modern authors been much more successful; with the exception of Mr. Smith, of Jordan Hill. His essay "On the Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul," the work of a man of much practical experience in the management of sailing craft, and a yachtsman of thirty years' practice, is a really valuable contribution to the history of ancient merchant ships. Mr. Smith has tested, by modern experiences, the details furnished by St. Luke,[1] and has himself worked out the "dead reckoning" of St. Paul's ship—a feat requiring both knowledge and skill. He has also, by a diligent comparison of the representations of ancient vessels on coins, and on the marbles and paintings of Pompeii, with the scriptural account of St. Paul's ship, reproduced as perfect a drawing as we are ever likely to obtain of the Mediterranean merchant-ship at the dawn of Christianity.
St. Paul's ship must have been one of considerable size, as, besides her cargo of grain, she had on board two hundred and seventy-six souls. Moreover, as she had to make a long and, as it turned out, a boisterous voyage, she must have been completely decked, and probably had two decks from the number of passengers she carried, besides a high poop and forecastle, like the ships of two or three centuries ago, though these are not shown in the illustration; her bulwarks were formed of battens fastened horizontally across the stanchions.
Mr. Smith has collected many instances bearing upon the arrangement of different parts of ancient
- ↑ James Smith, "Voyage of St. Paul," pp. 147-150.
