More Comments from Readers-Part II

Here are more comments and questions from readers of this blog:
Comment #1: “In reading one of your recent posts about wind patterns and it reminded me of question about the Humboldt current—if it slows down at 30 degrees how did the Mulekites land further north at Pachacamac?“ Dave K.
Response: The Humboldt Current is one of the major nutrient systems of the world, bringing nutrients up into the surface waters of the ocean. It is an upwelling (meaning it is a cold current that moves up from the deep reaches of the ocean, causing a northward flowing current that moves up the coast, driving the system's extraordinary productivity, and making the waters off the Peruvian and Chilean coasts the most active in the world where 20% of the world’s fish are caught. In addition, it is part of a much larger system, the counter-clockwise South Pacific Gyre.
    In addition, except for the doldrums around the 30º south latitude area of Coquimbo Bay, where it slows to almost nothing (allowing for a ship “driven forth before the wind” to steer out of the otherwise swift moving current; however, it flows not only upward from the depth along the coast (originally coming out of the Antarctic), it’s upward welling or movement also curls inward (toward the land), which allows someone to steer free of the current where the winds die down and the current slows, and sail in close to land, and if they choose, steer up the coastal waters.

The currents off the coast of Peru and Chile and where Lehi landed at Coquimbo and Mulek at Pachacamac

Obviously, the Lord had a hand in this, since it seems reasonable he wanted Mulek, or the Mulekites, to land around Lima (Pachacamac) since it says the Lord led Mulek into the Land North (Helaman 6:10). It should be considered that the land between Coquimbo Bay and the Lurin Valley (Pachacamac) is roughly cliffs that would have been unsuitable for landing as seen from the sea, and the Atacama Desert, also not an appealing area to set into.

The area that was the east wilderness, where the city of Moroni sank into the sea and was covered over with mountains

In addition to the currents, a landing site had to be one where a ship could be safety disembarked and unloaded. This is more problematic than it sounds, for the majority of the Chilean and Peruvian coast is faced with cliffs, and in most places impossible to land a ship. As an example, the coastal area around Lima, Peru (Callao) would have been impossible for Mulek to land in 600BC, as well as to the south until one reaches the Lurin Valley, or area of Pachacamac.

The coast north and south of Pachacamac is mostly cliffs and almost impossible to have landed a sailing ship in 600BC

In fact, not until you get to the Lurin Valley, do you find "beaches" that are flat and appealing for landing, plus at The Casma River, which runs into the Pacific at Pachacamac, is an inlet where a ship could be set in and beached (people could disembark) out of the currents that were being pushed (from the Peru Bulge) back out to sea and into the northern arm of the South Equatorial Current.

The coast along the area of Pachacamac is flat with a slight inlet where the Lurin River empties and a ship could set in and out of the ocean currents

Comment #2: “You have a lot to say about the negative side of sailing around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, but surely many did it anciently, though you say it could not be done” Cassie J.
Response: It is not a matter of never being done, it is a matter of being done by expert mariners, and even many of those ended up on the bottom of the ocean in the graveyard of ships off the coast of the Cape of Good Hope (Cape of Storms).
    Just to give you an example of problems: according to Chris Bowler, scientific coordinator of c (partnered with 23 partners – 60 sponsors and partners, Schooner Tara, has had numerous crews, The southern Indian Ocean currents influence the south Atlantic Ocean) “It is not wise to consider cruising in the Mozambique Channel between November and May as this is both the rainy and cyclone season [around the Cape]. Towards the southern end of this region, a high incidence of cold fronts and gales can be experienced between July and August. (leaves only September and October, and June  -- cruising north to south should be undertaken only September to October—however, once reaching South Africa, the best time to sail northward or northwest is May/June because between October and May is the cyclone season.”
    That means there is a two-month window to get from the Arabian Peninsula, past the Samoli Current, through the Mozambique current to the Cape, then you have a six month layover before it is really safe to travel northward from the tip of Africa. And this is for experience mariners—not a crew of newbies that manned Lehi’s ship.

This is not exactly the same environment in which Lehi sailed to the Land of Promise. They had depth charts, course charts, radios, GPS, and other technology on board

This information, by the way, is from an expedition group that uses an aluminum hulled vessel, with two 350 HP engines, 40 tons of food, 235,000 liters of fuel, and packed with tons of equipment and electronics—and yes, they have sailed around the tip of Africa.
Comment #3: “Do you really think bones and weapons from the Book of Mormon era would survive to be found today?” Hunter F.
Response: Interesting you should ask. Take a look at the pile of bones uncovered recently in the Sahara by a pair of Italian archaeologists investigating near Siwa in Egypt. They uncovered hundreds of bleached bones, Bronze-age weapons, arrowheads, jewelry, water pots and other artifacts dating to the 6th century B.C., right around the time when Persian king Cambyses II lost himself an army of 50,000 trying to destroy an oracle denying his right to rule a conquered Egypt.

The Oasis of Siwa between the Qattara Depression and the Great Sand Sea in the Western Desert, 30 miles east of the Libyan border and 348 miles from Cairo

Herodutus (484-425 B.C.) wrote about Cambyses and his doomed campaign, felled by a sandstorm on the way to the oracle at the Temple of Amun near the Oasis of Siwa, but no physical evidence of the event has ever been found until now. The desert doesn’t really get excavated a lot, for obvious reasons. “It all started in 1996, during an expedition aimed at investigating the presence of iron meteorites near Bahrin, one small oasis not far from Siwa,” Alfredo Castiglioni, director of the Eastern Desert Research Center (CeRDO) in Varese, told Discovery News.

    “We are talking of small items, but they are extremely important as they are the first Achaemenid objects, thus dating to Cambyses’ time [6^th century BC], which have emerged from the desert sands in a location quite close to Siwa,” Castiglioni said.

    Cambyses was the son of Cyrus the Great who had planned to invade Egypt but died before he got the chance. In 525 BC Cambyses defeated Pharaoh Psamtek III, the last king of the 26th Dynasty. Cambyses’ stint as the first pharaoh of Egypt’s 27th Dynasty ended 3 years later when he died on his way home to Persia. 

 

The bones from this time are still much as they were when first laid down on the long-ago desert battle. So, yes, such things are possible to find, and are, in fact, found from time to time—but it is a big world, even one small area of it, and finding small items, especially artifacts of battles and people are far more difficult than the average person might think.