Could Lehi Have Rounded the Cape and Sailed the Atlantic Ocean? – Part I

There are certain, seemingly minor points in the scriptural record, that if misunderstood, can cause one to wander far afield of the factual events therein described. As an example, the entire North American Land of Promise theory, as well as an east coast landing site, for either North or Central America theories rests on a believe that Lehi traveled from the Indian Ocean around Africa and across the Atlantic Ocean to the Western Hemisphere. A seemingly minor point until one delves into the practicality of such an endeavor. On a map, it looks quite workable and supportive of such an endeavor, however, in reality such a voyage at the time and well beyond the Age of Sail and the Portuguese discovery of a rout between the Atlantic and the Indian oceans. Despite the fact that we have pointed this out on several occasions, both those advocating a North American landing, either sailing up the Mississippi or St. Lawrence rivers, River, or landing along the Florida coast in the Gulf of Mexico, appear oblivious to the problems surrounding a course around the Cape of Africa.

    Since the Portuguese in the late 1400s were able to do this, and throughout the 1500s, were able to sail from the Atlantic to the Indian oceans and back, their argument is that Lehi could have done the same. What they fail to understand, however, is that the Portuguese were very experienced and successful seamen, with sometimes daring, and even foolish, captains seeking treasure, fame and fortune. Lehi was none of that. His course was dictated by the winds and currents, which do not flow easily around the Cape of Africa, and also by the Liahona, which the Lord directed him along a course fit to his ship's capabilities and those of his simple crew--all inexperienced at sea and sailing a ship.
    Along this line, we recently received a series of questions from a critic who disagrees with our course for the Lehi voyage from the Sultanate of Oman along the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula, insisting that it would not have been impossible for Lehi to round the Cape of Africa and head northward across the Atlantic to land on the east coast of Central or North America. It is sometimes surprising that these individuals who promote this view are so oblivious to the facts of such a course, causing the idea to become such a controversial point of contention among Heartland, Great Lakes and Eastern U.S. theorists, that the issue is still alive and kicking, albeit and hopefully its last gasping breath.

Meldrum’s course for Lehi sailing toward the Cape of Africa and rounding it into the Atlantic Ocean and then toward Florida along the Gulf of Mexico 

The controversial research author Rod L. Meldrum and his recent co-author, Bruce H. Porter, are two of the leading proponents of the Heartland Theory and an eastern U.S. landing site for Lehi along the coast of western Florida. However, to get there, one has to justify the scriptural record with Meldrum’s course for Lehi down the Indian Ocean to the Cape of Africa.
    It is a shame that this path is so seriously considered by individuals who seem oblivious to the facts of the matter, and are so willing to take someone’s word for it rather than check it out for themselves.

The currents surrounding the Capt of Africa are some of the most dangerous waters on the planet and have claimed more than 3,000 ships over time because of the tempestuous currents, retroflection, counter current, return current, storms, rocky headlands and conflicting winds 

As an example, unless it has been read here, how many of these Heartland theorists know that along their so-called path of Lehi’s voyage is an area called Cabo das Tormentas (“Cape of Storms,”) and that the name was changed to Cabo da Boa Esperanca (Cape of Good Hope) by John (João) II, king of Portugal and the Algarves, because he wanted to highlight the great optimism of finding a route to the Indian Ocean and deemphasize the dangers encountered? Or that this area was also called the “Graveyard of Ships,” where at least 3,000 decaying ship’s hulls rest at the bottom of the ocean that tried to round the Cape? Or that early Portuguese sailors, who were expected to sail these waters around the rocky headland, considered it suicide to do so? Or know that the explorer Bartolomeu de Novaes Dias was blown off course when trying to round the Cape for the first time and ended up in the eastward moving West Wind Drift of the Southern Ocean and the Prevailing Westerly winds that blew to the east? Or that the reason Dias named the Cape Cabo das Tormentas was because of the tempestuous storms and strong Atlantic-Antarctic currents that made ship travel there so perilous? Or that the route to the Indian Ocean from Portugal required sailing southwestward across the Atlantic to Brazil, then swinging wide around the Cape to pick up the Southern Ocean before encountering the horrendous storms south of Africa?

Within the midst of the tempestuous Stormy Region off the coast of South Africa was the graveyard of ships along the southern most point: Cape Agulhas 

In all, how many have considered the extreme dangers for a totally inexperienced, non-sailing, landlubber crew on Nephi’s ship in sending them around Africa, through the Cape of Storms, the Graveyard of ships, and the extremely dangerous waters that even Dias and de Gama could not conquer from the coastal route? Or how many know that de Gama’s successful route from Lisbon, Portugal, to Calicut along the Malabar Coast of India, took two years (one year to get to India, and one year back) and that only 55 of the original 170 crew survived the ordeal?
    Judging Lehi’s time frame by today’s capability standards is a foolish tactic in trying to support a theory, idea or belief about the antiquitus period in which Lehi lived.
• Anciently, ships were limited in their direction of travel to the trade and monsoon winds and ocean currents, and were subject to days of becalming in the low-pressure doldrums. Today ocean-going vessels have nuclear or diesel power and can go anywhere at any time in any weather, or on sailing vessels that have moveable sails and yards for tacking to catch the wind from almost any direction.
• Anciently, during the Age of Sail, it took 40 to 45 days to cross the Atlantic. Today, it takes six to seven days to sail from Europe to New York or six or seven hours by air. Ships reached speeds of 5 to 8 knots but averaged about 4 knots, while today some ships reach 25 to 29 knots—making travel easier, quicker, and more enjoyable.
•Ancient mariners food was always rationed for fear of running out while at sea. They ate the food first that would quickly spoil; on occasion they had live animals that were butchered on board; and also dried meat and fish, salted, smoked or pickled. However, their staple food was biscuit, or “bisket” (later called hardtack, a hard cracker made of flour, water and sometimes salt, that was long lasting provided it was kept dry. Today, travelers on ships eat scrumptious meals, prepared by professional chefs. Or have ovens and stoves on their private boats, along with refrigerators so they can eat as much as as often as they like.

There were no beds on ancient ships other than for a Captain and one or two officers. Everyone slept in hammocks where you have to sleep on your back, suffer from convective heat loss due to airflow and numerous other difficulties—some adapted, some did not

• Anciently, men slept in hammocks, and often on the hard deck in the open air to avoid the stifling heat below decks. Today people sleep in comfortable beds with mattresses on board commercial and private ships and vessels.
    Part of the difficulty with theorists is that, while giving minimal lip service to these and other differences, fail to use the significance of differences in making judgments about the ancient periods, attributing accomplishments in ships, shipbuilding and voyages to people long before they had the minimal technology to achieve them.
    Despite modern sailors’ conflicting thoughts on the matter, ancient mariners did not sail away from land without charts and prior knowledge of routes. When the celebrated Phoenician seamen circumnavigated the continent of Africa, historians often fail to mention that it took three years, and they set in each evening, not sailing at night, and during two planting seasons planted and harvested crops to sustain themselves.
    In fact, with the type of thinking that modern man often uses to evaluate the past, if we wait long enough we might find that neotheorists will start claiming Lehi made it to the moon where he landed along the western shore of Mare Humorum (Sea of Moisture) in the Moon’s Southern Hemisphere, not too far from Kepler and Copernicus.
    So in looking at this recent critique, we will list his remarks under “comment” and our reply under “response.”
    Comment: “The History Channel used the Pacific Ocean model for Lehi sailing to the American Continents [and] their consultants also agree that they would not have survived due to lack of fresh water.” 
    Response: This is purely uninformed, even for the History Channel. As any mariner well knows, with storms and rain at sea, fresh water can be captured, such as stretching a tarpaulin like a sunshade at night and turning up its edges to collect dew, or used open barrels to catch the downpours and then [History stored in sufficient quantities.

Water was taken aboard in barrels and when one was emptied, it was refiled by rainwater at sea, which could have been obtained from a stretched tarp 

Thor Heyerdahl in his 1947 Kon-Tiki voyage talks about this being how they obtained fresh water on their voyage, as have many other mariners described. You can also get aqueous fluid that is found along the spine and in the eyes of large fish—in addition one can drink a lot of water obtained during a rainstorm, or douse clothing in the sea during hot days.
    On the other hand, or in addition, the Lord may well have shown Nephi how to obtain fresh water from salt water by heating the latter in a pot with a container in the center, into which the water vapor from steam accumulating on an inverted pot cover on top drips fresh water into the center container. Obviously, the Lord knows more about obtaining water at sea that any historian or even mariner.