Acts 27:6

And there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy; and he put us therein. And when we had sailed slowly, many days, and were coming with difficulty over against Cnidus, the wind not further suffering us, we sailed under the lee of Crete, over against Salmone; and with difficulty coasting along it we came unto a certain place called Fair Havens; nigh whereunto was the city of Lasea.

A NEW SHIP; BUT THE SAME OLD PROBLEM

Like many things that occur in every life, a different ship did not solve the problem, which was not the ship, but the wind. Many a marriage partner has tried "a new ship" with the same results. Many an employee has changed to "a new company" with no better luck!

Ship of Alexandria ... This was a great vessel for those times, carrying a cargo of wheat and 276 passengers and crew, estimated by Boles as a vessel of "ten or eleven tons."[13] Josephus tells of one such ship on which he took passage, that carried 600 passengers. Josephus' ship, like Paul's, sank![14] As De Welt noted, wheat is always a dangerous cargo, due to the possibility of shifting; and he went on to relate how in very recent days, he narrowly escaped shipwreck "between the Dardanelles and Malta," due to the shifting of a cargo of wheat in rough weather.[15]

The plan was to sail north of Crete, the great island lying south of Greece and a little east; but the wind would not permit it, so they sailed southward around the eastern extremity of that island with the intention of creeping along just off its southern shore, leaving it on their right instead of their left.

Fair Havens ... Here they took "a breather" from the contrary winds and held a conference on the advisability of continuing the voyage at that time of the year. This place is now called Kalolomonia. "It lies about halfway along the southern coast of Crete, near Lasea, the ruins of which have been identified."[16]

[13] H. Leo Boles, Commentary on Acts (Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1953), p. 415.

[14] Don DeWelt, op. cit., p. 326.

[15] Ibid.

[16] G. H. C. MacGreggor, The Interpreter's Bible (New York: Abingdon Press, 1954), Vol. IX, p. 334.