Acts 27 - Introduction

Excursus.

On the Ships and Navigation of the Ancients.

The narrative contained in this chapter, even if we put on one side its sacred character as part of an inspired volume, is full of manifold interest. No other single document of antiquity gives us so much information regarding the ships and navigation of the ancients. Moreover, certain obscurities in the narrative have now been entirely cleared away by the simple expedient of applying the experience of practical seamanship as the test for solving the problems which it contains; and the result is, that now this chapter is so well understood, and felt to be so literally true, that in itself it is one of the strongest evidences of the trustworthiness of the Book of the Acts.

It will be convenient to put together here, in a small space, a few of the most important particulars of the build and capabilities of ancient ships. And, in the first place, it is essential to remove a popular impression that the merchant ships of the Mediterranean under the Roman Empire were of small size. From the history before us (Acts 27:31), we see that there were 276 persons on board the ship in which St. Paul was wrecked; and it is important to add that, after shipwreck, these persons were conveyed (Acts 28:11) from Malta to Italy in the Castor and Pollux, in addition to her own crew and passengers. Now, it is customary for transport ships, which are prepared for carrying soldiers, to allow a ton and a half per man. This at once gives us a test for estimating the size of Alexandrian corn ships. And the conclusion which we reach in this way is confirmed by other evidence. Thus Josephus informs us that there were six hundred persons on board the ship from which he, with about eighty others, escaped; and the great ship of Ptolemy Philadelphus, which forms the subject of one of Lucian's Dialogues, and which is described as driven by stress of weather into the Piræus, is estimated from the dimensions given to have been of 1000 or 1100 tons burden; and though this vessel was probably built for ostentation, we see that the tonnage of these trading ships was not far below that of our old East Indiamen.

There is no doubt that the ships of the Greeks and Romans were more clumsy in their build and rig than ours. But it would be a great mistake to suppose that with a favourable wind they sailed slowly. Their rig consisted of one, or more than one, large square sail; and nothing is more favourable than this for a run before the wind. In the China seas, during the monsoons, junks (which are rigged in this way) have been seen from the deck of a British sailing vessel behind in the horizon in the morning, and before in the horizon in the evening. Several specimens of rapid voyages could be given from classical antiquity. One of the most animated is that furnished by Cato, when he held up a fresh fig in the Senate, to impress on his countrymen the imminent nearness of their enemy, and said, ‘This fruit was gathered fresh at Carthage three days ago.' It would be quite safe to say that an ancient merchantman could sail seven knots an hour with a fair wind; and this conclusion is well illustrated by what we read in Acts 16:20,,, Acts 16:28.

A point of greater importance in reference to the voyage immediately before our attention is the question of the capability of an ancient ship of sailing near the wind. That a ship can make good progress when the direction of her course forms less than a right angle with the direction of the wind, was well known in the earliest times. The smallness of this angle depends on the character of the ship and the violence of the wind. A modern sailing ship under average circumstances can sail within six points of the wind; and it would be safe to say that an ancient one could be made to sail within seven points. Thus, to take the usual divisions of the compass, with the wind blowing from the north-north-east in moderate weather, she could make good a course north-west by north.

Certain peculiarities, in which ancient ships differed from modern, must of course be borne in mind in considering this subject. Thus, partly from defective construction, and partly from the nature of the rig, which caused violent action in a gale at the base of the mast, they were peculiarly liable to spring leaks and to founder. Hence the frequent habit of undergirding or trapping; and special provision was taken on board for this purpose, as we know from the inventory of the Attic fleet in its flourishing period, which is inscribed on certain marbles dug up at the Piraeus about forty-five years ago (see Acts 27:17). But especially we must notice two other peculiarities and disadvantages of ancient vessels. The hinged rudder at the stern, with which we are familiar, was not known to the Greeks and Romans. In fact, the earliest proof of the use of it is to be found on the coins of our King Edward III. Even the Northmen in their voyages during the Middle Ages, like the Greeks and Romans, steered with paddle rudders, one on each quarter (see Acts 27:40). Finally, we must recollect that the Greeks and Romans, like the Northmen, were ignorant of the use of the compass. Hence they were peculiarly dependent on observation of the sun and stars, and were conscious of danger when the sky was overcast for a long period (see Acts 27:20).