Shipwrights, Arkwrights…?

Question

I’m curious about Noah’s Ark…
Genesis 6:15 says the Ark's dimensions were at least 135 meters long (300 cubits), 22.5 meters wide (50 cubits), and 13.5 meters high (30 cubits).
That's 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high!
(Working with the 18 inch cubit; nominally the length of a man's arm from fingertips to elbow.)
An example of a more modern seagoing craft would be the 100.4 m (329.5 ft) Wyoming.
This American ship had a tendency to flex in heavy seas, causing the long planks to twist and buckle.
This allowed sea water into the hold, which had to be pumped out.
I’m no ship builder, but I know a wooden hull craft can only be So big before it becomes inherently unseaworthy…
How Did Noah manage a fully laden, and from some accounts, box-shaped craft on the ‘high seas’, I mean, he couldn’t have stayed close to shore, for shelter, there wasn’t any shore…?

In 1977 a pseudo-documentary called "In Search of Noah's ark" was played on numerous television stations. CBS showed a special in 1993 entitled "The Incredible Discovery of Noah's Ark." The first is a work of fiction claiming to be a documentary. The second was masterminded by George Jammal, who has admitted that the story was a hoax. Jammal said he wanted to expose religious frauds. His hoax was seen by about 20 million people, most of whom probably still do not know that Jammal did not want them to take it seriously.
During his show, Jammal produced what he called "sacred wood" from the ark, which he later admitted was wood taken from railroad tracks in Long Beach, California, which he had hardened by cooking in an oven. He also prepared other fake wood by frying a piece of California pine on his kitchen stove in a mix of wine, iodine, sweet-and-sour and teriyaki sauces. He also admitted that he had never been to Turkey.

Answer 1

I was told in an answer to a previous question Noah got the timber from South West Western Australia for its termite and borer resistance properties transported it the the middle east milled and seasoned the timber then constructed the craft with only the help of his four or five sons!! So I guess the problems of yawing in the swells and the planking separating was but a small one for such a genius as Noah.

What a shame the Bible doesn't have any useful information like how he managed to overcome such enormous obstacles!!

Answer 2

I might be a little naive, but...

Okay, so apparently it was something like animals of the land, animals of the air and every creeping thing that creeped (love that bit). Let's assume for a second that capturing all these animals was possible, and that it took a very generous 2 months to do so. Lots of land animals would have been dead by then, but pretty much all of the creepy things that creeped - I mean how long is the life cycle of a housefly, for instance? Then did they have separate sleeping quarters for the boy animals and the girl animals? Because well let's just say rabbits - they only wanted 2 of each kind, right?

So we're assuming an outrageously low mortality rate (ie zero) among the animals which even had a long enough life span to last the initial collection process, let alone the time they were in los ark until the flood waters receded...

And then what about things like turtles and frogs and even fish? So they were just left to do their own thing? What about fresh-water dwellers?

Yeah alright, why do I bother. The answer is God, no matter what.

Answer 3

-That was fun Orac. Next let's debate about exactly how many angels will fit on the head of a pin.
- It seems the bible falls in to one of the following categories; literal fact with God being credited with supernatural powers, A holy book fill with many useful allegories, a book of myths. There are parts of the book that bring this directly to the fore; The Sun standing still in the heaves, the creation of the world in seven days, and of course resurrection of the dead. All extraordinary clams with a lack of evidence.
-Now, you will find that people with ether require evidence in forming a view, or don't, skeptical world view, faith based world view. I'll concede that most people are not 100% one or the other, but please allow me this generalization. It would seem most people use ether reason or faith to answer your question (see above answers).
-That said, and being that I do look for a positive out come to an effort and assume you are as well, what would be the question? What question could one ask that would bring a person of faith to see the advantage in using reason instead as there guide?

Answer 4

Noah built the arc with Gods specifications and direction.
It was made out of gopher wood.
The Ark needed no means of propulsion or steering. There was no particular place that it needed to go. After exposing the land to the incredible Flood waters, it is unlikely that Noah's family could have recognized any landmarks after the Flood. The Ark came to rest where God wanted it to come to rest.
The whole procedure of constructing such a vessel, involving over 100 years of planning and toiling,
For the sake of realism, imagine waiting at a railroad crossing while ten freight trains, each pulling 52 boxcars, move slowly by, one after another. That is how much space was available in the Ark, for its capacity was equivalent to 520 modern railroad stock cars. A barge of such gigantic size, with its thousands of built-in compartments (Gen. 6:14) would have been sufficiently large to carry two of every species of air-breathing animal in the world today (and doubtless the tendency toward taxonomic splitting has produced more “species” than can be justified in terms of Genesis “kinds”) on only half of its available deck space. The remaining space would have been occupied by Noah’s family, five additional representatives of each of the comparatively few kinds of animals acceptable for sacrifice, two each of the kinds that have become extinct since the Flood, and food for them all (Gen. 6:21)

Answer 5

Yep - it would seem to be too big for a wooden ship - however the Chinese did build junks as big.

My question is - "could you get 2 of every species on a ship even that size?"

Answer 6

the whole thing as stated is a logical impossibility anyway:
http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/articles/8619_issue_11_volume_4_number_1__3_12_2003.asp

plus the fact that Noah and the people in his time just didn't have the various ship-building skills you need.

Of course, the godbots will come back solely with the 'God did/protected/built/helped' something something. Anyway, God.

Answer 7

i too am no ship builder but i do think that if you take into account not only the animals but the food and water (salt water is undrinkable) that would be kept on this boat, the wood would easily cave in on itself under the weight.

Answer 8

holy glue and blessed nails, me thinks.

seriously, i've always been fascinated by boats and as a kid figuring out the impossibility of Noah's Ark was one of my first moments of doubt.

Answer 9

Interesting question.
since we dont know how thick the hull was, i suppose untill archiologists dig it up we will never know for sure.

Answer 10

Somethings we''ll just have to ask God when we meet Him.