Situation of St. Panl's Ship on the Fifteenth Moruiuf
SHIRE-MOTE
702
SHISHAK
In the voyap;e in question we know within very nar- row limits the time consumed: it was "about midni{;lit on the fourteenth night" (Acts xxvii, 27), and therefore thirteen days complete and a fraction. With regard to the rate at which a ship would drive under the circumstances described by Luke, !Mr. Smith, in tiie work already alluded to, taking the mean from the determinations of skilful and scicntitic seamen, assumed that it would be about thirty-six and one twelfth miles in the twenty-four hours, and the distance ascertained from the nautical observations of admiral Smyth is four hundred and seventy-seven miles to the nearness of a mUe. Now a ship laid-to, in a gale from east-north- east, according to these calculations, founded on the in- cidental notices of the narrative, would — about mid- night, "when the fourteenth night was come" of their being driven throiujh (^cia^(poi.ih'uiv), not up and down, Adria — have been exactly at Malta, and within two or three miles of St. Paul's Bay. Such were the results arrived at by Mr. Smith, and given in the first edition of his treatise on the Voyage ami iS/iipicreck oJ'iSf. Paul. Since then Dr. Howson in his researches discovered that admiral Sir Charles Penrose had ruade a similar calculation, agreeing with the above to about four hours in time and six miles in distance; but, as such results can only be approximations, a nearer agreement could not has-e been anticipated from the most accuratel3' kept dead-reckoning.
^\'e here note an incidental fact with regard to Sal- mone, the east point of the island of Crete. In the ac- count of Paul's voyage to Kome this promontory is mentioned in such a way (Acts xxvii, 7) as to afford a curious illustration both of the navigation of the an- cients and of the minute accuracy of Luke's narrative. We gather from other circumstances of the voj'age that the wind was blowing from the north-west (IvavTioiti;, ver.-l-, l3pacv7r\oovi'T(i;y<iT.7). See ISIyka. We are then told that the ship, on making Cnidus, could not, by reason of the wind, hold on her course, which was past the south point of Greece, west by south. She did, however, just fetch Cape Salmone, which bears south-west by south from Cnidus. Now we may take it for granted that she could have made good a course of less than seven points from the wind [see Ship] ; and, starting from this assumption, we are at once brought to the conclusion that the wind must have been between north -northwest and west -northwest. Thus what Paley would have called an " undesigned coinci<lence" is elicited by a cross-examination of the narrative. This ingenious argument is due to Mr. Smith, of .Jordanhill ( I 'oi/ar/e and Shipwreck nJ'St. Paul, p. 73,74, "id ed.), and from him it is quoted by Cony- Ijeare and llowson (Life and Epistles of St. Paul, ii, 393, 2d ed.). To these books we must refer for fuller details. We may just add that the ship had had tlie advantages of a weather shore, smooth water, and a fa- voring current before reaching Cnidus, and that by running down to Cape Salmone the sailors obtained similar advantages under the lee of Crete, as far as Fair Havens, near Lasaea.
See the monograplis on the various incidents con- nected with Paul's shipwreck, cited by Volbeding, /?(- dex Programm. p. 84 ; and Danz, Worterb. s. v. " Apo- stclgesch." No. 114-116; also the Journ.of Sac. Lit. vi, "Josephus." See Pai;l; Siiii'.
Shire-mote, the highest of the three motes, or courts, among the Saxons, was held twice a year, an<l was composed of the freeholders. Hearing both civil and ecclesiastical causes, the shire-mote was presided over l)y an ealdorman and a bishop, who were not tiie absoliiic judges, being i)resent chielly to keep order and advise. Cases were decided Ijv the majority of votes. See Hill, Ewjitsli Mujiasticiim, p. lit'J.
Shirer, .John Wkslky, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was born in Muskingum Comity, ()., Dec. 11), 1821, and united with the Church in 1842.' He
was licensed to preach .Jan. 30, 1847, and the same year was admitted into the Pittsburgii Conference. He con- tinued in the active ministry, with the exception of two years supernumerary, until 1873, when he became super- annuated and so continued until his death, at Akron, ()., Mav 3, 1874. See Minutes of Annual Confei-ences, 187r). p! 34.
Shirley, "Walter, the rector of Loughrea, Galway County, Ireland, was a cousin of the countess of Hun- tingdon. He was born in 172o and died in 1786. He published, Ticelre Sermons (Dublin; reprinted Lond. 171)3 [some 17l)4], 12mo) : — poems. Liberty, an Ode; The Judgment: — and some Hymns ('"Lord, dismiss us with thy blessing" is believed to be his). He also revised Lady Huntingdon's Ilymn-book (1764). See Roger, Lyra Prit. 1868, p. 498, 673 ; Allibone, Diet, (f Brit, and Anier. A uthors, s. v.
Shirley, Walter Augustus, D.D., was a mem- ber of the noble house of Ferrers and the son of Kev. Walter Shirley, vicar of Woodford, Northamptonshire. He was born at Westport, Mayo County, Ireland, in 1797, and was educated at Winchester College, and New Col- lege, Oxford, of which he was a fellow. He became curate to his father, at Woodford, in 1820 ; vicar of Shir- ley, Derbyshire, in 1828; rector of Brailsford in 1839; prebendary of Lichfield and archdeacon of Derby in 1841 ; bishop of Sodor and Man, Jan. 10, 1847 ; and died April 21, 1847. Besides his Letters to Young People (Lond. 1850, 8vo), there is a volume of his Sei-mons (1850, 12mo), also Letters, etc. (1850, 8vo). Two only of his Bampton lectures had been delivered at his death. See Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and Amer. Authors, s. v.