Acts 27:27-32 27And when the fourteenth night had come, as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea, about the middle of the night, the sailors suspected that they were approaching land. 28And after taking a sounding and found twenty fathoms, and going little farther, after taking a sounding again, they found fifteen fathoms. 29And fearing that we might run aground somewhere on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. 30And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, and had lowered the ship’s boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow, 31Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved.” 32Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship’s boat and let it drift off.
It had been a long two weeks aboard the ship since the storm struck back near Crete. It was a good thing everyone had heeded Paul’s advice about eating something, otherwise, they would have had no strength and possible had died along the way. In ancient times, the Adriatic Sea represented the north-central Mediterranean Ocean between Greece and Italy, between Crete and Malta. The ship had been blown a significant distance of around 475 miles, to the island of Malta. God’s providential care and plan for Paul would be fulfilled. The direction they were blown actually brought them closer to Italy. They likely did not know where they were at first.
With instincts honed over time, the sailors had a sense that land was near, perhaps from the sound of waves against the shore or other clues. So, they checked the depth of the water. The first sounding was about 120 feet. The second was about 90 feet. They were approaching land quickly and needed to make some crucial decisions. Many ships experienced shipwreck when they were beaten against the rocks along the shore or got stuck in sand banks and were beaten to pieces by the waves. It was dark, so no one knew what the shoreline was like. They hoped casting the four anchors would somehow steady the ship and keep it from going ashore.
The sailors cowardly tried to escape the ship and use the lifeboat to get to shore. They somehow came up with the idea that they could fool everyone and pretend they were just checking the anchors and making sure they were in the right place. Paul saw through the ruse and reported them to the centurion. Without the assistance of the sailors, the ship would be lost because no one could do what was needed to keep it steady. To stop the sailors from abandoning ship and to avoid further catastrophe and have the best possibility of surviving, the soldiers cut away the lifeboat. Once again, Paul was the hero of the moment, a spokesman from God—if only the crew and Roman soldiers would listen. No one seemed to be listening to Paul, but the truth of his words added validity to his spiritual authority, which would continue to grow in impact during this voyage.