The Historicity of Paul's Shipwreck

Abstract

The author's use of 'we'—unforced, sure-footed, without guile, and with all the characteristics of reminiscence—indicates that the shipwreck narrative is an eye witness record. However, the account was written much later than the events, when the passing years had added reflection, glamour and sedation to the writer's traumatic memories. The narrative may be used to identify the place of landfall. Previous attempts are invalid because of over-reliance on insufficiently secure data, such as numbers; and because of incorrect translations of διθάλασσος (Acts 27.41), which is a description of adverse sea conditions, rather than a geographical indication. Nevertheless, the author gives sufficient unexceptionable data to allow identification of the place where the ship grounded: just north of the strait between St Paul's Islands and the mainland of Malta.