VI. Command and Management. — 1. Officers and Crew. — In Acts xxvii, 11 we have both KvfiEpvl]Ti]g and vali- K\i]pog. The latter is the owner (in part or in whole) of the ship or the cargo, receiving also (possibly) the fares of the passengers. The former has the charge of the steering. The same word occurs also in Rev. xviii, 17 ; Prov. xxiii, 34 ; Ezek. xxvii, 8, and is equivalent to Trpiopsvg in ver. 29 ; Jonah i, 6. In James iii, 4, 6 ivSrv- viov, " the governor," is simply the steersman for the moment. The word for " shipmen" (Acts xxvii, 27, 30) and " sailors" (Rev. xviii, 17) is simply the usual term, vavTai. In the latter passage ofiiKog occurs for the crew, but the text is doubtful. In Ezek. xxvii, 8, 9, 26, 27, 29, 34, we have Ka)7r;;\arat for " those who handle the oar," and in the same chapter (ver. 29) tirifidTai, which may mean either passengers or mariners. The only other passages which need be noticed here are 1 Kings ix, 27, and 2 Chron. viii, 18, in the account of Sol- omon's ships. The former has tCjv ttoiSojv avrov av- Speg vavTiKoi tXavvsiv eiSoreg StdXaaaav ; the latter, irai^tg ilSursg ^dXacrcrav.
2. Rate of Sailing. — Paul's voyages furnish excellent data for approximately estimating this, and they are quite in harmony with what we learn from other sources. We must notice here, however ( what commentators sometimes curiously forget), that winds are variable. Thus the voyage between Troas and Philippi, accom- plished on one occasion (Acts xvi, 11, 12) in two days, occupied on another occasion (xx, 6) five daj^s. Such a variation might be illustrated by what took place al- most any week between Dublin and Holyhead before the application of steam to seafaring. With a fair wind an ancient ship would sail fully seven knots an hour. Two very good instances are again supplied by Paul's experience — in the voyages from C;esarea to Sidon (xxvii, 2, 3) and from Rhegium to Puteoli (xxviii, 13). The result given by comparing, in these cases, the meas- urements of time and distance corresponds with what we gather from Greek and Latin authors generally — e. g. from Pliny's storj- of the fresh fig produced by Cato
SHIP
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SHIP
in the Eoman senate before the third Punic war: "This fruit was gathered fresh at Carthage three days ago; that is the distance of the enemy from your walls" (//. X. XV, 20).
3. Sailitiff Befo7-e the Wind and Near the ]Vind. — The square-rig which has been described is, like the rig of Chinese junks, peculiarly favorable to a quick run before the wind. We have in the New Test. (Acts xvi, 11; xxvii, Iti) the technical term ivBv^pofisuj for voyages made under such advantageous conditions. The run of Paul's ship from lihegium to Puteoli, one hundred and eighty miles, in two consecutive days, the wind be- ing from the south and consequently fair, agrees perfect- ly with the instances adiluced by captain lieechey in his remarks on ancient ships (Appendix to Tntre/s in Africii. p. 38). It would, however, be a great mistake to suppose that ancient ships could not work to wind- ward. Pliny distinctly says: " lisdem ventis in contra- rium navigatur prolatis pedibus" (//. .V. ii, 48). Cicero, in one of his epistles, says that in consequence of con- trary winds they navigated slowly and wdth difficulty : '■Adversis ventis usi essemus tardeque et incommode navigassemus" (^Kpist. ad Familiares. lib. xiv, ep. 5\ a passage which agrees in a very remarkable manner with one in Luke's account of Paul's voyage. lipai^nTrXoovrreQ Ka'i fioXig yivofttvoi, etc. (Acts xxvii, 7) — sailing slowly and with difficulty were come, etc. Luke does not men- tion contrary winds; but we know from the context that the ship was sailing to the westward, in a region and at a season when westwardly winds constantly prevail. The superior rig and build, however, of modern ships enable them to sail nearer to the wind than was the case in classical times. At one very critical point of Paul's voyage to Rome (ibid.) we are told that tlie ship could not hold on her course (which was west by south, from Cnidus by the north side of Crete) against a violent wind (fit) TrpoffsuivTog ?//(rtf rov c'lvff^iov) blowing from the north-west, and that consequently she ran down to the east end of Crete [see Sai.moxe], and worked up under the shelter of the south side of the island (ver. 7. 8). See Fair Havens. Here the technical terms of our sailors have been employed, whose custom is to di- vide the whole circle of the compass-card into thirty- two e(iual parts called points. A modern ship, if the weather is not very boisterous, will sail within six points of the wind. To an ancient vessel, of which the hull was more clumsy and the yards could not be braced so tight, it would be safe to assign seven points as the lim- it. This will enable us, so far as we know the direction of the wind (and we can really ascertain it in each case very exactly), to lay down the tacks of the ships in which Paul sailed, beating against the wind, on the voy- ages from Philippi to Troas {d-)(pii' I'l^npihv irtvTt, Acts XX, G), from Sidon to Myra {cia to roi'c oi'tjuoof ilvai ivavriov(;, xxvii, 3-5), from Myra to Cnidus {iv tKavalg r'lfifpaig iSpaCvTrXooT'i'TEC, ver. fi, 7), from Salmone to Fair Havens (/itiXif napaXfyofttvoi, ver. 7, 8), and from Syracuse to Hhegium (TripuX^nvTHj, xxviii, 12, 13).