Joseph had been forced into the boat along with Mother Mary, Martha, Mary and Lazurus Magdalene, it was perhaps Lazurus who had suffered the most. There were others and the boat was overfilled, as they were pushed out into the seas and then towed away from the dock and left in the open seas without oars nor sail. The fear and panic was controlled by Joseph who asked for quiet and stillness, he spoke clearly and with authority gently arranging the men to sit on the outside and women and children in the centre, he then asked for the longer and heavier garments to be trailed from the portside and thus a steering mechanism was created and the boat as overladen as it was headed west. Before nightfall a ship appeared and they were rescued by men employed by Joseph. Within hours another ship appeared and the original castaways were split between the two ships. Joseph and his entourage were heading for Marseilles as originally planned and it was here that the transport to Briton was waiting.
Upon arriving in the port of Marseilles the Magdelene’ siblings were met by family and encouraged to separate. With Mary refusing to leave Lazurus and Martha refusing to leave Mother Mary they split with promises to meet again in England, Lazurus was close to death and Mary was refusing to let him pass. Joseph, Mother Mary and Martha were driven by carriage across France to Bordeaux where ships were waiting to take them to Briton. Messengers had been dispatched by Joseph to warn Bran that he was coming and that he was bringing people with him.
The Romans were aware of the rescue and were aware of the survival of the castaways, Josephs orders to have the boat scuppered had not been followed and the boat had instead been discovered by the Romans being refurbished by ship builders in Greece. The rumours of Jesus surviving the crucifixion and of him being smuggled out of Judea had caused much embarrassment to the Romans, their authority had been questioned. Their search for Jesus had been thorough and had revealed nothing. They were aware of the secrecy and the false rumours, they were infuriated and as of yet Pontius Pilate had still not been discovered, he had made plans for his escape but at this time he was still helping Jesus and ensuring the disciples were able to escape the full wrath of a very angry Roman empire.
