¹When it was decided that we should sail to Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were turned over to an army officer. His name was Julius, and he belonged to the emperor’s division. ²We set sail on a ship from the city of Adramyttium. The ship was going to stop at ports on the coast of the province of Asia. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from the city of Thessalonica, went with us.

³The next day we arrived at the city of Sidon. Julius treated Paul kindly and allowed him to visit his friends and receive any care he needed. ⁴Leaving Sidon, we sailed on the northern side of the island of Cyprus because we were traveling against the wind. ⁵We sailed along the coast of the provinces of Cilicia and Pamphylia and arrived at the city of Myra in the province of Lycia. ⁶In Myra the officer found a ship from Alexandria that was on its way to Italy and put us on it. ⁷We were sailing slowly for a number of days. Our difficulties began along the coast of the city of Cnidus because the wind would not let us go further. So at Cape Salmone, we started to sail for the south side of the island of Crete. ⁸We had difficulty sailing along the shore of Crete. We finally came to a port called Fair Harbors. The port was near the city of Lasea.

⁹We had lost so much time that the day of fasting had already past. Sailing was now dangerous, so Paul advised them, ¹⁰“Men, we’re going to face a disaster and heavy losses on this voyage. This disaster will cause damage to the cargo and the ship, and it will affect our lives.” ¹¹However, the officer was persuaded by what the pilot and the owner of the ship said and not by what Paul said. ¹²Since the harbor was not a good place to spend the winter, most of the men decided to sail from there. They hoped to reach the city of Phoenix somehow and spend the winter there. (Phoenix is a harbor that faces the southwest and northwest winds and is located on the island of Crete.)

¹³When a gentle breeze began to blow from the south, the men thought their plan would work. They raised the anchor and sailed close to the shore of Crete.

¹⁴Soon a powerful wind (called a northeaster) blew from the island. ¹⁵The wind carried the ship away, and we couldn’t sail against the wind. We couldn’t do anything, so we were carried along by the wind. ¹⁶As we drifted to the sheltered side of a small island called Cauda, we barely got control of the ship’s lifeboat. ¹⁷The men pulled it up on deck. Then they passed ropes under the ship to reinforce it. Fearing that they would hit the large sandbank off the shores of Libya, they lowered the sail and were carried along by the wind. ¹⁸We continued to be tossed so violently by the storm that the next day the men began to throw the cargo overboard. ¹⁹On the third day they threw the ship’s equipment overboard. ²⁰For a number of days we couldn’t see the sun or the stars. The storm wouldn’t let up. It was so severe that we finally began to lose any hope of coming out of it alive.

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