When neither sun nor stars in many days appeared. — We have to remember that before the invention of the compass the sun and stars were the only guides of sailors who were out of sight of land. Now the sky was over-cast and this guidance failed. The ship was driving, but whither they knew not.
All hope that we should be saved was then taken away. — Better, finally, or at last. The failure of all hope implies some other cause of fear in addition to the mere violence of the gale, and the successive attempts to lighten the ship make it all but certain that she had sprung a leak, which their efforts were powerless to stop. The want of proper food (see next verse), and the exhaustion of protracted labour, naturally aggravated the feeling of despair.