John Gill Commentary Acts 27:8

"and with difficulty coasting along it we came unto a certain place called Fair Havens; nigh whereunto was the city of Lasea." — Acts 27:8 (ASV)

And hardly passing it
That is, Salmone, with great difficulty, because of the winds:

came unto a place which is called the Fair Havens ;
called by other writers Cale Acte, or the fair shore, and is placed by Ptolomy ^F3 in Eubaea, and by Herodotus ^F4 in Sicily; but by Stephanus ^F5 is said to be a city of the Cretians, and which agrees with this account;

nigh where was the city of Lasae ;
there was a city in Crete called by Solinus ^F6 Lisson, and by Ptolomy ^F7 Lyssus, which he places on the south side of the island; and by Pliny ^F8 Lasos, which comes pretty near to this name, but then he places it in the midland part of Crete;

who also mentions an island called Lasia over against Troezenium, and another that was one of the Cyclades; the Syriac version here reads, "Lasia": Jerom ^F9 says, Lasea is a city on the shore of the island of Crete, near the place which is called the Fair Havens, as Luke himself explains it; for which some corruptly read "Thalassa"; as do the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions; and the Alexandrian copy "Alassa": Beza conjectures that it is the same with Eloea, which Pliny mentions in the above-cited place, as a city in Crete.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F3: De ordis Situ. l. 3. c. 15.
• F4: L. 6. c. 22.
• F5: De urbibus.
• F6: Polyhist. c. 16.
• F7: Ib. l. 3. c. 17.
• F8: L. 4. c. 12.
• F9: De locis Hebraicis, fol. 96. D.