CHAPTER IX.

THE VOYAGE TO ROME, AND THE FIRST
IMPRISONMENT.

T. PAUL'S noble defence before Festus and Agrippa, though it sounded like mere raving to the unimpressive Roman, and failed to pierce the triple armour of selfish indifference with which the Jewish prince was armed, was not thrown away; it made for him many powerful friends, if it did nothing more.

Julius, the centurion of the Augustan Cohort, to whose charge S. Paul was committed, was probably one of the distinguished audience before whom the Apostle had pleaded his Master's cause, and his own. At any rate, nothing could exceed the courtesy with which the great Apostle was treated by this Roman officer.

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It was not an easy matter to find a ship bound for Italy. It was far on towards the end of June when Festus arrived in the Province, and it was probably late in August, and the time was quickly approaching when the sea would be closed to the navigation of those days. Every day the weather became more uncertain. So as there was no vessel at Cæsarea, bound for Italy, and there was no time to lose, the centurion took passage for his prisoners in a ship of Adramyttium which was about to sail for the coast of Asia.

S. Paul's friends, Luke and Aristarchus, took their passage in the same ship, that they might be with

their leader, a circumstance for which we also have reason to be thankful, or otherwise we might have known nothing of this eventful voyage. The sacred historian thus begins his account :

Acts xxvii. I: And when it was determined that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners to a centurion named Julius, of the Augustan band. And embarking in a ship of Adramyttium, which was about to sail to the places on the coast of Asia, we put to sea, Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us. And the next day we touched at Sidon: and Julius treated Paul kindly, and gave him leave to go unto his friends and refresh himself. And putting to sea from thence we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary. And when we had sailed across the sea which is off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia. And there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy; and he put us therein.

It must have been a great refreshment to S. Paul to be allowed to spend even a few hours with his friends and fellow-believers at Sidon: and they too, no doubt, would gladly embrace the opportunity of providing him with necessaries for his voyage.

At Myra, as we have just read, S. Paul and his companions, and the other prisoners, were transferred to a large ship of Alexandria bound for Italy, which had been driven out of its course; one of the numerous vessels engaged in carrying wheat from the valley of the Nile to Rome, and whose arrival at Ostia was an event of such deep interest to the Roman people, who depended upon these ships for their supplies.

The voyage began badly, the wind was still contrary, and it took them " many days" to reach Cnidus, a distance of only 130 miles. From this their natural course would have been to the North of

Crete, but the direction of the wind made this impossible. The only course open to them was to make for Cape Salmone and to sail under lee of the island. Accordingly they crept along the coast to a little harbour, known as the Fair Havens. There they had to stop; for as long as the wind continued to blow from the N.W. it was useless to think of continuing the voyage beyond Cape Matala, as they would be driven ashore, as you will see if you look at the map.

Then came the question whether to remain at Fair Havens for the winter, or seize the first opportunity of a favourable wind, to round Cape Matala, and to reach Phoenice, a far better harbour and winter. quarters, only 34 miles beyond it; the only harbour, indeed, in the whole of the island which was safe in all weathers. The master and owner of the ship were both for this latter course, and though S. Paul gave his voice against it, and warned them of the disasters that they would bring upon themselves by adopting it, the centurion naturally yielded to professional advice.

Before long the wind fell, and a gentle breeze sprang up from the South. This was exactly what they wanted, it was only a few hours run to Phoenice. They seem to have started under full sail, and had not even thought it necessary to get their boat aboard.

They had not long passed Cape Matala, when a terrible gale from E.N.E. came upon them without a moment's warning. The suddenness of the hurricane I did not leave the sailors one moment to furl the great mainsail, so under full sail the heavily laden ship plunged along, till she neared the island of Clauda, or Cauda.

In modern sailing vessels the sails are distributed over the whole length of the ship, and thus the strain

is divided; but in these old-world ships, there was one large sail stretched from an enormous mainyard, and the strain was consequently concentrated in the middle of the ship. It is probable, then, that already the vessel had sprung a leak.

The captain took advantage of the comparative lull which they experienced as they passed the little island of Clauda, first of all in getting the boat, now probably half filled with water, on board, which was only done with great difficulty; and secondly, to prevent the leak from increasing, and this they did by passing thick cables round and round the middle of the ship, where the strain was the greatest.

But another and that the greatest danger still remained. Directly they passed out of the comparative shelter of Clauda, the furious gale would catch them, and bear them along helplessly to the "Goodwin sands of the Mediterranean," the great Syrtis which you will see marked upon the map.

There was only one possible way of escape. To do what the authorized version of our Bibles seems to say they did, "to strike sail, and so be driven," would be to allow themselves to drift into the jaws of destruction. The revised version gives it, "they lowered the gear, and so were driven." This manœuvre was probably what sailors call "lying to."

That is, in common language, they so steered as to bring the ship's head round to the wind, and at the same time lowered the mainyard, leaving only a portion of the mainsail to catch the wind, sufficient to steady the vessel, and prevent her falling into the trough of the sea.

A ship, however, in such circumstances does not drift in the direction in which she appears to sail, but falls away to leeward.

In this case the ship would appear to be sailing

somewhere near N., but in reality would be drifting W. by N.

Now it is very singular, and shows the minute accuracy of S. Luke's account, that it has been calculated, that a ship drifting in this direction under such circumstances would move at the rate of about 36 miles in the 24 hours, and at this rate, and in this direction, would reach Malta in just about 13 days, which is the time given by S. Luke.

With these explanations we shall read with greater understanding and greater interest the narrative itself.

Acts xxvii. 13: And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete close in shore. But after no long time there beat down from it a tempestuous wind, which is called Euraquilo: and when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way to it, and were driven. And running under the lee of a small island called Cauda, we were able with difficulty to secure the boat: and when they had hoisted it up, they used helps, undergirding the ship; and fearing lest they should be cast upon the Syrtis, they lowered the gear and so were driven.

All night the storm raged. In spite of the undergirding, the vessel still leaked. The next day they had to throw out everything that could be spared to lighten the ship. On the third day they were still in such imminent danger that it was necessary to take a still more decisive step. In a modern vessel this would be to cut down the masts: in an ancient vessel what would have to be done would be to heave overboard the huge mainyard. This they did, though it took the whole available force of the crew and passengers to do it.

This would relieve the vessel, though she would