Acts 27:14

Verse Acts 27:14. A tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon.] Interpreters have been greatly perplexed with this word; and the ancient copyists not less so, as the word is variously written in the MSS. and versions. Dr. Shaw supposes it to be one of those tempestuous winds called levanters, which blow in all directions, from N.E. round by the E. to S.E. The euroclydon, from the circumstances which attended it, he says, "seems to have varied very little from the true east point; for, as the ship could not bear, αντοφθαλμειν, loof up, against it, Acts 27:15, but they were obliged to let her drive, we cannot conceive, as there are no remarkable currents in that part of the sea, and as the rudder could be of little use, that it could take any other course than as the winds directed it. Accordingly, in the description of the storm, we find that the vessel was first of all under the island Clauda, Acts 27:16, which is a little to the southward of the parallel of that part of the coast of Crete from whence it may be supposed to have been driven; then it was tossed along the bottom of the Gulf of Adria, Acts 27:27, and afterwards broken to pieces, Acts 27:41, at Melita, which is a little to the northward of the parallel above mentioned; so that the direction and course of this particular euroclydon seems to have been first at east by north, and afterwards, pretty nearly east by south." These winds, called now levanters, and formerly, it appears, euroclydon, were no determinate winds, blowing always from one point of the compass: euroclydon was probably then, what levanter is now, the name of any tempestuous wind in that sea, blowing from the north-east round by east to the south-east; and therefore St. Luke says, there rose against it (i.e. the vessel) a tempestuous wind called euroclydon; which manner of speaking shows that he no more considered it to be confined to any one particular point of the compass, than our sailors do their levanter. Dr. Shaw derives ευροκλυδων from ευρου κλυδων, an eastern tempest, which is the very meaning affixed to a levanter at the present day.

The reading of the Codex Alexandrinus is ευρακυλων, the north-east wind, which is the same with the euro-aquilo of the Vulgate. This reading is approved by several eminent critics; but Dr. Shaw, in the place referred to above, has proved it to be insupportable.

Dr. Shaw mentions a custom which he has several times seen practised by the Mohammedans in these levanters:-After having tied to the mast, or ensign staff, some apposite passage from the Koran, they collect money, sacrifice a sheep, and throw them both into the sea. This custom, he observes, was practised some thousand years ago by the Greeks: thus Aristophanes:-

Αρν', αρνα μελαιναν, παιδες, εξενεγκατε·

Τυφως γαρ εκβαινειν παρασκευαζεται.

Ran. Act. iii. s. 2, ver. 871.

A lamb! boys, sacrifice a black lamb immediately:

For a tempest is about to burst forth.

Virgil refers to the same custom: -

Sic fatus, meritos aris mactavit honores:

Taurum Neptuno, taurum tibi, pulcher Apollo;

Nigram hyemi pecudem, zephyris felicibus albam.

AEn. iii. ver. 118.

Thus he spake, and then sacrificed on the altars the proper eucharistic victims: -

A bull to Neptune, and a bull to thee, O beautiful Apollo;

A black sheep to the north wind, and a white sheep to the west.

And again: -

Tres Eryci vitutos, et tempestatibus agnam,

Caedere deinde jubet.

AEn. v. ver. 772.

Then he commanded three calves to be sacrificed to Eryx,

and a lamb to the tempests.

In the days of the Prophet Jonah the mariners in this sea were accustomed to do the same. Then they offered a sacrifice to the Lord, and vowed vows; John 1:16. See Shaw's Travels, 4to. edit. p. 329-333.

The heathens supposed that these tempests were occasioned by evil spirits: and they sacrificed a black sheep in order to drive the demon away. See the ancient Scholiast on Aristophanes, in the place cited above.

Sir George Staunton (Embassy to China, vol. ii. p. 403) mentions a similar custom among the Chinese, and gives an instance of it when the yachts and barges of the embassy were crossing the Yellow River:-

"The amazing velocity with which the Yellow River runs at the place where the yacht and barges of the embassy were to cross it rendered, according to the notions of the Chinese crews, a sacrifice necessary to the spirit of the river, in order to insure a safe passage over it. For this purpose, the master, surrounded by the crew of the yacht, assembled upon the forecastle; and, holding as a victim in his hand a cock, wrung off his head, which committing to the stream, he consecrated the vessel with the blood spouting from the body, by sprinkling it upon the deck, the masts, the anchors, and the doors of the apartments; and stuck upon them a few of the feathers of the bird. Several bowls of meat were then brought forward, and ranged in a line across the deck. Before these were placed a cup of oil, one filled with tea, one with some ardent spirit, and a fourth with salt; the captain making, at the same time, three profound inclinations of his body, with hands uplifted, and muttering a few words, as if of solicitation to the deity. The loo, or brazen drum, vas beaten in the meantime forcibly; lighted matches were held towards heaven; papers, covered with tin or silver leaf, were burnt; and crackers fired off in great abundance by the crew. The captain afterwards made libations to the river, by emptying into it, from the vessel's prow, the several cups of liquids; and concluded with throwing in also that which held the salt. All the ceremonies being over, and the bowls of meat removed, the people feasted on it in the steerage, and launched afterwards, with confidence, the yacht into the current. As soon as she had reached the opposite shore, the captain returned thanks to heaven, with three inclinations of the body.

"Besides the daily offering and adoration at the altar erected on the left or honourable side of the cabin in every Chinese vessel, the solemn sacrifices above described are made to obtain the benefit of a fair wind, or to avert any impending danger. The particular spot upon the forecastle, where the principal ceremonies are performed, is not willingly suffered to be occupied or defiled by any person on board."