When we look at every single Book
of Mormon Land of Promise location, it is very apparent that not one of these
Theorists have given much thought to Nephi’s explanations of the ship he built
and the course he took “driven forth before the wind” to reach the Land of
Promise.
First of all, one might wonder
why Nephi spent so much time telling us about the ship he built, and the
problems he had during the first leg of his journey in it.
We ought to spend a little time
understanding what Nephi is telling us about this part of their journey to the
Land of Promise. First of all, he tells us how the ship was built:
1. It was a ship, not a barge, or
a dugout, or raft (1 Nephi 17:8);
2. It had a sail(s), to be
“driven forth before the wind” (1 Nephi 18:8-9);
3. It had some type of rudder
system because it could be steered (1 Nephi 18:13);
4. It was built very differently
than the ships being built at that time (1 Nephi 18:2);
5. The construction was very
advanced, the Lord himself told Nephi how to built the ship (1 Nephi 18:2-3);
Now ships in the Mediterranean,
Red Sea, and the Arabian Sea being built in 600 B.C. were coastal vessels,
mainly used for trading or fishing, and sailed within site of land. The touted
Phoenician voyage around Africa in 600 B.C., was strictly a coastal voyage,
setting into land at night and sailing only in the daytime and only in the
sight of land. The vessels of the Mediterranean, Red Sea and the coastal area
of the Arabian Sea were shallow bottomed hulls, typically rounded, incapable of
deep water sailing.
Archaeologists
have discovered that the Phoenicians used two types of routes for both trade
and voyages of discovery. The first was coastal sailing, where sailors only
sailed during the day, from one village to another, always keeping land in
sight. The second, which archaeologists mislabel as deep water sailing, meaning
off the coast, but in sight of land, were sailors who took routes farther away
from the coastline but kept land in sight. When sailing at night, these sailors
kept their ship in the right direction by observing constellations and the
North Star, or what the ancient world called the "Phoenician Star,” which
is the end star of the handle of the Little Dipper constellation.
However,
despite whatever these sailors might have accomplished at the time of Lehi,
there is no record of anyone sailing away from the sight of land into deep
water, meaning where the waves pounded constantly against the hulls of ships
and literally hammered the wood so severely, hull integrity was often breached,
and where round bottom vessels would roll drastically in high, breaking waves, and could capsize.
Now,
the Lord knowing where he was going to lead Nephi’s vessel into deep water
(what sailors today call blue water), across the oceans, instructed Nephi to
“not work the timbers after the manner which was learned by men, neither did I
build the ship after the manner of men; but I did build it after the manner
which the Lord had shown unto me; wherefore, it was not after the manner of
men” (1 Nephi 18:2).
A stone carving of a 700 B.C.
Assyrian bireme, designed by Phoenician ship builders, who built out of cedar
wood
In
fact, the best information we have about ship building of that period is,
according to Lionel Casson, "The Age of the Supergalleys" in Ships
and Seafaring in Ancient Times, University of Texas Press, 1994, that
“shipbuilders, undoubtedly Phoenician, a seafaring people who lived on the
southern and eastern coasts of the Mediterranean, were the first to create the
two-level galley that would be widely known under its Greek name, biērēs,
or bireme.” Casson claims that even though the Phoenicians were among the most
important naval civilizations in early antiquity, little detailed evidence have
been found concerning the types of ships they used. “The best depictions found
so far have been small, highly stylized images on seals which depict
crescent-shape vessels equipped with one mast and banks of oars.” In addition,
Casson claims that colorful frescoes on the Minoan settlement on Santorini show
more detailed pictures of earlier vessels with ceremonial tents on deck in a
procession. Some of these are rowed, but others are paddled with men
laboriously bent over the railings.
The Phoenician trireme of 600 B.C., with
the first recorded ramming of such ships in 535 B.C. according to Herodotos
Around
600 B.C., the Phoenicians added a third row of oars by the addition of an
outrigger to the hull of a bireme, a projecting construction that allowed for
more room for the projecting oars. These new galleys were called triērēs
("three-fitted") in Greek, and Triremes by the Romans. With up to 170
oars, this was the largest ship to ply the Mediterranean, though it rarely left
the coast, and was vulnerable to storms.
So,
what does it mean “not after the manner of men”? It would seem obvious, that
Nephi’s ship was not made like ships of that day, but completely different. Nephi
did not say what part of the ship, but told us that he “did not work the timbers
after the manner which was learned by men,” which should tell us that even from
the very foundation of the vessel, Nephi built it completely different—that is,
from the wood frame, or from the keel up. He also said, “neither did I build
the ship after the manner of men” (1 Nephi 18:2), which tells us the entire
ship was not built like ships of that day, but completely different.
In
the early days of ship-building, there were only two types of hulls: the flat
bottom and the round bottom. As for the flat bottom, although this hull type is stable
in calm weather it is, because of its flatter bow, a comparatively rougher
ride. It is typically a planing boat that rides on top of rather than through
the water. Even today, due to issues with maneuverability and the roughness of
the ride these hulls are limited to the amount of horse power applied, and
pretty much restricted to use on calm waters, such as small lakes, rivers, etc., as this hull type has always been used solely on calm waters.
The round bottom hull is easier
to maneuver than the flat hull and moves efficiently though the water at low
speeds. These are displacement hulls, which are limited in speed due to the bow
wave they create while pushing though the water, though they are not very
stable in deep water with pounding waves, and are subject to rolling.
It wasn’t until the invention of
the caravel ship in the 14-15th centuries by the Portuguese that a deep
“V” hull was designed for sailing speed and deep-sea durability. These ships
were designed for exploring around the West African coast and into the Atlantic
Ocean, such as to the Azores, Canary, and Cape Verde Islands.
This Caravel ship had four masts, two carrying lateen sails. However,
typically, the Caravel had three masts, with only one lateen
The ships Columbus took to
America in 1492 were his flag ship, the Santa
Maria, which was a nao (a fat and
slow cargo ship), unable to sail near a coast, the Niña and Pinta, which
were caravels and able to sail deep water and explore coastlines. The caravel was
square-rigged (square sail) on its foremasts and mainmasts, but used a lateen
sail on the mizzen (rear) to help in tacking. They carried about twenty crew
members who slept on the deck and would go below only if the weather was bad,
and averaged about 4 knots an hour, with top speed of 8 knots (9.26 mph), and typically
managed only 90 to 100 miles in a day (200 miles a day was phenomenal).
This
deep “V” hull is really a hybrid of the flat and round bottom hulls, with the “V” allowing the ship to cut though the
water to minimize slapping and provide some grip in turns. The angle of the V
is called the dead rise and flattens out toward the stern. This was the design
of the later clippers that set sailing records all over the world before the
coming of the steam engine.
(See the next post, “The Need for Deep Hulls in Ocean Sailing, Part II,”
to see how Nephi designed his ship, and what that design meant to the course he
took to lead him to the Land of Promise)
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