The Shipwreck on Malta
Sent to Rome under guard after appealing to Caesar, Paul sails late in the season. At Fair Havens in Crete he advises wintering there; the centurion follows the pilot and the owner instead, and a north-easter drives them for fourteen days across the Adriatic.
The account is the most detailed description of a sea voyage to survive from antiquity — undergirding the hull with cables, jettisoning the tackle, taking soundings, the sailors' attempt to escape in the ship's boat. All two hundred and seventy-six aboard reach land alive when the ship grounds and breaks up.
On Malta a viper fastens on Paul's hand as he lays brushwood on the fire; the islanders decide he is a murderer, then that he is a god. He is entertained by the chief official, Publius, whose father he heals, and they winter there three months before completing the voyage.
Where in scripture
[1] 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. [2] Embarking in a ship of Adramyttium, which was about to sail to places on the coast of Asia, we put to sea; Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us. [3] The next day, we touched at Sidon. Julius treated Paul kindly, and gave him permission to go to his friends and refresh himself. [4] Putting to sea from there, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary. [5] When we had sailed across the sea which is off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia. [6] There the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy, and he put us on board. …
Acts 27:1–44 — opening verses
[1] When we had escaped, then they learned that the island was called Malta. [2] The natives showed us uncommon kindness; for they kindled a fire, and received us all, because of the present rain, and because of the cold. [3] But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand. [4] When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped from the sea, yet Justice has not allowed to live.” [5] However he shook off the creature into the fire, and wasn’t harmed. …
Acts 28:1–10 — opening verses
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, a public-domain translation.
