insights into shipping practices during the first century of the common era. In this paper, I intend to summarise the

information and clues provided in the Book of Acts and present an overview of some of the basic interpretations of

the relevant passages. It is important to understand that the Book of Acts is a continuation of the gospel according to

Luke and any reference to him here is in his capacity as writer of the Book.

St.Paul, as a Roman prisoner, had been put in the charge of Julius, an officer in the "Emperor's Regiment" who was

to take the prisoners to Rome to see the Emperor. At Caesarea, Julius had his prisoners board a ship from

Adramyttium and they sailed overnight to Sidon. The next leg of their journey was more difficult as the winds were

again against them. As such, they sailed the ship on the sheltered east side of the island of Cyprus, then west to

In Myra, Julius moved his prisoners to a boat from Alexandria which was bound for Italy. The first leg of their

journey aboard this new ship was difficult as the winds were against them. It took several days to reach Cn

that St.Luke is writing about under-belts or hypozomata, which are essentially large ropes tied around the hull of a

Acworth contends that the Malta would have been recognisable - whereas Mljet would not have been familiar.

Pg. 156). This is an important consideration in light of Acts 27:20, which reads "For many days we could not see the

Acworth, Angus "St.Paul's Shipwreck" In, Paul: Teacher and Traveller Bulmer-Thomas (ed.) Leighton: Faith Press,

With regards to the St.Paul, Landels does not go into great detail, but his chapter on shipping sheds a great deal of

would swing around and into the rocks were they to anchor her from the prow. The holes which normally held the

day revealed a bay with a beach that the sailors did not recognise but believed would be appropriate to beach to ship.

quite out of the ordinary on Malta, as there were virtually no snakes there at the time (as at present). However, Mljet

Soon, St.Paul observed the crew preparing to abandon ship using the ship's boat. He advised Julius to stop them as

Some common words found in the essay are:
Book Acts, Soon StPaul, Landels Pg, Bible Society, Phoenix Crete's, Angus Acworth, StLuke Acts, Farrar Pg, Landels Landels, Myra Julius, book acts, english version, ship's crew, eaten fourteen days, ship drift, ship's boat, landels 1981, notes stluke, difficult winds, day atonement, landels 1981 pg, today's english version, life stpaul,
Approximate Word count = 1713
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)