27It was decided that we would sail for Italy. Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a Roman commander named Julius. He belonged to the Imperial Guard. ²We boarded a ship from Adramyttium. It was about to sail for ports along the coast of Asia Minor. We headed out to sea. Aristarchus was with us. He was a Macedonian from Thessalonica.

³The next day we landed at Sidon. There Julius was kind to Paul. He let Paul visit his friends so they could give him what he needed. ⁴From there we headed out to sea again. We passed the calmer side of Cyprus because the winds were against us.

⁵We sailed across the open sea off the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia. Then we landed at Myra in Lycia. ⁶There the commander found a ship from Alexandria sailing for Italy. He put us on board. ⁷We moved along slowly for many days. We had trouble getting to Cnidus. The wind did not let us stay on course. So we passed the calmer side of Crete, opposite Salmone. ⁸It was not easy to sail along the coast. Then we came to a place called Fair Havens. It was near the town of Lasea.

⁹A lot of time had passed. Sailing had already become dangerous. By now it was after the Day of Atonement, a day of fasting. So Paul gave them a warning. ¹⁰“Men,” he said, “I can see that our trip is going to be dangerous. The ship and everything in it will be lost. Our own lives will be in danger also.”

¹¹But the commander didn’t listen to what Paul said. Instead, he followed the advice of the pilot and the ship’s owner. ¹²The harbor wasn’t a good place for ships to stay during winter. So most of the people decided we should sail on. They hoped we would reach Phoenix. They wanted to spend the winter there. Phoenix was a harbor in Crete. It faced both southwest and northwest.

The Storm

¹³A gentle south wind began to blow. They thought that this was what they had been waiting for. So they pulled up the anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete. ¹⁴Before very long, a wind blew down from the island. It had the force of a hurricane. It was called a “northeaster.”

¹⁵The ship was caught by the storm. We could not keep it sailing into the wind. So we gave up and were driven along. ¹⁶We passed the calmer side of a small island called Cauda. We almost lost the lifeboat. ¹⁷So the men lifted it on board. Then they tied ropes under the ship itself to hold it together. They were afraid it would get stuck on the sandbars of Syrtis. They lowered the sea anchor and let the ship be driven along.

¹⁸We took a very bad beating from the storm. The next day the crew began to throw the ship’s contents overboard. ¹⁹On the third day, they even threw the ship’s gear overboard with their own hands. ²⁰The sun and stars didn’t appear for many days. The storm was terrible. So we gave up all hope of being saved.

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