took care of him. 4 From there we put out to sea and sailed around the sheltered side of Cyprus because of the headwinds, 5 and crossing the open sea off the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia we came to Myra in Lycia. 6 There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship that was sailing to Italy and put us on board. 7 For many days we made little headway, arriving at Cnidus only with difficulty, and because the wind would not permit us to continue our course we sailed for the sheltered side of Crete off Salmone. 8 We sailed past it with difficulty and reached a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea. 9 Much time had now passed and sailing had become hazardous because the time of the fast had already gone by, so Paul warned them, 10 "Men, I can see that this voyage will result in severe damage and heavy loss not only to the cargo and the ship, but also to our lives." 11 The centurion, however, paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said. 12 Since the harbor was unfavorably situated for spending the winter, the majority planned to put out to sea from there in the hope of reaching Phoenix, a port in Crete facing west-northwest, there to spend the winter. 13 A south wind blew gently, and thinking they had attained their objective, they weighed anchor and sailed along close to the coast of Crete. 14 Before long an offshore wind of hurricane force called a "Northeaster" struck. 15 Since the ship was caught up in it and could not head into the wind we gave way and let ourselves be driven. 16 We passed along the sheltered side of an island named Cauda and managed only with difficulty to get the dinghy under control. 17 They hoisted it aboard, then used cables to undergird the ship. Because of their fear that they would run aground on the shoal of Syrtis, they lowered the drift anchor and were carried along in this way. 18 We were being pounded by the storm so violently that the next day they jettisoned some cargo, 19 and on the third day with their own hands they threw even the ship's tackle overboard. 20 Neither the sun nor the stars were visible for many days, and no small storm raged. Finally, all hope of our surviving was taken away. 21 When many would no longer eat, Paul stood among them and said, "Men, you should have taken my advice and not have set sail from Crete and you would have avoided this disastrous loss. 22 I urge you now to keep up your courage; not one of you will be lost, only the ship. 23 For last night an angel of the God to whom (I) belong and whom I serve stood by me 24 and said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul. You are destined to stand before Caesar; and behold, for your sake, God has granted safety to all who are sailing with you.' 25 Therefore, keep up your courage, men; I trust in God that it will turn out as I have been told. 26 We are destined to run aground on some island." 27 On the fourteenth night, as we were still being driven about on the Adriatic Sea, toward midnight the sailors began to suspect that they were nearing land. 28 They took soundings and found twenty fathoms; a little farther on, they again took soundings and found fifteen fathoms. 29 Fearing that we would run aground on a rocky coast, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. 30 The sailors then tried to abandon ship; they lowered the dinghy to the sea on the pretext of going to lay out anchors from the bow. 31 But Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, "Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved." 32 So the soldiers cut the ropes of the dinghy and set it adrift. 33 Until the day began to dawn, Paul kept urging all to take some food. He said, "Today is the fourteenth day that you have been waiting, going hungry and eating nothing. 34 I urge you, therefore, to take some food; it will help you survive. Not a hair of the head of anyone of you will be lost." 35 When he said this, he took bread, gave thanks to God in front of them all, broke it, and began to eat. 36 They were all encouraged, and took some food themselves. 37 In all, there were two hundred seventy-six of us on the ship. 38 After they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea. 39 When day came they did not recognize the land, but made out a bay with a beach. They planned to run the ship ashore on it, if they could. 40 So they cast off the anchors and abandoned them to the sea, and at the same time they unfastened the lines of the rudders, and hoisting the foresail into the wind, they made for the beach. 41 But they struck a sandbar and ran the ship aground. The bow was wedged in and could not be moved, but the stern began to break up under the pounding (of the waves). 42 The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners so that none might swim away and escape, 43 but the centurion wanted to save Paul and so kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to the shore, 44 and then the rest, some on planks, others on debris from the ship. In this way, all reached shore safely.  

v1. Julius with 100 soldiers were to deliver Paul and other prisoners to Rome.
v2. Adramyttium was SE across the sea from Thessalonica and was the ships home base. It was probably going to it’s sheltered home port for the winter so Lucius would have to go the rest of the way by land unless he found another ship going to Italy. Prevailing winds were from the west so ships could readily sail directly southeast under Cyprus, but it was much better going west to go north and west along the coastal route NE of Cyprus. Whether or not Aristarchus planned to go home to Thessalonica, he remained with Paul and stayed with him in Rome. “We”, apparently Luke was along.
v3. Julius was very generous to let Paul see his Sidonian friends, but surely he was under guard. (Working at the group home I occasionally transported confined youths to see their parents.)
v4-6. Things went as planned along the coast and at Myra they found a ship  from Alexandria carrying wheat from Egypt to Rome. This ship would have been under Roman authority. It could not have sailed against prevailing winds directly to Italy. From Myra they could follow  a  coastal route and  winter in an Italian port.
v7,8. After fighting the prevailing wind several days, from the area of Cnidus (Pronounced Nigh-dus) Island they were forced to head southwesterly and took a dangerous passage between Crete and Salmone. Thence they slowly passed about half way across the southern coast of the Island to the port of Fair Havens.
v9,10. The Day of Atonement, the tenth day of the seventh month, was in early October that year, past so it  was, dangerous sailing in those days. Ceased by early November. Possibly by vision but more likely by Godly wisdom and common sense, Paul warns against continuing the journey. He had been shipwrecked twice before.
v11-13. This was not a good port in which to winter, so they disregarded Paul and when they got a gentle south wind they thought they could easily follow west close to land to a much better port at Phoenicia The harbor was doubtless curved. Its entrance was in a southwest direction toward Libya. It then turned so as to lie in a direction towards the northwest. It was thus perfectly safe from the winds and heavy seas
v14-20. Suddenly the wind switched and a tempest called Euroclydon (From two words Euroc, “north” and  lydon, “east” or what we we would call a “northeaster”) from the northeast drove them away from Crete toward Cauda, 20 miles to the south west. They were driven without sails past the southeast of that island and pulled in their trailing skiff, small boat, which was probably filled with water [“came by, or secured the boat”]. They also put ropes and chains around the ship to keep it from breaking up, probably already leaking. Then they feared being driven into the quicksand off the coast of Egypt, so they struck sail and with the rudder at an angle they were able to drift westerly at one or two miles per hour.  With the complete cloud cover they could not tell for sure where they were going. The next day they threw out all the freight and wheat except enough to eat and to stabilize the ship. Paul helped as they discarded some of the equipment needed for loading and unloading and sailing. The continuing storm made the situation seem  hopeless. (I can sympathize as waves washed over our ship during a typhoon.)
v21-26. After days of fasting an angel appeared to Paul. He reminds them they should have listened to his advice before giving the good news that only the ship will be lost and they will be cast up on an island. God had promised to get Paul to Rome, and all the others are being protected somewhat as a courtesy to him.
v27,30. Probably roar of breakers gave warning of approaching land.  Anchors then were lighter and more were used and were usually at the stern. In better situations the anchors would have been carried a suitable distance in the skiff and dropped. After dropping some anchors the sailors pretended they were going to carry out other anchors, but  were trying to sneak away in a boat.
v31-38. By now they listen to Paul and prevent any chance of vital sailors leaving. Paul recommends the end of the fourteen day fast in order to have strength but he thanks God first. One hundred of the 276 were soldiers, so there was plenty of help to throw over the rest of the wheat.
v39-44. Better, “bands of the rudders”, one being on each rear quarter. By use of remaining sails and paddle rudders which had been tied up while the ship was at anchor, they attempted to run up a creek to get to land, but they ran aground and the ship began to fall apart in the turbulent area. The soldiers were afraid for their own lives if some of the prisoners might escape, but the centurion had gained too much respect for Paul to allow killing prisoners. As the Lord had told Paul, the ship was lost but they all escaped safely to the island.