It is unusual to celebrate the anniversary of a shipwreck, but on 10 February the people of Malta do just that. According to the Bible (Acts 27-28), St Paul was being taken to Rome with a group of other prisoners and the voyage had been a difficult one due to contrary winds. Winter, when it would be impossible to sail, was approaching fast. The captain took a chance on the first favourable breeze to get across the Ionian Sea, but his ship was caught by a violent northeaster.
The storm continued for days and was so fierce that the crew dumped the cargo and the ship’s tackle overboard to stay afloat. After drifting for 14 days they arrived at an island. The ship struck a sandbar and was broken up by the waves. Some of those on board made it ashore by swimming, “some on planks and others on pieces of the ship”, and miraculously no lives were lost.
The island was Malta. The prisoners remained there three months and Paul reputedly cured many people. According to tradition, one of those he cured was the father of Publius, later to become the first bishop of Malta. A statue of St Paul now stands at the site of the wreck and an annual feast day commemorates the ill wind that blew Malta some good.
