4. Lt/inf/-to. — This topic arises naturally out of what has [(receded, and it is so important in reference to the main (juestions connected with the shipwreck at JLalta that it is here made the subject of a separate section. A shi|) that could make ()n)gress on her ])r()per course, in moderate weather, when sailing within seven points of the wind, would lie-to in a gale, with her length making about the same angle with the direction of the wind. This is done when the object is not to make progress at all hazards, but to ride out a gale in safety; anil this is what was done in Paul's ship when she was undcrgirile<l and the boat taken on board (.Acts xxvii, 14-17) under the lee of Clauda. It is here that Luke uses the vivid term di'T()<p^aXfitiv mentioned above. Had the gale been le.ss violent, the ship could easily have held on her course. To anchor was out of the question ; and to have drifted before the wind would have been to run into the fatal Syrtis on the African coast. See Quicksands. Hence the vessel was luid-to
("close-hauled," as the sailors say) "on the starboard tack," i. e. with her right side towards the storm. The wind was east-northeast [see Eukoclyhon], the ship's bow woidd point north by west, the direction of drift (six points being added for "lee-way") would be west by north, and the rate of drift about a mile and a half an hour. It is from these materials that we easily come to the conclusion that the shipwreck must have taken place on the coast of Malta. See Aduia.
5. Storms and Shipwrecks. — The dangers of the ocean to sailors on board such sliips as these were great, and, in the then ignorance of navigation, caused sailing to be re- stricted to the spring, summer, and autumn months; winter was avoided. To the Komans the sea was open- ed in IMarch and closed in November (Ca?sar, Bell. Gall. iv, 36; V, 23; Philo, 0pp. iv, 548; Acts xxvii, 9) ; and ships wliich, towards the end of the year, were still at sea earnestly sought a harbor in which to pass the win- ter (ver. 1 2).
The first century of the Christian »ra was a time of immense traffic in the Jlediterranean ; and there must have been many vessels lost there every year by ship- wreck, and, perhaps, as many by foundering. This last danger would be much increased by the form of rig de- scribed above. Besides this, we must remember that the ancients had no compass and very imperfect charts and instruments, if any at all ; and though it would be a great mistake to suppose that they never ventured out of sight of land, yet, dependent as they were on the heavenly bodies, the danger was much greater than now in bad weather, when the sky was overcast and " neither sun nor stars in manj' days appeared" (Acts xxvii, 20). Hence, also, the winter season was considered dangerous and, if possible, avoided (ojtoc vet] t7ri<T(l)aXoiig tov ttXooc, Sid TO Kai Tt]v vi]C!Tiiav i'jh] TraptXjjXv^ei'ai, ver. 9). Certain coasts, too, were much dreaded, espe- cially the African Syrtis (ver. 17). The danger indi- cated by breakers (ver. 29), and the fear of falling on rocks (TpaxtiQ tottoi), are matters of course. Paul's experience seems to have been full of illustrations of all these perils. We learn from 2 Cor. xi, 25 that, be/ore the voyage described in detail by Luke, he had been " three times wrecked ;" and, further, that he had once been "a night and a day in the deep," probably floating on a spar, as was the case with Josephus. These cir- cumstances give peculiar force to his using the meta- phor of a shipwreck {tvavdyijaai', 1 Tim. i, 19) in speak- ing of those who had apostatized from the faith. In connection with this general subject we may notice the caution with which, on the voyage from Troas to Patara (Acts XX, 13-16; xxi, 1), the sailors anchored for the night, during the period of dark moon, in the intricate passages between the islands and the main [see iSIity- i.kne; Samos;Ti:oovli.iiji]; the evident acquaintance which, on the voyage to Home, the sailors of the Adra- myttian ship had with the currents on the coasts of Syria and Asia JMinor (xxvii, 2-5) [see Adka.myttium] ; and the provision for taking soinidings in case of dan- ger, as clearly indicated in the narrative of the ship- wreck at Malta; the measurements being apparently the same as those which are customary with us (fioXi- (Tai'Ttc tiipov opyviuQ tiKoai' fipaxi' St SiaaTifGuvTiQ, Kai irdXiv l3oXi(TavTig, tvpov opyvidg StKaTztvTi, ver. 28).
6. Nautical Terms. — The great repertory of such terms, as used by those who spoke the Greek language, is the Onomasticnn of Julius Pollux ; and it may be use- ful to conclude this article by mentioning a few out of many which are foinid there, and also in the New Test, or Sept. First, to (juote some which have been men- tioned above. We find the following, both in Pollux and the Scriptures: <s-)(Oivia, fTKtvij, kXvcwv, j^u/^hov, (popTtoi', tK^ioXi}, (TvpTit;, oi)Sh> VTToaTiXXtnBai, oi'wc >;i/ TO)' i'/Xiov I'Ofi)', (TKcKpT), (fKiKpoq, vavXov, avi'Tpijiiivoi, 6^SaX//oc oTTOi' Kai roi'i'o/ia Tijc vhoq tTrtypdtpovct (compared with Acts xxvii, 15; x.wiii, 11), Tpa\ii^ atyiaXoi (compared with xxvii, 29, 40). The following