Wednesday, June 18, 2003
Noah's ark
By Henrylito D. Tacio
IT was the book of Genesis, particularly chapters 6-8, which recorded the Universal Flood. But what really intrigued me and caught my attention about this event was Noah's Ark. "Make yourself an ark," the Lord God commanded Noah.
Noah did. And the size of the ark was approximately 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high. It had a deck total of 97,700 square feet. Its total volume was around 1,5000,000 cubic feet and the gross tonnage exceeded some 14,000 tons. It was not until 1884 A.D. that this huge boat was exceeded by modern man (when the Italian vessel, Eturia, was built). The Queen Mary ocean liner had a total length of 1,018 feet, so the ark was nearly half this size.
In his book, The Flood Reconsidered, author Frederick Filby commented: "The Ark was laid down according to the specifications: 300 cubits long by 500 cubits wide by 30 cubits high. The ratios of these numbers are very interesting. They obviously reflect an advanced knowledge of shipbuilding. The Babylonian account, which speaks of the Ark as a cube, betrays complete ignorance. Such a vessel would spin slowly around. But the Bible ratios leave nothing to be desired."
After the flood, whatever happened to Noah's Ark? Where is it now? Does it still exist? If you're an Indiana Jones fan or fancy to be one, then read on.
On the evening of June 1840, a great earthquake shook the highest mountain of the Armenian plains located north of Lake Van in Turkey. The name of this shattered mountain was Aghri Dagh, better known as Mt. Ararat (sounds familiar?). The power released was beyond that of hundreds of atomic bombs. According to reports, the earthquake totally wiped out the village of Ahora and the monastery of St. Jacob.
Since 1840, a number of reports have come to the world's attention concerning the sightings on treeless Mt. Ararat. Even prior to this, there have been many ancient reports about this very thing, which includes the testimonies of Greek historian Herodotus, Jewish historian Josephus, and famous European explorer Marco Polo.
A summary of the eyewitness reports since 1840 proves fascinating reading indeed. Their testimonies bear striking similarities. All agreed that the "ship" is half buried in a partly melted lake. Its altitude is around 13 thousand feet. The inside of the ark is filled with wooden separators (like bars in a cage). The outside and inside are covered with a heavy varnish or lacquer. The wood is extremely hard, almost petrified. The main door is missing.
The witnesses themselves are an interesting lot. Let's start with Haji Yearman (date of Ark sighting, 1865). He was an Armenian who lived at the base of Mt. Ararat. He died in Oakland, California, in 1916.
Another witness was John Joseph, the Archbishop of Babylon and head of the Christian Nestorian Church. He reported his experience at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893. Then, there was Russian airman W. Roskovitsky. The sighting was in 1915 during World War I. Later, in 1917, a Russian expedition numbering 150 men saw it.
Carveth Wells, a popular radio commentator over KFI in Los Angeles, California, reported seeing wood from the ark while at the site in 1933.
During World War II, various airmen (both Russians and Americans) saw the ark, too. Mount Ararat was on a direct flight between the allied base in Tunisia and the Russian base at Brivan. One of the Russians claiming to have seen it was Major Jasper Maskelyn, wartime chief of Camouflage (1941-1945).
Resit, a Kurdish farmer, had his experience published in an Istanbul newspaper on November 13, 1948. On the other hand, Dr. Donald M. Liedman, a Jewish scientist and medical doctor, had given sworn testimony that he was shown actual snapshots of the ark on two occasions while in Hamburg, Germany, by a Russian air force major who had personally taken the pictures during World War II.
In 1953, George Jefferson Greene was on a helicopter research mission for his company. While flying over Mt. Ararat, he spotted a strange object and took a number of pictures from ninety feet. When developed, they showed a large wooden object. Many saw these pictures. Greene was later found murdered. The pictures were never located.
French explorer Bernard Navarra visited Mt. Ararat and later wrote a book on the subject entitled, Noah's Ark, I Touched It. Navarra reportedly cut some wood from an object on Mt. Ararat and subjected it to C-14 testing at two universities.
(June 18, 2003 issue)
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