We have often been accused of beating a dead horse in
relationship to the ships, sea currents, and winds that existed and were
involved in bringing Lehi to the Land of Promise. However, we do this from time
to time because of the lack of knowledge and understanding regarding sailing
vessels in 600 B.C., and the description of the ship Nephi built that he gives
us and how it was propelled.
All of which tells us
where, when, and how he sailed, and in so doing, where he would have landed.
Despite this information Nephi discloses, and the impact it
should have on understanding where he sailed and that course would have taken
him, we are frequently confronted with comments from readers, especially those
who support the Mesoamerican theory, or the Heartland and Great Lakes theories,
that Lehi just “sailed across the Pacific” or Atlantic, as though it was an open highway
like I-15 that takes one from southern California through Las Vegas and on to
Salt Lake City.
However, as discussed in the last two posts, the ship that the
Lord showed Nephi how to build, would have been built to accomplish a certain
purpose (taking Lehi’s family across the ocean to the Land of Promise), and
would have been designed to accomplish that task based upon the course the Lord
had in mind for Lehi to travel (open ocean or island-hopping, free sailing or
maneuvering through changing currents and winds).
Thus, a ship’s design would have to be sufficient to
accomplish that particular purpose and course (sailing conditions). This means, Nephi’s ship would
have been designed to sail the deep ocean waters (strong, fast, and durable in
order to withstand the constant pounding of deep ocean waves, currents, wind and
overall weather), and since Nephi tells us it was “driven forth before the wind,”
it would have been designed to sail freely in deep water and not be encumbered by maneuvering
through islands, archipelagos, through narrow channels, and having to avoid
shoals, reefs, and shallow waters.
Leaving the southern Arabian coastline and sailing out into
the Sea of Arabia and Indian Ocean, two things become apparent: 1) the only course
available because of existing winds and currents, and 2) a ship designed to
sail that particular course the winds and currents allowed.
The world’s
oceans are a mass of constantly traveling flows moved by trade, monsoon, and
Coriolis currents and winds, and any ship “driven forth before the wind,” as Nephi’s ship is
described, could only sail where the winds blew it
So many Theorists seem to think that Lehi just got into the
open ocean and sailed across the Pacific without a concern for these wind
patterns. However, as we have tried to explain many times in these posts, open
seas are a mass of currents and winds that are both constant and powerful.
Before the Age of Sail that brought the design of moveable yards, stacked
masts, lateen and square-rigged sails, and the type of ship’s overall rigging
that allowed sailing into the wind, tacking and maneuverability of ships at
sea, sailing the open oceans was difficult and fraught with danger and failure.
This is because it simply was not possible to sail just anywhere in a ship
requiring a following wind (like Nephi describes his ship to have been)—the
direction of sail was in the direction of the wind, so if you wanted to end up
in a specific location, you had to find a wind that would take you there or not
sail.
NASA’s
Goddard Space Flight Center “Perpetual Ocean Graphic” of the mass of constantly
moving currents and winds across the Indonesian waters and the Pacific. Every
white line indicates moving water paths—the bolder the line the stronger the
current. Note there is no place where the water is stagnant—its movement in
constantly diverging directions is indeed perpetual
As simple an understanding as this is, far too many Theorists
ignore it completely and just move Lehi across the ocean as though it were a
super highway. However the knowledge of winds and currents was known as early
as the Portuguese sailors who knew all about Volta do mar (“turn of the sea”), which refers to winds and
currents in the ocean—which was many years before
Columbus.
Before he sailed and discovered the New World, mariners knew of the brisk trade winds from
the east, commonly called “easterlies,” that took Columbus west from the Canary
Islands across the Pacific to the Caribbean. The problem at the time was not in
getting westward into the Pacific, but in getting back—to return to Spain
against this prevailing wind would have required several months of an arduous
sailing technique called beating (zigzagging to port or starboard), during
which time food and drinkable water would obviously have been exhausted. Even
today it is virtually impossible to sail directly into the wind or even on a
course that is too close to the direction from which the wind is blowing
(called the “no-go zone”) which, depending on the design of the boat, its rig,
and its sails, as well as on the wind strength and the sea state (currents),
this zone can vary from 30- to 50-degrees to either side of the wind.
Square-rigged sailing vessels were never able to “point” anywhere near that
close to the wind, though it is still considered the most efficient running rig
(that is, running before the wind, or having a “tail-wind”—what Nephi called
“driven forth before the wind”).
First steam engine ships late 1800s to the early 20th
century when they were replaced by reciprocating (piston) engines
Not until the age of steam engines and
later diesels, was it possible to run (point) directly into the wind, or on any
course desired, with the understanding that the speed of the current, if
flowing against you, diminished the progress of the forward speed of the
vessel. As an example, a ship making 10 knots into a current that is traveling
at 5 knots, means the vessel is making 5 knots headway—with a 5 knot following
current, the vessel is making 15 knots headway.
The same is true with a “tacking”
sailing vessel, making 10 knots into the wind, sailing against a 5 knot sea
current, is still making 5 knots headway, but losing distance because of the
zigzagging. On the other hand, a sailing vessel “driven forth before the wind” would
make no headway sailing into the wind, but be driven backward, which is why
some ancient mariners wrote of passing the same point of land several times in
an attempt to make headway into the wind.
However, a sailing vessel being driven
forth before the wind that is making 10 knots, but in a 5 knot following
current, is making 15 knots headway, or, as in the Southern Ocean, with the
wind blowing at thirty knots or higher, and the current moving at five to ten
knots, a sailing ship “driven forth before the wind” would actually be making 35
to 40 knots headway, or about 40 to 46 miles per hour. This is why the Southern
Ocean is today used for numerous sailing vessel regatta races, such as the single-man
"Vendée Globe" and the two-man crew "Barcelona World Regatta"—both non-stop around
the world races in the Southern Ocean along the Roaring Forties and Furious
Fifties.
This Southern Ocean distance around the
world is approximately 10,000 miles—the shortest of any distance measured
around the globe—of which Lehi’s course would have taken him only about 7,000
miles through the Southern Ocean, where the Prevailing Westerlies wind
runs at 25 to 35 knots, the faster winds around 50 knots with highs reaching 70
knots (80.5 miles per hour). When you add the speed of the West Wind Drift
(Antarctic Circumpolar Current) and the drift of the ocean current, modern
regatta vessels can achieve 500+ miles in a single day.
This West Wind Drift (ACC) current is
circumpolar due to the lack of any landmass connecting with Antarctica, which
keeps warm ocean waters away from Antarctica, enabling that continent to
maintain its huge ice sheet.
The convergence (meeting) of the Pacific and Southern Oceans, usually
heralded by dense fog, increasing numbers and varieties of sea birds, and an
abrupt drop in the sea temperature. The convergence area is rich in wildlife,
drawn by the churning up of nutrients as the Antarctic waters are pushed deeper
by the warmer, northern currents
At the same time, in the northern edges
of this current, the waters are warmer due to the inflow of southward flowing Equatorial
Current that merges into it. In addition, this current greatly speeds up any
voyages from west to east around the globe as it transports 125 Sverdrups per second in its flow, which
is a measure of the volumetric rate of transport of ocean currents, and equivalent
to one Sverdrup or 264,000,000 U.S. gallons of water, moving per second
(33 billion gallons per second), making the Southern Ocean the largest ocean
current in the world.
Water temperature of the Southern Ocean ranges between 60º (light
green) and 50º (dark green), with the western winds causing air temperature
around 60º (light green area) dropping to 32º in the (dark blue area)
One can only wonder why anyone might
think that Lehi sailed to the Land of Promise along any other route—especially
where island-hopping, extreme maneuvering conditions, dangerous side-currents,
shoals, reefs, sand bars and narrow channels existed as they do through Indonesia.
Consider the advantages of this course through the Southern Ocean:
1. Shortest route to the Western
Hemisphere;
2. Fastest route to the Western
Hemisphere;
3. Straight sailing with extremely
strong following winds all the way to the Western Hemisphere;
4. Non-stop currents flowing directly
to the Western Hemisphere;
5. With the Liahona’s tutelage, the
simplest sailing to the Western Hemisphere, requiring the least amount of
knowledge;
6. No difficult maneuvering through
narrow channels, shoals, or side currents;
7. No need for stops for replenishment
of supplies;
8. No tempting islands to cause further
mutiny;
9. No possibility of anyone knowing
where Lehi went or arouse any curiosity as they passed;
10. Whether, conditions, and speed
would have created a distinct fearful reliance of the wayward sons on both Nephi
and the Lord.
11.
Would have led to a simple entry into the record as Nephi made: “I, Nephi, did guide the ship, that we sailed again towards the
promised land. And it came to pass that after we had sailed for the space of
many days we did arrive at the promised land; and we went forth upon the land,
and did pitch our tents; and we did call it the promised land” (1 Nephi 18:22-23).
Continuing from the last post regarding the building of
Nephi’s ship and what would have been involved and why it is important to
understand what was written about it.
The Lord told Nephi to build a ship once they reached the area
Lehi called Bountiful (1 Nephi 17:7-8) along the coast of the Sea of
Arabia, which Lehi called the Irreantum Sea. Nephi’s brothers and the sons of Ishmael
laughed at such a task and called him a fool (1 Nephi 17:17) for none had ever
been to sea and knew nothing about ship building. But the Lord showed Nephi how
to build the vessel (1 Nephi 18:1-2) and, unfortunately, most readers of the
scriptural record let it go at that, without bothering to learn the importance
of this information.
“Thou shalt construct a ship, after the manner which I shall
show thee” conveys some interesting and vital information for those interested
in learning where Lehi sailed and where he landed.
At the same time, though, being shown how something is to be
done is not the same as being capable of doing it. Consider what is involved in
building a ship large enough to carry Lehi and Ishmael’s families across the
deep ocean.
This would have been no small fete.
As stated in the last post, ship design is based on several
factors, and in realizing what those factors, or requirements, were, is to
better understand what Nephi’s ship was like and what it was meant to do.
Note the
design of early sailing ships in the Mediterranean abut the time of Lehi—the curvature of the
centerline (red arrows) shows the instability of the vessel in high seas; not
only the rocking fore and aft, but the inability to ride through high waves,
into a trough, and survive the next wave. Mediterranean sailing did not require
deep ocean type designs, and except for the addition of ramming requirements of warships,
this design lasted for several millennia
Note the
design of early ocean sailing vessels nearly two millennia after Lehi sailed. The bow (blue arrows) was straightened
with only a slight curve to force water down and away, which added forward
stability; (red arrows) the centerline was straightened and reinforced with a
keel, in some cases extending a blade downward to increase side-to-side
stability; (green arrows) the stern was vertical, adding an inboard rudder and
bringing the keel straight back
As stated in the previous post, building a ship to hug the
coasts of Arabia, India, and Sumatra/Malaysia is one thing; to build a ship
that would be capable of crossing the deep ocean is quite another. To build a vessel
meant to drift with the current (a raft) is different than building a ship to
be blown or driven by the wind (sails). To build a ship capable of negotiating
narrow channels (Malucca Strait), set in at various islands along the way
(Indonesia), and maneuver through shallow waters, shoals, reefs, etc. is very different
than building a ship meant to sail from one place to another across the deep open
seas.
Left: A cog,
used for trading and coastal waters because of its flat bottom and high sides;
Right: The Caravela Latina that discovered and sailed the coasts of Africa
As an example, during the first half of
the 15th century, the Caravel was the ship chosen by Portuguese
mariners to sail the coast of Africa. Before that time, most used cogs of about
25 tons, which had a single mast, and were replaced by the Caravels which had
greater speed and an ability to tightly maneuver in coastal waters. However, according
to Richard W. Unger (The Ship in the Medieval Economy, 600-1600,
1980, Montreal, McGill-Queen’s University Press), when these small, maneuverable
ships of discovery (running coastal waters around Africa) became impractical
for deep ocean exploring, the caravela
latina was transformed into the caravela
redonda, a three-masted vessel wielding square sail, and lateen sails were
generally converted to square-rigged sailers. Before crossing the Atlantic,
Columbus stopped in the Canary Islands and converted the lateen sails on two of
his ships to square-rigged canvas.
The Caravela Redonda. This is like La Niña (Little Girl), Columbus’ favorite
ship in which he logged over 25,000 miles. At 50-60 tons, she was originally
built to travel the Mediterranean Sea, and not designed for open water as ships
over 100 foot in length and upwards of 1000 ton
To speak of courses taken by early
traders in comparison with that needed by a far more heavily-laden vessel
designed for deep ocean sailing is to show an obvious lack of knowledge of such
matters and ignore the different requirements needed and fulfilled by those
seamen. So is to speak of the simple and easy voyages of Vikings, Columbus,
Magellan, Drake, and others, without knowing anything more about them than what
they probably learned in school or read about in simple history. However, each
of these voyages were neither simple nor easy.
Viking ships sailed close to land and in the calm waters of the far
north, along the coasts of the Shetlands, Faeroe, Iceland, Greenland to New
Foundland
Despite what may have heard or
earlier learned, the Vikings did not sail out to sea—they hugged the coasts of
known lands, or sailed short distances to nearby lands they believed to have
existed just over the horizon, often first discovered and reported by survivors
of coastal vessels that had been blown off course.
As an example, the Vikings first went
to sea sailing from Norway 160 miles across the Norwegian Sea to the Shetland
archipelago, which consists of 116 islands with an land area of 567 miles and
1,679 mile coastline, that lie 50 miles northeast of Orkney (Scotland), between
the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean. From there they sailed 170 miles to the
Faeroe (Færøerne—”the islands
of sheep”) archipelago, a group of 18 islands
covering an area 70 miles long and 50 miles wide, about 540 square miles
roughly in the shape of an arrowhead, lying between the Norwegian Sea and the
North Atlantic, 200 miles north-northwest of Scotland.
From there they sailed to Iceland, 300
miles to the West, and then about 185 miles to Greenland, and from there likely
took a short route across the Davis Strait to Baffin Island and down the coast
to New Foundland. The point is, they pretty much were moving along the southern
coasts of islands all the way to their eventual destination in New Foundland,
where they attempted a short-lived settlement.
As ship
designs became more stable, the width and length of the ship in the water was
increased; Left: White arrows show the beam of the ship sitting in the water;
Yellow arrow shows the length of the ship in the water; Light green arrow shows
the inboard rudder on a vertical plane, giving the vessel much greater
steerage; Right: Even the Chinese junks were increased in size and strength
during the Age of Sail, with the stern (red arrow) still curved, but not as
much, and the (light blue arrow) showing a straighter center line resulting in
more of the vessel from bow to stern in the water for increased stability
It should also be kept in mind that these early voyages were
accomplished by:
1. Ships designed to sail the blue waters (deep oceans) and
were strong enough to withstand constant wave pounding;
2. They had captains who had been to sea for many years
(Columbus went to sea at the age of 10; sailed the Mediterranean, had been to
England, Ireland, and Iceland; traded along the coasts of West Africa;
had extensively read and studied astronomy, geography, and history, including
Ptlomy, Imago Mundi, travels of Marco Polo, Mandeville, Pliny, and Pope Pius
II’s Historia Rerum Ubique Gestarum;
he also knew celestial navigation, which used the position of the sun and
the stars in the sky that had long been in use by astronomers and implemented
by mariners;
3. They had experienced pilots (navigators) who knew the
waters through which they sailed or had the knowledge passed on from other
navigators;
4. They had crews of experienced mariners to handle the
rigorous jobs of taking in canvas, changing sails, tightening or loosening
rigging, etc., and
5. They had sufficient numbers of men to handle the day-to-day
jobs of running a ship at sea.
Toward the end of the Age of Sail, large, heavy ships were
designed, adding multiple masts and stacked sails (topgallants and royals; with
upper topgallants, skysails, and moonsails later added for increased canvas,
giving the heavier ships more speed; and even later (side) studding sails
stacked three or four high were added both port and starboard for even more canvas
(speed) to compensate for the added weight of construction, crew and cargo.
Despite all
the canvas possible, including the studding sails, ships were often becalmed in
the seas, requiring manned longboats (barge), attached with long ropes, to pull
the ship through the water in search of a following wind that would fill the sails and move the
ship forward
It is obviously apparent that not only was Nephi’s ship
seaworthy, that it was designed by the Lord and built under direct and specific
tutelage of Nephi’s continual visits with the Lord where he learned many “great
things” (1 Nephi 18:3), but that it was designed for Lehi’s specific voyage
where the wind and currents took the vessel. Obviously, the Lord was involved
in all aspects of leading Lehi from Jerusalem to the Land of Promise, including
the specific and detailed design and construction of Nephi’s ship.
With this understanding, then, all that is needed is to know
where the winds blew and the currents flowed from the southern coast of Arabia
to the Western Hemisphere. Once that path is followed, one can find the
location of the Land of Promise. And once located, see if it matched allof the
descriptions given by Nephi and Mormon regarding its location.
The Lord told Nephi to build a ship once they reached the area
Lehi called Bountiful (1 Nephi 17:7-8). His brothers and the sons of Ishmael
laughed at such a task and called him a
fool (1 Nephi 17:17) for none had obviously ever been to sea and knew nothing about ship
building. But the Lord showed Nephi how to build the ship (1 Nephi 18:1-2), and
most readers of the scriptural record let it go at that.
However, seeing how something is to be done and being able to
do it are not necessarily the same thing. Consider what is involved in building
a ship large enough to carry Lehi and Ishmael’s families across the deep
ocean—this was no small fete.
It is not like building a boat in your garage or back yard to
sail on a glass-smooth lake, down a river or across a harbor—this is a ship
that would be required to carry 50 or more people with tons of provisions and
equipment across thousands of miles of deep, wave-pounding, wind-driven ocean. As an
example, a designer of a sailing ship must give it sufficient capacity
(burden) and speed to carry out its mission—in this case, sailing across the
open ocean carrying several people half-way around the world, including cargo
of their personal belongings, provisions, supplies, and equipment to start a
new life; yet without unduly
compromising its seaworthiness. And seaworthiness itself is a complex concept,
embracing water-tightness, buoyancy, stability, hull strength, weatherliness,
handiness, and freedom to enter shallow or constricted waters.
Obviously, the Lord would know how this
was to be built and accomplished, but he still had to work through
inexperienced individuals with varying talents and abilities, evidently none of which had
ever been utilized in building a ship. While Nephi and, no doubt, Sam, would
have attacked this project with enthusiasm, it seems doubtful that Laman,
Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael (and their older sons) would have shown much passion
for the venture.
In addition, Nephi’s vessel had to be
built in a manner and with such use as could be manned by an inexperience
crew—a few men and boys who had never been to sea and knew nothing of sailing coastal
and deep ocean waters. It is one thing to understand how rigging is to be used through instruction,
quite another to actually develop the skill to do it while on a tossing ship in
rough seas with no land in sight.
The design also would be limited both
in terms of volume (by the dimensions and layout of the ship) and weight (too
much, and the ship sinks). Until the nineteenth century, it was probably the
single most important requirement for a ship (other than staying afloat). The
different demands on capacity compete with each other; for example, putting on
more food and provisions (and the space to hold them) increases survivability
of the people, but reduces the space for cargo and equipment that would be
required in the Land of Promise where obtaining such things might prove
impossible once landed.
The modern day formula, developed in
1852 by the Elizabethan shipwright Matthew Baker, was “keel length times
maximum beam (width) times depth of hold (in feet) divided by 100." This formula
resulted in a value in “tuns” burden or volume measurement equivalent to about
one English long ton (2240 pounds). There was also the tonnage (one-third of
the burden weight). As an example, in 1534, a Spanish ordinance limited New
World-bound ships to 60 passengers per 100 tons burden, though some carried
almost 100 passengers per 100 tons (1 per 1), while Europe-bound ships carried
40 per 100 tons in the mid-1700s and 66 per 100 tons in the late 1700s, and
U.S. ships were limited to 40 per 100 tons. Of course, this was because these
ships carried cargo for sale to offset the price of sailing and increase
profits—something Nephi’s ship did not require, nor did it carry cannon and crew
to man them, thus more people per tonnage was available than later shipping
could manage.
For Nephi’s ship to be buoyant, the
design had to limit the ratio of its mass to its volume so that its overall
density was less than that of water, which means the type of wood used in its
construction was a critical issue. Thus, when theorists write about there being
plenty of trees in an area that could have been used to build Nephi’s ship,
they may or may not have considered whether that type of wood, its density and
strength, would have sufficed for the particulars of weight and mass required
of the ship being built. Once again, the Lord would have known all this and
much, much more, but the point is, theorists often write about things they do
not know and are unaware of the importance of what they do not know. This is
why we keep harping on the importance of Nephi’s ship and how it was propelled
and what that means to an overall course.
Arbitrarily drawing random lines on a map shows the lack of knowledge
regarding winds, currents, and numerous other factors involved in sailing a
ship across the oceans in 600 B.C.
This, then leads, to a design that
meets the requirements of the voyage. If winds and currents would have allowed
Lehi to journey toward and through Indonesia to the Pacific, as Sorenson and
numerous other Theorists insist, then the design of purpose of his ship would
be one thing; if his course was in the direction and location the winds and
currents would have taken him, across the Southern Ocean as has been proposed
here many times, then the design of his ship would have been something else
entirely.
The monsoon, trades, and gyre winds move in predetermined directions
and with a constancy that makes it clear where Lehi would have had to sail to
reach the Western Hemisphere from his starting point on the southern coast of Arabia
Sorenson has mentioned time and again
that Lehi would have sailed through Indonesia and across the Pacific, however,
the ship design for such a voyage would be that of a long-distance trader,
which would have required a large displacement because of the large cargo to be
carried in order to make such trading voyages profitable. So, if that truly
were how Lehi reached the Pacific, then his ship would have been large, bulky
and difficult to handle, since large displacements typically resulted in
larger, less maneuverable vessels. To offset that, the early traders in
Indonesia reduced the size requirements of their ships by limiting the crew
number to balance profitability which, in turn, required an easier to handle
vessel—the dhow, and the lateen sail.
An early trading dhow along the Arabian Sea that plied the waters of
Indonesia. These small coastal vessels could sail those waters with eaqse, but were not strong enough to handle
wave-pounding deep ocean waters
Such a vessel worked marvelously for
early traders in Indonesia since their voyages were short and direct, in
coastal waters for the most part, and far simpler to handle maneuverability
needs with small crews. They also spent little time at sea, setting in often,
and especially every night, limiting their sailing to good weather and
easy-to-handle distances.
This was not Lehi’s
requirement.
Lehi needed a ship that would take him
into rough waters, with the simplest of courses that required the least amount
of knowledge about ship handling and maneuvering. He needed a large enough
vessel to handle at least 50 people (perhaps as many as 62), including women
and children, yet be crewed by as few as 12 to 15 men and boys (Laman, Lemuel,
Sam, Nephi, Zoram, the two sons of Ishmael and his older sons). By way of
comparison, Columbus’ flag ship, Santa Maria, the largest of his three ships,
was about 60 feet long, around 100 tons, and had a crew of 40 (all experienced
seamen from the port of Palos in Andalusia, or Galica in northwest Spain), at
least half of which would have been handling the ship’s rigging at any one time
during the voyage, and especially in rough weather. Magellan’s ship, Victoria,
which circumnavigated the globe, was about 65 feet long, 85 tons, with a crew
of 42, while his flagship, Trinidad, was about 110 tons with a crew of 55.
Thus we can see somewhat the size and
tonnage of Lehi’s ship, which would have sailed a similar deep ocean, with a
similar number of people aboard.
(See the next post, “How Seaworthy
was Nephi’s Ship? Part II,” for the continuation of the ship Nephi built and
how the scriptural record gives us information to better understand where Lehi
sailed and landed)
The consensus among Theorists seems to be that Lehi’s voyage
across the Irreantum Sea was an “island-hopping” event. As Sorenson has
written: “Our record doesn't say but reason and similar
experiences quickly fill that gap. If for nothing else, stops would be
necessary to replenish their water supply. Repairs, other provisions, and the
scraping of barnacles are other conditions which have forced all ancient seamen
to make frequent stops as they have pursued similar voyages. Lehi's journey
would have taken them more than half way around the world. For comparison,
Lehi's voyage would have traversed at least 200° compared to about 55° for
Columbus's voyage to America. Of course, Lehi did not travel in a straight
line. Sorenson estimates that Lehi's journey would have been about seventeen
thousand miles as compared to about three thousand for Columbus. No, this was
not a non-stop voyage”
(John L. Sorenson, Nephite Culture and Society, 1997,
Sage Books, pp54-57).
The problem with this
type of thinking is two-fold. First, to get to Mesoamerica, Sorenson has to get
Lehi across the Pacific Ocean, which violates all the winds and currents along
his route, and 2) The very nature of the rebellious sons of Lehi and Ishmael
would have either precluded such an island-hopping voyage, or obviously caused
Nephi to mention the actions of these wayward sons once given the opportunity
to rebel again and take over as they had earlier.
Can you imagine Laman, Lemuel, and the sons
of Ishmael ignoring the beauty and beckoning of these islands as they stopped
from time to time on Sorenson’s course across the Pacific? Hard to imagine they
would have obediently gotten back on board the ship and sailed off into the
open sea after such exposure. They were not, after all, a willing crew
We have spent much
time in these posts talking about the ocean currents and winds that would have
kept Lehi from going eastward from the southern Arabian coast in the Indian
Ocean and he never could have reached the Pacific in his ship, which was
“driven forth before the wind.” But just to satisfy the idea of
“island-hopping,” let’s take a look at some of the rest of these “reasons” why
Lehi is said to have made numerous stops along his journey.
Sorenson suggests that “we can get some feel for this time from the
voyage of a Polynesian canoe named Hokule'a.
This vessel, sailing about eight thousand miles in comparable waters, averaged
about ninety-eight miles per day. While this represented eighty-two days at
sea, stops for repairs, rest, and supplies, extended their voyage over more
than a year.”
The Hokulea was a performance-accurate
full-scale replica of a wa’a kaulua, a Polynesian double-hulled voyaging canoe
that set sail in 1976
Response:
The Hokulea was built and launched in 1975, for the purpose of sailing from
Hawaii to Tahiti, a voyage which took place the following year for the purpose
of “reviving the legacy of exploration, courage, and ingenuity that brought the
first Polynesians to the archipelago of Hawaii.” Borrowing a navigator from
Micronesia since there were no Polynesians capable of doing so, the journey was
completed. Unfortunately, on the second attempt two years later, the canoe
capsized in stormy seas off of Moloka’i and the crew would have all died had
there not been a fortuitous rescue “hours away from losing people.”
In
addition, at most, these canoes carried about 20 people, usually closer to a
dozen, while Lehi’s ship would have had at least 60-65 crossing the ocean. In
addition, outrigger canoes can lower the sail and proceed with oars, while
Nephi’s ship would not have had that ability based on its size and Nephi’s
descriptions of it. However, the main point here is that these were not “comparable
waters.”
Sorenson
also wrote: “Unlike Lehi's experience,
the Hokule'a encountered nothing but
good winds for their entire journey. If all other factors were comparable, this
would suggest a time of two to three years for Lehi's voyage.”
The early Polynesians sailed north across currents in small outrigger canoes
Response:
One of the reasons for this is that these waters, despite Sorenson’s claim to
the contrary, were not comparable
waters. Sailing from Polynesia to Hawaii and back, is a course sailing cross-currents
from north to south, which is obviously not the same as trying to buck opposing
currents throughout an entire voyage. In fact, these voyages were within the
two Pacific Gyres where the currents and winds are far calmer, somewhat like
being inside the eye of a hurricane. This is not to say it is not dangerous,
arduous and a lot of hard work, requiring experienced or well trained seamen,
but the waters being sailed are not comparable in any way.
It should
be remembered that when sailing into the wind, a sail does not push the ship
ahead, as Nephi said his ship was propelled (1 Nephi 18:8-9). Rather it acts as
an airfoil, creating an area of low pressure in front of the sail, pulling the
ship forward. As one Captain of a three-masted schooner was quoted as saying,
when asked just
how his vessel could sail headlong into the winds blowing against them: “When a
sailboat is sailing against a strong wind, the vessel can’t make progress, and,
in fact, endangers itself. What the ship has to do is to tack back and
forth–sail at an angle, creating
a vacuum on the back side of the sail that actually pulls the ship forward—this
in effect creates a “wind pull.”
Tacking into strong, opposing winds also
includes angling your path through the waves, allowing the bow to cut through
the wave and not be bounced back by it, requiring an angle of attack and
knowledge of spilling air (from the sail) while maintaining control
Sailing on
the course Sorenson suggests, through islands, channels, narrow passes on an
irregular course with achieving landfall every so often—a fete far more
difficult and dangerous than it sounds, would hardly have been achievable by
Lehi’s inexperienced family. The type of sailing into winds Sorenson’s course
required would have been even more difficult, for this type of sailing requires
experience, not just knowledge. It is doubtful that Lehi’s family could have
gained sufficient experience while building and sailing their ship to be able
to handle opposing winds and currents, let alone learning all the intricacies
of sailing back and forth, cutting the waves, spilling air, and keeping their
ship from being pounded into bits coming off waves and slamming into troughs.
The much
simpler sailing effort would have been to take Nephi’s ship where the winds and
currents flowed, where experience is required far less and the dangers much
reduced—which takes us to the Southern Ocean—the shortest, simplest, and
fastest course between Arabia and the Western Hemisphere on the face of the
earth.
The circumpolar Southern Current (black
circular arrows) is the fastest and shortest route from Arabia to the Western
Hemisphere—instead of 17,000 miles across at the Equator like Sorenson
projects, it is less than 10,000 miles where Lehi enters this route and exists
it (black arrows)
In
addition, this course would not have allowed Laman, Lemuel and the sons of
Ishmael any opportunity to take over the ship, for the entire voyage would have
been a rough ride, requiring constant activity, including bailing water and, if
nothing else, hanging on for dear life. The fast moving waters and gale force
winds driving the ship forward, surfing over and down waves, for such an
inexperienced crew would have caused near panic with no way to express it.
The sheer fear
of such a voyage in those fast and heavy conditions would have kept the wayward
and mutinous sons from laying a further hand on Nephi, for experience had
taught them that to do so would mean a watery grave from relentless waves
crashing over the bow and bouncing off rails and masts, and thick foam spraying
across the deck.
In fact,
such a voyage would have humbled even the most belligerent attitudes for little
else than wind, waves, and relentless water exist—there was no land to beckon
to them, nothing but unremitting ocean, constant birds, and steady breezes. When
Nephi wrote: “And
there was nothing save it were the power of God, which threatened them with
destruction, could soften their hearts” (1 Nephi 18:20), it would be apparent
that the fury of this ocean would have kept the belligerents at bay, believing
it was the wrath of the Lord that threatened them.
Top: Where the Indian Ocean meets the
Southern Ocean, a distinct line is visible; Bottom: The Southern Ocean is more
empty of sights and without land obstruction than any ocean on earth
In
addition, the emptiness
of this ocean would have caused them all to know they were the only ones in the
world out there—a feeling that would have drawn them out of necessity toward
reliance on the Lord and the Liahona Nephi held as he steered his ship across
the sea. The voyage across this ocean would have been fast, fearful and quick. It
would have been so uneventful, that all Nephi would have had to write about was
“I, Nephi, did guide the ship, that we sailed again towards the promised land.
And it came to pass that after we had sailed for the space of many days we did
arrive at the promised land” (1 Nephi 18:22-23).
Was Lehi’s Journey a Non-Stop Voyage? Out of necessity, it
would have had to be a non-stop voyage.
While records show that Jewish seamen cropped up as early as the first century A.D., beginning with navicularii (shipowners) in Alexandria
in 39 A.D., when cargoes of Jewish ships during the anti-Jewish riots were
carried off and burned; and Augustine and Jerome both recorded encounters with
Jewish mariners; and an intact lower hull of a boat dated to the first century A.D.
was excavated on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, much of the record
and writing of Jewish mariners is found from about the third century onward. When Solomon had his ships built in 900 B.C., he imported seamen from Lebanon to man them. In fact, there seems to be no evidence showing Israelites as mariners in B.C. times at all.
Nor do we have any evidence that any member of Lehi's company had
any experience at sea, nor in the building of ships. Both Ishmael and Lehi
lived outside the city walls, in an area where agriculture fed Jerusalem, and
merchants traded with Arab caravans along the Frankincense Trail (King’s
Highway) and sold these goods to Jerusalem vendors who, in turn, sold them
within the city where the caravans never traveled. Yet, when Lehi reached the area along the southern Arabian coast,
which he called Bountiful, Nephi was told by the Lord, “Thou shalt construct a ship, after the
manner which I shall show thee, that I may carry thy people across these
waters.” (1 Nephi 17:8).
Looking
down on the area that Lehi called Bountiful from a 2500-foot mountain top where
Nephi may have received instruction from the Lord
Nephi’s immediately response sets him apart from his brothers
and the sons of Ishmael at an early point when he merely responded, “And I
said: Lord, whither shall I go that I may find ore to molten, that I may make
tools to construct the ship after the manner which thou hast shown unto me?”
We also learn from
that comment that the Lord, in telling Nephi he was to build a ship, showed him
in a vision of some sort the ship he was to build—“after the manner which thou
has shown unto me"—tells us Nephi, before he ever began, knew what the ship was
to look like, its size, and overall appearance.
Obviously, when Nephi
told his father much earlier, “I will go
and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord
giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way
for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them” (1
Nephi 3:7), he knew to trust the Lord. Now, in the command to build a ship, Nephi trusts completely in the Lord, and in his word, and only
needed to know how to go about it—first, he needed tools and asked where there
would be ore that her could fashion them. Whether Nephi already knew how to
make tools from metal ore is not told us, but either he did, or the Lord showed
him how during that vision of the ship, or he trusted that the Lord would show him once he had the ore to use.
That Nephi had no experience in building, or knowledge of ships, also seems borne out by the reaction of Nephi’s brothers, who scoffed: “And when my
brethren saw that I was about to build a ship, they began to murmur against me,
saying: Our brother is a fool, for he thinketh that he can build a ship; yea,
and he also thinketh that he can cross these great waters” (1 Nephi 17:17). Obviously,
the idea was so foreign to them and the entire family that it elicited this scorn—not only
in the building of a ship, but in the idea of them all sailing across the huge
ocean before them. Nephi adds that Laman and Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael
“did not believe that I could build a ship” (1 Nephi 17:18), nor that the Lord
had instructed him to do so—which would have meant the design, fashioning of
timber, and actual construction.
Many have thought it
was simply because the brothers were lazy and “were desirous that they might
not labor,” but their incredulity in Nephi thinking he could not only build a
ship but would know how to sail it was obviously beyond their comprehension.
It seems accurate in
understanding that neither Lehi nor any of his family had been around ships or
been to sea in any way. Despite this, some Theorists point out Nephi’s comment
when he said, “Now I, Nephi, did not work the timbers after the manner which
was learned by men, neither did I build the ship after the manner of men” (1
Nephi 18:2), as proof that Nephi knew how ships of his day were built.
However, Nephi also
said, “we did work timbers of curious workmanship and the Lord did show me from
time to time after what manner I should work the timbers of the ship” (1 Nephi
18:1), and also “I did build it after the manner which the Lord had shown unto
me; wherefore, it was not after the manner of men” (1 Nephi18:2). It seems
obvious that Nephi understood the difference because the Lord told or showed
him how other ships were built in his day and how he would be building his ship
differently. After all, when instructing someone how to do something they know
nothing about, it is far easier to show them why building it like other ships would
not work and why building it differently would work—otherwise, there are
unanswered questions that can get in the way of doing it the right way during the construction.
On the other hand, it would not be realistic to think Nephi
had never seen another ship. After all, he traveled within close proximity to
Ezion-Geber, a ship-building and shipping port at the head of the Aqaba Sea (a
finger of the Red Sea), and later, traveled along the Red Sea where he would
have seen numerous Arabian fishing dhows sailing up and down the waters there,
yet it would not be realistic to think Nephi knew how the ships were built
merely from seeing them, even if he had a very close look.
As an example,
ships of antiquity (1000 A.D.) were built with plank on
frame construction rather than the earlier method that had lasted for at least
three thousand years. The old method consisted of first building the skin and
then inserting framing pieces for added strength; plank on frame first built
the framework and attached the planks to it, which allowed for stronger and
larger ships to be built--for a novice, merely looking at a ship would not tell him that.
Dhows sailing along the Red Sea during the
time of Lehi. Such ships could sail the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, and
along the coast of the Abrabian Peninsula, but were built to sail in blue-water, deep-sea conditons and would not last under the pounding of the deep seas, nor
the gale-like force of winds in the Indian and Southern Oceans
The point is, in 600 B.C., despite all the rhetoric to the
contrary on the internet written by individuals who simply lack knowledge on
the subject, man had not yet learned how to build a ship that could sail the
deep waters and take the constant pounding against the hull, and the gale force
winds that drove the sails of later ships—especially during the Age of Sail.
And, too, Nephi tells us that his vessel, though steerable, was “driven forth
before the wind,” meaning that the wind was the vessel’s propulsion and the
ship was driven before the wind in the direction the wind blew.
If one has never been in the deep ocean, or been involved
in ship design, one may not know that in the high seas, the wave action and
winds pound the hull of any ship from astern, the sides, and the bow—what is
called a pounding “from every quarter.” Such pounding, especially in wooden
vessels of antiquity, caused considerable damage and the reason why a ship
would need to be repaired and refitted before each voyage, and a major refit
was conducted every few years. By the time the Carrack (early 15th century) was designed for
ocean-going sailing (improving the Naos,
which had replaced the coastal Cog
vessels), using both northern and Mediterranean building arts, an extensive
refitting was not needed as frequently, and the even later Caravel (1450) design was smaller and far more maneuverable with
its lateen rigging.
The point is, ships had to be built to withstand the heavier
seas in the deep oceans with their constant pounding. As an example, the RSS Discovery, a later three-masted
wooden British research vessel, was “nearly pounded to smithereens” by a massive
storm in the North Atlantic. Instruments on board measured the
"significant wave height" (an average of the largest one-third of the waves)
at 61 feet—“the largest ever scientifically recorded in the open ocean"
(some spiked as high as 100 feet). The episode added to growing evidence about
the prevalence of so-called rogue waves, which can rise up unexpectedly from
much smaller seas.
Top:
Pounding waves in the Southern Ocean, some have reached heights of nearly 100
feet; Middle: A trawler being pounded in high seas, its bulbous bow keeping it
stable; Bottom: A wave crashing onto the flight deck of a U.S. Carrier with a
deck 70’ foot above the water line
The important issue here is that the Lord did not leave
these inexperienced “land-lubbers” alone to the dangers of the deep ocean, to
cope with the unfamiliar process of sailing a ship and maneuvering among the high
seas. Nephi tells us that the Lord was involved not just in the overall design
of building of the ship (1 Nephi 18:2), but in such minor details as “working the
timbers” (1 Nephi 18:1), and whatever else was needed through the completion of
the project (1 Nephi 18:4). We also know that Nephi “did go into the mount oft,
and did pray oft unto the Lord; wherefore the Lord showed him great things” (1
Nephi 18:3), which would have had to include how to outfit, sail and steer the
ship.
This obviously would have been done through the Liahona after
they set sail and while at sea (1 Nephi 18:12, 21). However, no amount of instruction can give someone experience. Even during their rebellion, Laman, Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael "knew not where to steer the ship." It seems obvious, the course set for Nephi's ship would have been the more simple one, not involved in intricate maneuvers, landings, and steerage.
Continuing from the
previous post regarding the website article of Richard G. Grant (Come to Zarahemla) and the article
written in it called “Lehi in the Promised Land: What did he Find?”
And with a sub-heading “When they arrived, what did they Find? Cows and horses?
Were there others there?”
The last post continued with Grant’s writing, mostly a
repeat of Sorenson’s issues about population and the need for additional groups
of people other than Lehi’s posterity.
Grant
Writes: “Sherem is not family. The story
gives no hint that Jacob recognizes Sherem as the descendent of one of his
brothers.”
Response:
Another specious comment. First of all, we don’t know who Sherem was, or what
his lineage might have been. Sherem does use the term “Brother Jacob,” which is a title and has no specific reference to
blood line, nor is one implied here or elsewhere. Today, we use it in the
Church regularly, and there is no reason to believe it was not used in the same
way with the Nephites. If Sherem was of some direct relation, such as a
descendant of one of Jacob’s brothers, he might have been listed as such in the
first verse (chapter 7) when he is first introduced, however, Jacob merely
says, “there came a man among the people of Nephi,” which could mean he was of
the Nephite lineage (Nephi, Sam, Zoram, Jacob or Joseph), or one of those Nephi
took with him, who are not specifically identified other than Zoram, Sam,
Jacob, Joseph and his two sisters, “and all those who would go with [him]" (2
Nephi 5:6).
Grant
spends a lot of time and effort speculating about things that are simply not
suggested or inferred in the scriptural record. Such writing has little value
and certainly not beneficial to any further or deeper understanding.
Grant
Writes: “Population, cultural
differences, and the story of Sherem all suggest that there must have been
others.”
Response:
None of this suggests anything of the kind. All these factors can and are
explained by the facts listed. Speculating on issues not suggested only clouds
the scriptural record with valueless ideas that are unsupported by anything other
than the writer’s (Grant’s) mind.
Grant
Writes: “A look at the language diversity in Mesoamerica at the time of
Columbus again leads linguists to conclude that the cultural history is
complex.”
Response:
Before one can begin writing about such matters regarding Mesoamerica, as
Sorenson, Allen, et al, and now Grant, choose to do, one should first make a
legitimate case for Mesoamerica from the facts and descriptions found within
the scriptural record—a fact Sorenson and others have never done (see the
book Inaccuracies of Mesoamerican and
Other Theorists).
Grant
Writes: “Recent studies have demonstrated
that about 200 languages were spoken in Mesoamerica alone at the time of the
arrival of the Spanish.”
Response:
From the time of Lehi’s landing and the Spanish arrival was approximately 2100
years. How anyone got the number 200 is an interesting issue, since the early
Priests, the only ones who would have understood different languages, were not
out counting languages, but were heavily involved in trying to convert those
few indigenous peoples they encountered. The U.S. has been populated for only
about 400 years and there are more than a hundred different languages and
dialects stemming from the original settlers. What does any of that suggest? In
addition, what exactly are the “recent studies”? Anything done today or
recently regarding what existed in the Americas before or at the time of the
Spanish conquest is hardly going to be accurate in any way and would be used
only for “wishful thinking.”
Grant
Writes: “Br Sorenson concludes that this
evidence "cannot accommodate the picture that the book of Mormon gives us
of its peoples without supposing that 'others' were on the scene when Lehi's
group came ashore,” then adds: “With careful reading, we can see that the Book
of Mormon give rather explicit hints of other peoples. For example, Alma,
praying about the dissenting Zoramites, says, "O Lord, their souls are
precious, and many of them are our brethren"
(Alma 31:35). In other verses, Lamanite, Mulekites, and even Jaredites,
are referred to as brethren. Who,
then, are these people that Alma alludes to who are apparently not Lamanite,
Mulekite, or even Jaredite?”
Response:
“Our brethren” in this case refers to Alma talking about those that are members
of the Church. Those that are not “our brethren” would be those who are not
members of the Church. If one would read before and after this quoted passage,
they would see that Alma is on a missionary journey, converting people to the
gospel, and talking about those who he was trying to convert.
Grant
Writes: “Following several such examples,
Dr. Sorenson concludes: Hereafter,
readers will not be justified in saying that the record fails to mention
"other" but only that we readers have hitherto failed to observe what
is said and implied about such people in the Book of Mormon.”
Response: Such is the thinking of Sorenson. He makes up
things, then uses them as fact, and finally tells us that we have no right to
disagree with him and his findings. The first thing anyone needs to do to find
other people in the scriptural record is to point out that they are referred to
as such. Nowhere is any other people mentioned in the entire scriptural record
of 14 books and nearly 20 writers.
Simply put, no other group of people
are mentioned, suggested, or inferred!
Sorenson can make
people up, Grant can mimic Sorenson’s words, but that does not change the
scriptural record. Not one single writer in the entire Book of Mormon, not
Mormon or Moroni who abridged those records. Not Joseph Smith who translated
them, nor the Spirit who verified that translation, ever suggests in any way
there were any other people.
In fact, the writers
seem to go out of their way to describe, or at least mention in some detail,
all those people, places, and events, which interacted with the main Nephite
story. Not one mentions or suggests another people anywhere in the record.
