Acts 27:6Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

A ship, he says, of Alexandria. Probably they too went to Asia in order to report what had happened to Paul, just as Aristarchus went to Macedonia.

At last Festus found a suitable occasion to send Paul to Italy. For this he used a merchant ship whose owner was from Adramyttium, a coastal city in the Asia Minor province of Mysia, not far from Troas. This ship was to sail along the coasts of Syria and Asia Minor. Paul and the other prisoners assigned for transport to Rome were placed on it with this calculation. Later, in some Asia Minor harbor, it would be easy to find a ship departing for Italy. Thus Paul was put on the Adramyttian ship, together with his companions, Luke the writer of Acts and Aristarchus of Thessalonica. The escort accompanying the prisoners consisted of soldiers from the so-called Augustan cohort. It was under the command of a centurion named Julius. This centurion treated Paul humanely.

The prisoners had to sail on one of those ships that supplied the all-consuming capital of the world, Rome, with wheat and other grain products.

There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing to Italy and transferred the prisoners and the escort to it. This ship too was probably a merchant vessel, because it was loaded with wheat, as verse 38 shows. Why it was in an Asia Minor harbor is unknown. Alexandria and Egypt were the granary of Italy and maintained vigorous trade with it. Yet why the ship did not go directly from Alexandria to Italy, but found itself in Asia Minor, remains unknown. Perhaps contrary winds drove it there. Perhaps business affairs drew it there. Perhaps it was loading its cargo there. The ship was evidently very large, since besides its cargo it could hold 276 persons, as verse 37 shows.

The journey from Myra in Lycia on the Alexandrian ship was still more burdensome. Because of the unfavorable wind, the ship, larger than the former one, moved slowly. Instead of reaching the city of Cnidus, in the province of Caria, in one day, they sailed for several days. Then they stopped at the island of Crete, on its eastern shore near Cape Salmone. Whoever knows the stretch of seas from Asia to Italy can imagine how grievous this journey was for the holy Apostle. He traveled in a cramped and frail vessel, carried without pause by violent waves and dreadful gusts of wind. The wind howled through the many ropes, while the sails, as usual in contrary winds, were taken down. Even on fully perfected ships this crossing is difficult.