Malta
Acts 27:40, 41 KJV 40 And when they had taken up the anchors, they
committed themselves unto the sea, and loosed the rudder bands, and
hoised up the mainsail to the wind, and made toward shore. 41 And
falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and
the forepart stuck fast, and remained unmoveable, but the hinder part was
broken with the violence of the waves.
The shipwreck site was described as land unrecognizable to
the professional sailors, suggesting that it was not a location that ships normally passed on their way to Rome. Beyond the shore, there was a feature like a reef or sandbar at a place
“where two seas met” (Greek wording). On the island, there
was a bay with a sandy beach.
According to some scholars, the description of a place where
“two seas met” and a bay with a beach appears to match the
geography of St. Paul’s Bay. There is a channel of water between the small island of Salmonetta and the main island
of Malta that creates the appearance of two seas meeting.
Today, the uninhabited Salmonetta is also called St. Paul’s
Island. A lone statue of Paul has stood out there since 1844.
There is also a beach at St. Paul’s Bay, with an outer shoal
where a ship could have got stuck and battered by waves.
Probably most significantly, the ancient historians Lucian and Josephus describe the normal route of grain freighters from Alexandria to Rome as going past Malta on the eastern
side, where the main harbor (known as Valletta today) and
various structures such as the Temple of Juno were visible.
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According to Acts 27:39, the sailors on Paul’s ship didn’t recognize their location. This suggests the possibility of a shipwreck on the rarely travelled north side of the island, where St. Paul’s Bay now is.1
Acts 28:1-10 KJV 1 And when they were escaped, then they knew that the
island was called Melita. 2 And the barbarous people shewed us no little
kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of
the present rain, and because of the cold. 3 And when Paul had gathered
a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the
heat, and fastened on his hand. 4 And when the barbarians saw the
venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt
this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet
vengeance suffereth not to live. 5 And he shook off the beast into the fire,
and felt no harm. 6 Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or
fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and
saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was
a god. 7 In the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of the
island, whose name was Publius; who received us, and lodged us three
days courteously. 8 And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick
of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and
laid his hands on him, and healed him. 9 So when this was done, others
also, which had diseases in the island, came, and were healed: 10 Who
also honoured us with many honours; and when we departed, they laded
us with such things as were necessary.