In previous articles, I detailed my
search for the four anchors from the shipwreck of Paul described in detail by
Luke in Acts Chapter 27. But were there other anchors aboard the ship?
Luke's Account Revisited
The answer lay right in front of my nose all along. I had already established
that in the teeth of the storm the sailors had dropped four anchors from the
stern, or the back of the ship...in 90 feet of water. They dropped them while
still some distance from the churning reef that they could hear surging in the
darkness, in hopes of keeping the ship from smashing into the rocks.
But the following verse states that immediately afterward, a small band of
sailors, fearing for their lives, pretended to lower "some anchors"
from the bow, or the front of the ship. That was it! It hadn't occurred to me
before, but there were other anchors onboard the ship in addition to the four
they had already let down in the sea.
Then fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks,
they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day. And as the
sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, when they had let down the skiff
into the sea, under pretense of putting out anchors from the prow.... -
Acts 27:29-30
When the sailors sought to escape from the ship, they
did so under the pretense of lowering "anchors from the prow" of the ship,
thinking they could get away with lowering the skiff instead. Paul foiled their
plan, though, so they remained on the ship and eventually everyone survived.
Where were these other anchors today, and could I find them? The answer will be
in next month's article and in my book, The Lost Shipwreck of
Paul.
