Acts 27:16

16 As we passed into the lee of a small island called Cauda, we managed with strenuous effort to get control of the lifeboat.

Acts 27:16 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 27:16

And running under a certain island
Or below a certain island and hard by, it or under the sea shore of it, where the sea might be smoother, the wind not being there so strong:

which is called Clauda:
by Ptolomy ^F24 it is called Claudus, and was near the island of Crete, and now called Gozo. The Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions, and some copies, read "Cauda"; and there was an island near to Crete, which was called Gaudos ^F25, and is thought to be the place here meant:

we had much work to come by the boat;
which they had with them to go ashore in, or to betake themselves to in case of shipwreck; and which in this storm was in danger of being dashed to pieces against the ship, or lost; and it was with some difficulty that they came at it, and took it up into the ship.

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 Geograph. l. 3. c. 17.
F25 Mela, l. 2. c. 7. Plin. l. 4. c. 12.

Acts 27:16 In-Context

14 But before long there struck us from land a full gale from the northeast, the kind they call an Evrakilon.

15 The ship was caught up and unable to face the wind, so we gave way to it and were driven along.

16 As we passed into the lee of a small island called Cauda, we managed with strenuous effort to get control of the lifeboat.

17 They hoisted it aboard, then fastened cables tightly around the ship itself to reinforce it. Fearing they might run aground on the Syrtis sandbars, they lowered the topsails and thus continued drifting.

18 But because we were fighting such heavy weather, the next day they began to jettison nonessentials;