Where Lehi Sailed – Part V

Many scholars searching 1st Nephi and trying to figure out where the Lehi Colony traveled and eventually landed, are of the opinion that the scriptures are silent on the point of how the colony got from their embarkation point to their point of landing. However, the scriptures are not silent on this issue—Nephi makes it quite clear in telling us how the ship was propelled. “We were driven forth before the wind to the promised land.”

As stated in the last post, what one needs to know to figure out where Nephi’s ship sailed, is to understand two things:

1. From where the ship sailed
2. Where currents and winds blew from that point

The first is generally not considered a point in question. Almost all scholars on this subject agree that Bountiful existed along the south Arabian coast and that the sea Irreantum was the Arabian Sea. So to know where Nephi’s ship sailed, one needs only to know where the currents and winds would take a weather (sailing) ship in 600 B.C. leaving the south coast of Arabia.

First of all, the winds and currents blow into shore from July through December on the monsoons, which would eliminate that half of the year. However, from January to June, the current and winds blow outward, moving SOUTH until they pick up the Prevailing Westerlies and the West Wind Drift that turns the currents and winds toward the EAST in what is now called the Southern Ocean, the circumpolar route that moves south of New Zealand, across the Pacific Ocean, and then through the Drake Passage (between South America and Antarctica) on its way around the globe. At this point, the northern half of the current and winds strike the continent and are turned northward, along the west coast of South America.
Thus, any weather (sailing) ship of 600 B.C. (and for 1,000 years thereafter), could only travel, “driven forth before the wind” down from the Arabian coast to the Southern Ocean, then eastward to South America, and then up the west coast of the continent. This is no mystery. Every oceanographer, mariner, and scientist involved with the world’s currents and winds knows and understands this passage from the coast of Arabia to South America.

It is the reason why this website is called the Nephi Code—because Nephi left us all the information we need to know about his journey and landing site though most people do not realize it when they read his words. He was not trhying to fool us, nor mislead us, or leave us to wonder. From the time Lehi left Jerusalem to the time they landed in the promised land, Nephi describes his entire journey and what they found at the end of that journey in clear and precise language.

Of course, Nephi did not have maps of the world at his disposal—so he described his journey, even giving directions where he felt it necessary, so we would know where he went and where he landed.

It is not rocket science to understand this. However, one must recognize that ships in 600 B.C. did not, and could not, travel against sea currents and against winds. In understanding this very simple and elementary point, one can then trace the route of Nephi’s ship and, in understanding where these currents and winds died down, one can see where the ship landed. It is also helpful to understand that life in 600 B.C. was totally and absolutely dependent upon planting and harvesting—and seeds grown in one area did not reproduce in other areas with different soils, temperature, rainfall, and climate. Not understanding this vital point nearly cost the Plymouth Colony their lives in 1620-21. Thus, to find an area where seeds from Jerusalem would grow exceedingly and produce an abundant crop, one needs to find in the Western Hemisphere where a Mediterranean Climate exists—and that is only in Southern California and at 30º South Latitude in Chile.