Acts 27:7-17

7We sailed slowly for several days. It was difficult to sail, but after some time we arrived near the town of Cnidus. Because of the strong wind, we could not continue to sail in that direction. So we sailed along the side of the island called Crete, where the wind was not strong. We sailed past the point of land called Salmone.

8It was still difficult to sail, so we sailed near to the coast. Then we arrived at a place called ‘Safe Port’. This port was near to the town of Lasea.

9We remained there for many days. By then it had become dangerous to continue the journey. It was already after the Day of Atonement. So Paul spoke to the army officer and to the sailors.

10He said, ‘Friends, I understand that now our journey will be dangerous. The ship may break in pieces. You may lose the things that the ship is carrying. All of us may even die.’

11But the army officer did not believe what Paul said. Instead, he decided to do what the owner of the ship and the captain said.

12This port was not a good place for a ship to remain during the winter. Most of the men on the ship wanted to continue the journey. They wanted to sail as far as Phoenix, if they could get there. They could stay there for the winter. Phoenix was a port on the island called Crete. It was open to the sea both to the south-west and to the north-west.

13The wind began to blow from the south, but it was not strong. So the sailors thought, ‘Now we can do what we wanted to do. We can sail to Phoenix.’ So they pulled up the ship's anchor and left the port. Then we sailed as near as we could to the coast of Crete.

14But soon a very strong wind began to blow. This wind blew from the north-east and it blew strongly across the island.

15The storm hit the ship very powerfully. It was not possible for the sailors to sail the ship straight into the wind. So they did not try to do that any more. Instead, they let the wind blow the ship along.

16After that, we passed the south end of a small island called Cauda. Here we found a place where the wind did not blow so strongly. The sailors lifted the ship's small boat out of the water to make it safe.

17They tied it on the ship with ropes. Then they tied some more ropes under the ship so that it would not break in pieces. The men were afraid of what might happen. There were some places along the coast of Libya where the water was not very deep. The ship might hit one of these places and then it might break. So they took the ship's largest sail down. Then they let the wind blow the ship along.