Acts 27:17

Acts 27:17 Used helps, undergirding the ship. The hull showed signs of giving way and was undergirded by ropes or chains, that were dropped so as to pass under the hull, and then were tightened with levers. The process is still common in wooden vessels in times of great peril. The British call it "frapping". Should fall into the quicksands. The Syrtis, or quicksands, on the African coast to the southwest of Crete, were greatly feared by ancient sailors. The facts that they expected to be driven there shows that the storm, at first, came from the northeast. Strake sail. Nautical men say that this language implies that most of their sails were furled, only a small sail remaining set. The ship was "laid to", endeavoring to ride out the storm. So were driven. A ship "laid to" will drift. "Laid to", she would not drift directly before the wind, but if the wind was from the northeast, and her bow laid to the north, she would drift to the west. Their aim was to keep from being driven into the quicksands (the Great Syrtis).