They delivered Paul with other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan Cohort named Julius. They sailed in a ship of Adramyttium (accompanied by Aristarchus). Julius treated Paul kindly giving him leave to go to his friends to be cared for (at Sidon). The winds were against them and they came to Myra and Lycia (the centurion found a ship of Alexandria going to Italy to put them aboard). They sailed with difficulty to Fair Havens (near Lasea). Paul told them he perceived that the voyage would meet with injury and loss. The centurion ignored Paul and they set out for Crete to spend the winter there. A northeaster bore down. They threw out the cargo, on the 3rd day they threw out the tackle. They abandoned hope of being saved. They were out of food and Paul said he warned them of this, and urged them to take heart because no one will die – though they will lose the ship – an angel of the God he worships (Yahweh) revealed this to him. Have faith in God. After 14 days they were running aground and prayed for day to come. Paul told the centurions, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” Paul urged them all to take some food, not a hair was to perish from the head of any of them. He took bread, broke it, gave thanks and ate. They were all (276 people) encouraged and ate some food too. They didn’t recognize the land, they struck a reef, and ran aground. The bow stuck and was immovable. The stern was being broken by the surf. The soldiers were going to kill the prisoners, but the centurion, kept them from doing this to save Paul.
God promised Paul he would make it to Rome, but we also see the Lord kindly revealing what will happen to this ship so that he could be a source of encouragement to the centurions not only about what will happen to them, but an encouragement to them to put their hope and faith in God. God knows all things. He rules all things in His sovereign providence. We can trust that even when we face difficulty and death that God is on His throne, and we can have a hope of being with Him forever by faith.