Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 27:40

"And casting off the anchors, they left them in the sea, at the same time loosing the bands of the rudders; and hoisting up the foresail to the wind, they made for the beach." — Acts 27:40 (ASV)

With a profusion of nautical detail that makes this chapter unique, Luke tells how the ship was beached amid the pounding surf on a sandbar some distance from land and began to break apart. From then on it was every man for himself.