| "So God said to Noah, 'I am going to put an end | | | | the boat has been retrieved), and 2.4 meters (8 |
| to all people, for the earth is filled with violence | | | | feet) wide. It could have crossed the channel, |
| because of them. I am surely going to destroy | | | | carrying supplies, livestock, and passengers, |
| both them and the earth. So make yourself an | | | | propelled likely by at least 18 paddlers. |
| ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat | | | | This would have been a fairly large boat for the |
| it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to | | | | Bronze Age. Compare this to the ark. The ark |
| build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet | | | | was 450 feet long (as much as nine times the |
| wide and 45 feet high. Make a roof for it and | | | | length of the Dover boat) and 75 feet wide |
| finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a | | | | (again, more than nine times wider). That makes |
| door in the side of the ark and make lower, | | | | the square footage of the ark about 85 times |
| middle and upper decks'" (Genesis 6:13-16). | | | | larger! Plus, the Dover boat is just an open row |
| In Genesis chapters 6-9 we read about the global | | | | boat. In contrast the ark is 45 feet (3 decks) high |
| flood and the ark Noah is instructed to build by | | | | - a veritable monster compared to the Dover |
| God in order to save his family (he, his wife, his | | | | boat! |
| three sons, and their wives) and pairs of every | | | | The dimensions of the ark make it actually |
| kind of animal. | | | | resemble - a modern container ship. |
| Many Christians have been scorned, because they | | | | Shaped like a rectangular box with a 6-to-1 (450 |
| believe the account of the ark. How gullible must | | | | feet to 75 feet) dimensional ratio, the ark would |
| one be to believe pairs of animals just "showed | | | | have had excellent stability. The normal |
| up" to march onto the ark? Can you really believe | | | | length-to-width ratio of ancient ships was 10 to 1. |
| a pair of polar bears walked all the way from the | | | | However, Noah used the same proportions as we |
| North Pole to somewhere in the Middle East to | | | | now use in modern ship construction. An |
| board an ark? How about penguins? Or | | | | interesting parallel to the size of the Ark can be |
| kangaroos? | | | | seen in the well-known Titanic. The Titanic was |
| The Bible does not explain to us how this was | | | | 823 feet long by 98 feet wide (a 9-to-1 ratio) |
| accomplished, but if we believe in a God who | | | | with a cargo capacity of 45,000 tons. It's total |
| created our world, it is not too hard to believe | | | | capacity was quite similar to Noah's Ark, though |
| this same God could also make the boarding of | | | | Titanic was somewhat longer and wider. |
| the ark happen. | | | | Taking the ark's dimensions and using "a sheep" |
| The amazing evidence from Noah's account, | | | | as an average animal, Dr. John Whitcomb and Dr. |
| however, is the ark itself. What did it look like? | | | | Henry Morris calculated the ark could have |
| Genesis records specific dimensions as well as | | | | contained as many as 130,500 animals. They |
| detailed instructions on how the ark should be built. | | | | estimate the total number at about 17,600 (3,500 |
| This is not merely a little rowboat. Nor did it look | | | | mammals, 8,600 birds, 5,500 reptiles & |
| like ships of those days. You do not have to be | | | | amphibians). They conclude the ark would be filled |
| an expert on "Bronze Age boat building" to realize | | | | only to perhaps 27% of its available space. |
| that marine vessels in those days were likely | | | | Obviously many disagree with their calculations, |
| quite small, not able to carry large loads or many | | | | but it is beyond dispute that the ark was large, |
| passengers. Likely they were not seaworthy | | | | especially for its time, and its dimensions and |
| enough to cross large bodies of water. In the | | | | ratio's are remarkably consistent with modern day |
| New Testament people must have faced the | | | | shipbuilding. Certainly it displayed a technical |
| same nautical problems encountered by those in | | | | expertise not known in the days of either Noah |
| Noah's day. We read about the challenges they | | | | or Moses. |
| met daily while fishing on the Lake of Galilee, and | | | | Moses lived most of his life in the desert. Likely |
| how Paul was shipwrecked in a great storm. | | | | the only ships he had seen were the small boats |
| In 1992, archaeologists in Dover, England, | | | | that traveled the Nile. How did he know these |
| unearthed remains of a large wooden boat | | | | dimensions? How could a man of the sand |
| thought to be 3,550 years old (which would date | | | | conceive of a container ship? And how could he |
| it near the time of Moses). This boat is called the | | | | know the preferred ratio of length, width, and |
| Dover boat. Its size is estimated at 15-18 meters | | | | height of such a vessel? |
| (50-60 feet) long (only about half to two-thirds of | | | | |