Did you hear how he brought the ship here, what happened to those on board, and how they were saved by a star?
No, Timolaus, but I’d very much like to.
The captain himself told me—a good man, and good company. When they left Pharos, he said, the wind was not very strong, and they sighted Acamas in seven days. Then it blew against them from the west, and they were driven abeam to Sidon. After Sidon a severe storm broke and carried them through Aulon to reach the Chelidonenses on the tenth day. There they were all nearly drowned.
I myself have sailed by the Chelidonenses, and I know the size of the waves there, especially in a sou’westerly gale with a touch of south; this, you see, happens to be where the Pamphylian and Lycian seas divide. The swell is driven by numerous currents and is split on the headland—the rocks are knife-edged, razor-sharp at the sea’s edge. So the breakers are terrifying and make a great din, and the wave is often as high as the cliff itself.