“In Dangers at Sea”
IN THE darkness of night, a sailing ship carrying 276 people nears an island in the Mediterranean. The crew and passengers are exhausted from being tossed to and fro in the stormy waters for 14 days. Upon seeing a bay at daybreak, they try to beach the vessel. But the prow gets stuck beyond movement, and the waves break the stern to pieces. All on board abandon ship and manage to reach the shores of Malta by swimming or by hanging on to planks or other objects. Cold and battered, they haul themselves out of the raging surf. Among the passengers is the Christian apostle Paul. He is being transported to Rome for trial.—Acts 27:27-44.
For Paul, the shipwreck at the island of Malta was not the first life-threatening episode at sea. A few years earlier, he wrote: “Three times I experienced shipwreck, a night and a day I have spent in the deep.” He added that he had been “in dangers at sea.” (2 Corinthians 11:25-27) Journeying by sea had helped Paul to fulfill his God-given role as “an apostle to the nations.”—Romans 11:13.
Just how extensive was sea travel in the first century? What part did it play in the spreading of Christianity? How safe was it? What kind of vessels were in use? And how were passengers accommodated?
Rome’s Need for Maritime Trade
The Romans called the Mediterranean Mare Nostrum—Our Sea. Control over sea-lanes was imperative to Rome for more than military reasons. Many cities of the Roman Empire either were ports or were served by them. For example, Rome had her seaport in nearby Ostia, while Corinth used Lechaeum and Cenchreae, and Syrian Antioch was served by Seleucia. Good maritime connections between these ports ensured rapid communication with key cities and facilitated effective administration of Roman provinces.
Rome also depended upon the shipping industry for its food supply. With a population of about one million, Rome had huge grain requirements—somewhere between 250,000 and 400,000 tons a year. Where did all that grain come from? Flavius Josephus quotes Herod Agrippa II as remarking that North Africa fed Rome for eight months of the year, while Egypt sent enough grain to support the city for the other four. Thousands of seagoing vessels were involved in supplying grain to that city.
Catering to the Roman taste for luxury, the flourishing seaborne trade supplied all kinds of merchandise. Minerals, stone, and marble were shipped from Cyprus, Greece, and Egypt, and lumber was transported from Lebanon. Wine came from Smyrna, nuts from Damascus, and dates from Palestine. Ointments and rubber were loaded in Cilicia, wool in Miletus and Laodicea, textiles in Syria and Lebanon, purple cloth in Tyre and Sidon. Dyes were sent from Thyatira and glass from Alexandria and Sidon. Silk, cotton, ivory, and spices were imported from China and India.
What can be said of the ship that was wrecked at Malta with Paul on board? It was a grain ship, “a boat from Alexandria that was sailing for Italy.” (Acts 27:6, footnote) The grain fleets were privately owned by Greeks, Phoenicians, and Syrians, who commanded and equipped them. However, the ships were hired by the State. “As in the collection of taxes,” says historian William M. Ramsay, “the government found it easier to give out the work to contract than to organize for itself the enormous machinery in men and equipment needed for that great service.”
Paul completed his voyage to Rome on a vessel with the figurehead “Sons of Zeus.” This too was an Alexandrian ship. It docked at Puteoli in the Gulf of Naples, the port where the grain fleets normally landed. (Acts 28:11-13) From Puteoli—modern-day Pozzuoli—the cargo was either hauled overland or transported on smaller vessels northward along the coast and up the Tiber River into the heart of Rome.
Passengers on Freighters?
Why did Paul and his soldier guards travel on a freighter? To answer that question, we need to know what it meant to travel by sea as a passenger in those days.
In the first century C.E., there was no such thing as a passenger ship. Vessels used by travelers were merchant ships. And all kinds of people—including State functionaries, intellectuals, preachers, sorcerers, artists, athletes, merchants, tourists, and pilgrims—might have sailed in them.
There were, of course, small boats that transported passengers and cargo in coastal waters. Paul may have used such a craft to “step over into Macedonia” from Troas. Small vessels may have conveyed him to and from Athens on more than one occasion. Paul may also have used small craft in his later voyage from Troas to Patara through the islands near the coast of Asia Minor. (Acts 16:8-11; 17:14, 15; 20:1-6, 13-15; 21:1) The use of such small vessels saved time, but they could not venture very far from land. So the ships that took Paul to Cyprus and then to Pamphylia and those in which he voyaged from Ephesus to Caesarea and from Patara to Tyre must have been considerably larger. (Acts 13:4, 13; 18:21, 22; 21:1-3) The vessel on which Paul experienced shipwreck at Malta would also have been considered large. How big could such ships be?
Literary sources led one scholar to say: “The smallest capacity [ship] found generally useful by the ancients was about 70 to 80 tons. A very popular size, at least in the Hellenistic age, was 130 tons. A 250-tonner, although a common sight, was definitely larger than average. In Roman times the ships used in the imperial transport service were still greater, the desirable capacity being 340 tons. The largest ships afloat ran to 1300 tons, possibly a bit larger.” According to a description penned in the second century C.E., the Alexandrian grain carrier Isis was over 180 feet [55 m] long, was about 45 feet [14 m] wide, had a hold some 44 feet [13 m] deep, and could probably carry over a thousand tons of grain and perhaps a few hundred passengers.
How were the travelers cared for on a grain ship? Since the ships were principally for cargo, passengers were a secondary consideration. No food or services, except water, were supplied for them. They would sleep on deck, perhaps under tentlike shelters erected at night and taken down each morning. Though voyagers may have been allowed to use the galley for cooking, they would have had to equip themselves with everything needed to cook, eat, bathe, and sleep—from pots and pans to bedding.
Travel by Sea—How Safe?
Lacking instruments—even a compass—navigators in the first century operated strictly by sight. Therefore, travel was the safest when visibility was the best—generally from late May to mid-September. During the two months before and after that time, merchants might chance sailing. But during wintertime, mist and clouds often obscured landmarks and the sun by day and the stars by night. Navigation was considered closed (Latin, mare clausum) from November 11 to March 10, except in cases of absolute necessity or urgency. Those traveling late in the season ran a risk of having to winter in a foreign port.—Acts 27:12; 28:11.
Despite being hazardous and seasonal, did sailing offer any advantages over land travel? Yes, indeed! Traveling by sea was less tiring, cheaper, and faster. When winds were favorable, a ship could cover perhaps 100 miles [150 km] a day. The ordinary rate for a long journey on foot was 15 to 20 miles [25-30 km] a day.
Sailing speed depended almost entirely on the wind. The journey from Egypt to Italy was a continual fight against head winds, even at the best of times. The shortest route was usually via Rhodes or Myra or some other port on the coast of Lycia in Asia Minor. After encountering storms and losing her way, on one occasion the grain ship Isis anchored in Piraeus 70 days after putting out from Alexandria. With prevailing northwesterly winds behind her, the return leg from Italy could probably be made in 20 to 25 days. By the overland route, the same journey in either direction would require over 150 days in good weather.
The Good News Carried Far Overseas
Paul was evidently aware of the dangers of out-of-season sea travel. He even advised against sailing in late September or early October, saying: “Men, I perceive that navigation is going to be with damage and great loss not only of the cargo and the boat but also of our souls.” (Acts 27:9, 10) However, the army officer in charge ignored these words, and this resulted in the shipwreck at Malta.
By the end of his missionary career, Paul had been shipwrecked at least four times. (Acts 27:41-44; 2 Corinthians 11:25) Yet, undue anxiety about such eventualities did not prevent early preachers of the good news from taking to the sea. They made full use of all available means of travel to spread the Kingdom message. And in obedience to Jesus’ command, a witness was given far and wide. (Matthew 28:19, 20; Acts 1:8) Thanks to their zeal, the faith of those who have followed their example, and the guidance of Jehovah’s holy spirit, the good news has reached the most far-flung corners of the inhabited earth.
[Picture Credit Line on page 31]
Pictorial Archive (Near Eastern History) Est.