Acts 27:16

16 As we drifted to the sheltered side of a small island called Cauda, we barely got control of the ship's 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 Soon a powerful wind (called a northeaster) blew from the island.

15 The 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.

16 As we drifted to the sheltered side of a small island called Cauda, we barely got control of the ship's lifeboat.

17 The 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.

18 We continued to be tossed so violently by the storm that the next day the men began to throw the cargo overboard.