Loosed the rudder bands; rudders is in the plural number put for the singular: or rather, in those times they having two rudders, (as by several passages amongst the ancients do appear), they were both loosed, that now they might use them to direct the ship to the best advantage in making the shore, they having been tied whilst they were adrift, or at anchor. Hoised up the mainsail, which they had let down, or struck, Acts 27:17, and now, that they might make some use of the winds, to get nigher to the shore, they hoisted up. As God doth instruct the ploughman, Isaiah 28:26, so he teacheth the mariner, and every one in their calling.
Related Commentaries of Acts 27:40
Acts 27:40
40 And when they had taken up the anchors, they committed themselves unto the sea, and loosed the rudder bands, and hoised up the mainsail to the wind, and made toward shore.