Did Lehi Land at Apalachicola in Florida? – Part IV

Continuing from the previous post regarding Lehi landing in the Panhandle of Florida at Apalachicola, and a Heartlander’s view of the location and model. As mentioned in the last post, it is God who determines the wind direction and course of the sea currents. He did that when he organized the world, knowing all that had to take place upon it. When it came time to lead Lehi to the Promised Land, it was simply a task of leading Lehi out of Jerusalem, down along the Red Sea, across the desert to a point, all by aid of the Liahona, to where a ship could be built, and a voyage taken on ocean currents and winds he had originally organized for, in part, this very event.

A Phoenician ship that was used by the Pharaoh Necho II (600 BC) for the voyage described by Herodotus. It was from carvings like these that were used to design the Phoenicia replica 2019 ship. It is hard to see how one could lead to the other

 

In the replica sailing of the Phoenician in 2019, the voyage was delayed when they made changes to the boat in Port Sudan. They had planned to stay for just 15 days, but it took two long months to make the changes to the ship that they thought necessary to continue the voyage. Once on the voyage, they had planned to stay just 15 days in Port Sudan, but it took two long months to make the changes to the ship that Philip Beal thought necessary to continue the voyage. First, they rebuilt the aft end to insert a new and much larger thwart (a transverse support spreading the gunwales) to take the rudders. They also wanted to look at putting a small engine that would enable them to be less reliant on tows in and out of harbors.

The crew overcame many challenges and frustrations during their time in Sudan but finally the new rudder housing was securely in place and a 180 HP engine was installed into the ship to serve as an emergency/security back up and also help the crew to maneuver in and out of ports.

Hardly situations that the original expedition of Pharoah Necho II had in 600 BC, or that Lehi took in the ship that Nephi built.

• Comment: “I think it makes sense they landed about the same latitude [Similar climate for seeds] as Jerusalem, which they could tell from the stars.”

Response: First, it may make sense to Heartland theorists, however, the climate of Jerusalem at 31.7º latitude (Mediterranean Climate Csa and Csb) is not considered on the same latitude and on the same plane as Savannah in southeast Georgia at 32.0, even though their latitudes are very close. This is because it is inaccurate to match these climate zones, which is shown in the fact that Jerusalem has a Mediterranean climate which is characterized by hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters and located between about 30° and 45° latitude north and south of the Equator and on the western sides of the continents.

The Heartland model shows the Climate classification as a Cfa, Humid subtropical which is basically the entire south of the U.S.

 

Savannah is on the east side of the continent and is an entirely different, humid, climate, which is classified as humid subtropical (Köppen Cfa)—which extends inland in the lower half (south) of the country all the way to the Texas line. In the Deep South, this is characterized by long and almost tropical summers and short, mild winters. Savannah records few days of freezing temperatures each year (and has rare snowfall). Due to its proximity to the Atlantic coast, Savannah rarely experiences temperatures as extreme as those in Georgia's interior. Nevertheless, the extreme temperatures have officially ranged from 105°F in July down to 3°F during the January Arctic outbreak.

Seasonally, Savannah tends to have hot and humid summers with frequent (but brief) thunderstorms that develop in the warm and tropical air masses, which are common. Although summers in Savannah are frequently sunny, half of Savannah's annual precipitation falls during the months of June through September.

It should be noted that similar climates are not the same as matching climates. We have written many articles about climate and plant growth comparisons between the Mediterranean Climate and the North American Humid climate. Nor do matching latitudes, which to the unknowing, appear to be matching, but have significant differences that would have made such plant growth from impossible to very, very poor. 

Second, Lehi was not following the stars, he was following the Liahona. Besides you cannot follow stars if you are in a vessel “driven forth before the wind”—you would have to go where the currents and winds took you!

• Comment: “Crops grew abundantly. This would be difficult in the jungles or islands.
Response: While crops grow abundantly in Georgia as throughout the south, what is naturally grown there is very different than what is grown in a Mediterranean Climate. The two are simply not compatible in the seed or starter state. Seeds brought from a Mediterranean Climate (Jerusalem) would need another Mediterrnean Climate (Land of Promise) for the seeds to grow “exceedingly and  produce an abundant crop”

• Comment: “It had to be a mostly unoccupied area (not Mesoamerica). Only small groups of hunter/gatherers in Southeastern U.S. at the time.”

Response: It is always amazing how theorists want to include other people in the Land of Promise when Lehi arrived. The scriptural record makes no comment, suggestion, or even a hint that there were other people in the land. Whether there were or not, we have only Mormon’s writing, and others, to go by and not one of them in over 500 pages, provides a reference.

• Comment: “It would make sense that the Lord may have led them to another land such as the area of Apalachicola Florida.”

Note the movement of currents (blue) as they sweep around the Gulf, moving away from Apalachicola and down the western coastline of Florida

 

Response: Apalachicola is situated along the panhandle of northeastern Florida off the East Bay of the Apalachicola Bay. It is separated from the Gulf by St. Vincent and St. George islands on a large extension of land that juts out into the Gulf that moves the currents away from the land at this point, driving a ship “driven forth before the wind” away from a landing at Apalachicola—in fact, several currents move Gulf currents away from this landing site.

Note that the Louisiana peninsula juts out into the Gulf as does the Mississippi River flow past—both of which pushes the current away from the bulge of land at Apalachicola and toward central Florida. In addition, even if a landing could be claimed, it would be on the south end of the land, not the Sea West as Mormon describes.