Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 27:15

"and when the ship was caught, and could not face the wind, we gave way [to it,] and were driven." — Acts 27:15 (ASV)

And could not bear up into the wind.—The Greek verb is literally, “to look into the wind’s eye,” to face the wind. The figure is a sufficiently natural one in all languages; but it perhaps received additional vividness from the fact that a large eye was commonly painted on the prow of Greek vessels. The practice is still not unusual in Mediterranean boats. Assuming the direction of the gale to have been as stated in the previous Note, the ship was now driven in a south-west direction, scudding before the wind.