In the voyage to Italy St. Paul and his fellow- prisoners were carried in three different vessels : (1) In a ship of Adramyttium (a town near Troas in Mysia), probably a coasting vessel which was returning home for the winter (27^). The cen- turion's plan probably was, originally, to take the prisoners all the way to ^Iysia, and from there cross over and join the Egnatian Way, which ran overland from Byzantium through Philippi to Dyrrachium, thence crossing to Italy. As a matter of fact, they sailed by this vessel only from Ctesarea to Myra in Lyeia. (2) In a corn-sliip of Alexandria bound for Italy, from Myra to Melita, one of the great fleet of merchant ships which assisted in feeding Rome (27''). This was the vessel which was wrecked. (3) In a second corn- ship of Alexandria, which brought them from Melita to Puteoli (28").
The following points in connexion with these ships are especially noteworthy :
1. Size of ships. — While we are not informed as to their exact dimensions, we do know that they were capable of carrying not only a considerable cargo of wheat but also 276 souls all told (though the Vatican MS reads but 76), and that when one was wrecked another took all these persons on board (27^'- ^' 28"). It has been estimated that the capacit}' of such vessels must have ranged from 500 to 1000 tons. This is corroborated by what we know in general about Roman merchant vessels. That, for example, on which Josephus was wrecked, he tells us, carried ' about six hundred ' ( Vita, 3). Lucian (llXotov 1j EiJxaO also describes a vessel which was driven by a storm into the port of Athens, which measured the equivalent of 180 ft. in length by 45 ft. in breadth, having an approxi- mate tonnage of 1200. And, according to Athenseus (v. 37), the w'ar galley of Ptolemy Philopator measured 420 by 57 ft. (cf. J. Smith, Voyage and Sh ipivreck\ pp. 1 87 ff. , 234 ff. ). ^
2. The officers. — (a) The sailing-master, steers- man, pilot (Kvfi(piir)Tr)s, 27" ; cf. Rev 18" ; in the AV of .la 3^ called ' the governor,' b evOvvwv) ; and {b) the ship-owner, shii)-master, capt.ain (vavK\-qpo^) ; he it was who hired out his vessel, wliolly or in part, for jmrposes of transportation, probably also receiving the fares.
3. The sailors, called vauTni, seamen, shipmen, crew. — It wjis their keen ears that detected the sounds of the breakers when they were nearing land (Ac 27"- ™).
i. The sails (irKeCos, translated ' gear,' 27" ; the
same word is used in 10" of the great sheet which Peter saw in a vision ; cf. dpUiiwya, translated 'foresail,' 27*'). — Roman ships usually l)ore but one large snuarc sail, on which for the most part they depended to propel the vessel. I'liny says there was also a sail at the stern, but this "J. Smith regards as exceptional (Pliny, Promm. xix. ; Smith, Vtii/age<i7td S/ii)iivrci-/c*, ]>. 192). This large mainsail w.is fastened to a long yard. It was furled by being drawn up to the yard. It was reefed in time of storm (cf. 27'°). From a drawing, jireserved at Pompeii, of a vessel dating from the time of the apostles, it is evidi'Ut that Roman .sails were sewn across both vertically and horizontally by bands of rope to check any rent from extending beyond the squ.-ire in which it occurred. They were made of costly material — byssus, or shesh — and sometimes bore designs, which were woven into them. 'I'he ships of Antony and ('leo]>atra carried purple sails. Tyrian sails were richly embroidered. As St. Paul was a tent-maker, he probably under- stood sail-making also, and may have more than once crossed the Mediterranean, earninghis passage by plying his trade. In times of storm a vessel could not safely carry the large mainsail, or even the yard-arm ; hence these were lowered on the deck, and a small storm-sail or ' foresail ' (dpTiixuf) was hoisted to take their place. This was what was actually done on St. Paul's ship just before running aground (27'"'). Some, however, following Breusing, interpret the 'gear' which was ' lowered ' (27") to mean that cables with weights attached were lowered into the sea to retanl the vessel in its pro- gress to inevitable destruction (so Blass, Goerne, Knabenbauer, and, to a modified extent, also Wendt).
5. The masts. — Nothing is said of masts in the account except by implication. There must have been a large mainmast, and probably a foremast also at tlie bow. They were made of strong wood, possibly of cedar (cf. Ezk 27°). There is no [u-oof that these Roman corn-ships bore a mizzenniast or aftermost mast, though doubtle.ss the Romans at this time possessed three-masted vessels.
6. The anchor {&yKvpa, 27='- ™- <»). — Four are specially mentioned in 27-'', but others were doubt- less carried, for use at both bow and stern. Originally, the ancients used large stones, but in Roman times they made anchors of iron. They consisted of a main stock with two teeth-like extremities, not always 'without flukes' (cf. Roschach in Daremberg-Saglio's Dietionnaire des Antiquit(s, 1873-75, p. 267). Anchors were needed to prevent a vessel from being cast on the rocks. Those on the ill-fated ves.sel with St. Haul were finally cast off into the sea and abandoned (27*'). A singularly beautiful figurative use is made of the expression in He 6'", in which the Apostle speaks of hope as ' an anchor of the soul ' (see Anchoi:).