Acts 16:11

Loosing. The word “loosing” has nautical associations, referring to the release of hawsers holding a ship at dock. For further evidence of the author’s nautical knowledge see Additional Note on Chapter 27.

We came with a straight course. Gr. euthudromed, “to run a straight course,” and, as a nautical term, “to run before the wind.” The fact that they held a “straight course” implies that Paul and his company had the wind in their favor. The current must have been against them, for it runs south from the Hellespont, and east between Samothrace and the mainland. The voyage from Troas to Philippi, about 125 mi. took five days (ch. 20:6).

Samothracia. An island which lies in the north of the Aegean Sea, opposite the Thracian coast, about halfway between Troas and the Thracian port of Neapolis. Probably they spent each night in a harbor, as was the custom at that time.

Neapolis. The name, which means “New Town,” was very common wherever Greek was spoken. It survived in two conspicuous instances: in Naples, Italy, and in Nablus, Palestine. The town here considered was in Thrace, but served as the port of Philippi, which lay about 10 mi. to the northwest. Neapolis has been identified with the modern Kavalla, where there are a Roman aqueduct, columns, and Greek and Latin inscriptions witnessing to the former importance of the now-ruined city. It was the eastern terminus of the Egnatian Way, the great road that connected the Aegean and the Adriatic.