As a piece of descriptive writing, this story of Paul’s voyage and shipwreck shows Luke at his best and is a classic of its kind in ancient literature. Luke has been accused of inventing the story or at least of adapting an existing tale to his own purpose. But James Smith has long since demonstrated that the accuracy of the narrative in terms of geography, weather conditions, and navigational practice is such that it cannot be other than the record of a real voyage (p. xxxii), whereas the use of the first person is a fair indication that the voyage was made in the company of the author himself.

The traveler’s urge to recount adventures and the fact that stories of shipwreck were something of a fashion in Luke’s day would alone account for the length of the narrative. But to these may be …