John Gill 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 when the ship was caught
By the wind, snatched up by it, and forcibly carried away:

and could not bear up into the wind ;
and against it, or look it in the face, as the word signifies; could not ply to windward, the wind being so high and the sea so strong:

we let her drive ;
about the sea, at pleasure, it being in vain to attempt to get her forward against the wind, or to direct her course.