Friday, December 19, 2008
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Blohm & Voss History
Blohm + Voss
125 Years In The Making
Article by MarineLink.com
Friday, June 07, 2002
More than 125 years ago, on April 5, 1877, two young and ambitious engineers, Hermann Blohm and Ernst Voss joined together to what has since evolved into one of Germany’s most advanced and largest shipyards – Blohm + Voss Schiffswerft und Maschinenfabrik (shipyard and machine factor) on Steinwarder Island, situated on the River Elbe. Originally formed to build steam ships, the company began to develop into one of the largest closed shipyard site and dock capacity by the beginning of the 20th Century. Throughout its developmental stages, Blohm + Voss profited richly from a favorable economic environment, as well. At the time, the industrialization of the united German Reich was occurring, thus causing the need for a large amount of cargo and passenger ships were suddenly needed. And when Germany began to develop into a major European power, warships became in demand at the yard. Opposite Beginnings Hailing from polar opposite backgrounds, Hermann Blohm and Ernst Voss could not have been more different. Blohm was born into an established Lubeck business family, while Voss was the son of a blacksmith in Fockbeck, near Rendsburg. It was however, their mutual interest in shipbuilding and mechanical engineering that brought the two men together. Following sound training and having worked for German and English firms, both had already tried to start a shipyard with other partners – but did not get very far. Instead, the two joined forces in their own shipbuilding venture – which did not come easily. It was with hard work and strong determination that drove both Blohm + Voss to their successes. The Senate of the Hanseatic City Hamburg reluctantly leased the two men a 15,000 sq. m. marshy site on Steinwarder Island on the River Elbe so that the groundwork could be laid for their shipbuilding enterprise. After overcoming an abundance of obstacles, the original shipyard was created – only after the site was dried out via a complicated method. With machines in place and workers hired, the shipyard opened, only to be greeted with zero orders. Shipping firms in Hamburg were wary of the two young engineers, as well as the workers that they employed. It was general knowledge that it was not an easy task (or demand) for those who had knowledge of iron ships, which had not been run in several years. In addition, the Hamburg firms traditionally ventured to their “regulars” (shipyards located in the U.K.) when they wanted something built. Their reasoning was one that involved staying loyal to the yards they had been working with for many years. The firms in Hamburg just were not about to take that kind of risk – trusting two young strangers to build their vessels. Instead of closing down its doors before they could even be open, Herman Blohm took matters into his own hands by playing door-to-door salesman, so to speak, by building its own vessel that would be funded completely by the yard. Since the mechanical engineering arm of the yard was not completed, Blohm + Voss’ premier vessel was a sailing ship known as the barque National, which the yard managed to sell as Flora to a Hamburg shipping company known as Amsnick.
A Steady Pace Once things began to pick up, a dockyard was created in 1882 to serve the growing need for docking capacities in Hamburger Harbor. Known as Dock I, the dock was designed and built by the yard, thus laying the cornerstone for an additional branch of business, which rapidly expanded throughout the next several years. The high point of Navy shipbuilding before the Great War, in which the structures of Europe were permanently damaged, was formed by the battle cruisers, which put Blohm + Voss on the map as a leading shipyard in this sector. Beginning with Von der Tann, which was delivered in 1910 as the Imperial Navy’s answer to the British Navy’s invincible class, the vessel had a displacement of 21,000 tons; its main weapons consisting of eight 28 cm canons. Von der Tann was followed by Motke in 1911; Goeben in 1912; Seydlitz in 1913; and Derffinger in 1914 – all of which held displacement of 31,200 and 30.5-m canons. During World War I, Blohm + Voss found itself making many fundamental changes, which finally led to its commencement of large scale building of submarines at the insistence of the Imperial Navy Office – even though the yard was designed specifically for building large vessels – as reiterated by Hermann Blohm. But, since current events led to the added demand for submarine construction, there was really not much else to do. A production process to fit the needs of this type of construction was then implemented at the yard – permitting a respectable amount of submarine construction of the UB and UC type. Apart from a few scattered torpedo boats, the only conventional floating ship to built at the yard during this era was the small cruiser, Coln that was delivered in 1918. The time between the two World Wars brought much unrest to the yard, as it was a popular target for communists in the period following the armistice, peace negotiations and Treaty of Versailles. Conditions at the yard went from bad to worse as it was affected by inflation and worldwide economic crisis. The yard was now managed by Hermann Blohm’s sons Rudolf and Walther – who joined the firm as shareholders during the war. WWII And Beyond Following the outbreak of WWII in September 1939, Blohm + Voss once again became a yard that was exclusively dedicated to manufacturing submarines. In fact, two submarines built in 1943-1944 with Walter propulsion were the forerunners of a new submarine age – initially leading up to the large electric boats – type XXI, which were leaving the shipyard on a daily basis in greater numbers. Considering the increase of bombing raids from mid 1943, which then became almost daily: Blohm + Voss built 171 units of the Type VII C alone. And even after hundreds of fire and explosive bomb hits, 17 Type XXI boats were still handed over to the navy at the beginning of 1945. It was also at this time that Blohm + Voss was destroyed when almost 1,200 high-explosive bombs struck the yard. Following the handing over of Hamburg to British forces, the yard is cleared out and by December 31, all work was ordered to cease, thus closing the shipyard. The slipway and fame structures of the yard are blown up in 1946, followed by complete dismantling of the shipyard two years later. Every piece of machinery and equipment – including the pots in the works canteen – are distributed among the 15 nations of the victorious allies. In 1949, the directors and owners of Blohm + Voss stand trial for non-compliance with the dismantling regulations. At the same time the other West German yards begin to build new ships in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement. The 1950’s brought about positive change for the shipyard, when in 1953, permission was granted for ship repair and the construction of coasters – eventually extended to seagoing ships and industrial turbines. In 1955, two floating docks were returned to the shipyard and the establishment of Blohm + Voss AG commences with Phoenix-Rheinrohr AG acquiring 50 percent of the share capital of $9.4 million. One year later, Blohm + Voss constructs a trio of passenger vessels for Hurtigrouten Bergen-Kirkenses, thus signifying its re-entry into the export business. The collapse of the adjacent Schlieker Shipyard offered Blohm + Voss opportunities – specifically within navy shipbuilding. The yard was contracted to pick up where Schlieker left off in the construction of tenders for the German navy, resulting in the yard’s designation as the project shipyard for vessels of this type. In 1967, the yard constructed Polar Ecuador for Hamburg Süd, and also introduced the Pioneer multi carrier system – a uniform type ship consisting of almost exclusively of flat, rectangular surfaces. Overall, the company had a large range of products, which expanded further by a large number of other activities both in shipbuilding and mechanical engineering. Evolving into the containership and cargo ship business was the plan in the 1970s with the yard delivering a second-generation containership Sydney Express for Hapag’s Europe-Australia service. In 1971, Blohm + Voss delivered a trio of cargo ships of 164,000 dwt each, followed by another pair of containerships one year later. The German navy also continued to be an important customer for the yard – primarily for repairs and conversions – eventually branching out to the realization of the frigate program. Blohm + Voss delivered two mainly equipped units of Type F 122 to general contractor Bremer Vulkan. In the following series F 123 and F 124, Blohm + Voss was already established as the leading yard in German frigate consortium and went on to build the first ship of each series. Blohm + Voss again proved its technological prowess in the creation of the hovercraft catamaran MEKAT, which was presented to the public in 1989. While numerous civil and military variants were developed, this type of ship did not catch on, and apart from the prototype built for trials and presentations, no other ships of this kind were created. On the other hand, the development of fast single hull ships was promising. The first success for Blohm + Voss in this area was with an order for two fast 24,000 BRZ cruiser ships by a Greek shipping company. This order was also considered yet another innovation on the yard’s part, as it signified its re-entry into the realm that it had so highly occupied before the war – the passenger shipbuilding business. The order was followed by a contract from Royal Olympic Cruise Lines, which called on the yard to build Olympic Voyager, which has had a successful run since 2000, followed by the vessel’s sistership Olympia Explorer, which was launched recently.
125 Years In The Making
Article by MarineLink.com
Friday, June 07, 2002
More than 125 years ago, on April 5, 1877, two young and ambitious engineers, Hermann Blohm and Ernst Voss joined together to what has since evolved into one of Germany’s most advanced and largest shipyards – Blohm + Voss Schiffswerft und Maschinenfabrik (shipyard and machine factor) on Steinwarder Island, situated on the River Elbe. Originally formed to build steam ships, the company began to develop into one of the largest closed shipyard site and dock capacity by the beginning of the 20th Century. Throughout its developmental stages, Blohm + Voss profited richly from a favorable economic environment, as well. At the time, the industrialization of the united German Reich was occurring, thus causing the need for a large amount of cargo and passenger ships were suddenly needed. And when Germany began to develop into a major European power, warships became in demand at the yard. Opposite Beginnings Hailing from polar opposite backgrounds, Hermann Blohm and Ernst Voss could not have been more different. Blohm was born into an established Lubeck business family, while Voss was the son of a blacksmith in Fockbeck, near Rendsburg. It was however, their mutual interest in shipbuilding and mechanical engineering that brought the two men together. Following sound training and having worked for German and English firms, both had already tried to start a shipyard with other partners – but did not get very far. Instead, the two joined forces in their own shipbuilding venture – which did not come easily. It was with hard work and strong determination that drove both Blohm + Voss to their successes. The Senate of the Hanseatic City Hamburg reluctantly leased the two men a 15,000 sq. m. marshy site on Steinwarder Island on the River Elbe so that the groundwork could be laid for their shipbuilding enterprise. After overcoming an abundance of obstacles, the original shipyard was created – only after the site was dried out via a complicated method. With machines in place and workers hired, the shipyard opened, only to be greeted with zero orders. Shipping firms in Hamburg were wary of the two young engineers, as well as the workers that they employed. It was general knowledge that it was not an easy task (or demand) for those who had knowledge of iron ships, which had not been run in several years. In addition, the Hamburg firms traditionally ventured to their “regulars” (shipyards located in the U.K.) when they wanted something built. Their reasoning was one that involved staying loyal to the yards they had been working with for many years. The firms in Hamburg just were not about to take that kind of risk – trusting two young strangers to build their vessels. Instead of closing down its doors before they could even be open, Herman Blohm took matters into his own hands by playing door-to-door salesman, so to speak, by building its own vessel that would be funded completely by the yard. Since the mechanical engineering arm of the yard was not completed, Blohm + Voss’ premier vessel was a sailing ship known as the barque National, which the yard managed to sell as Flora to a Hamburg shipping company known as Amsnick.
A Steady Pace Once things began to pick up, a dockyard was created in 1882 to serve the growing need for docking capacities in Hamburger Harbor. Known as Dock I, the dock was designed and built by the yard, thus laying the cornerstone for an additional branch of business, which rapidly expanded throughout the next several years. The high point of Navy shipbuilding before the Great War, in which the structures of Europe were permanently damaged, was formed by the battle cruisers, which put Blohm + Voss on the map as a leading shipyard in this sector. Beginning with Von der Tann, which was delivered in 1910 as the Imperial Navy’s answer to the British Navy’s invincible class, the vessel had a displacement of 21,000 tons; its main weapons consisting of eight 28 cm canons. Von der Tann was followed by Motke in 1911; Goeben in 1912; Seydlitz in 1913; and Derffinger in 1914 – all of which held displacement of 31,200 and 30.5-m canons. During World War I, Blohm + Voss found itself making many fundamental changes, which finally led to its commencement of large scale building of submarines at the insistence of the Imperial Navy Office – even though the yard was designed specifically for building large vessels – as reiterated by Hermann Blohm. But, since current events led to the added demand for submarine construction, there was really not much else to do. A production process to fit the needs of this type of construction was then implemented at the yard – permitting a respectable amount of submarine construction of the UB and UC type. Apart from a few scattered torpedo boats, the only conventional floating ship to built at the yard during this era was the small cruiser, Coln that was delivered in 1918. The time between the two World Wars brought much unrest to the yard, as it was a popular target for communists in the period following the armistice, peace negotiations and Treaty of Versailles. Conditions at the yard went from bad to worse as it was affected by inflation and worldwide economic crisis. The yard was now managed by Hermann Blohm’s sons Rudolf and Walther – who joined the firm as shareholders during the war. WWII And Beyond Following the outbreak of WWII in September 1939, Blohm + Voss once again became a yard that was exclusively dedicated to manufacturing submarines. In fact, two submarines built in 1943-1944 with Walter propulsion were the forerunners of a new submarine age – initially leading up to the large electric boats – type XXI, which were leaving the shipyard on a daily basis in greater numbers. Considering the increase of bombing raids from mid 1943, which then became almost daily: Blohm + Voss built 171 units of the Type VII C alone. And even after hundreds of fire and explosive bomb hits, 17 Type XXI boats were still handed over to the navy at the beginning of 1945. It was also at this time that Blohm + Voss was destroyed when almost 1,200 high-explosive bombs struck the yard. Following the handing over of Hamburg to British forces, the yard is cleared out and by December 31, all work was ordered to cease, thus closing the shipyard. The slipway and fame structures of the yard are blown up in 1946, followed by complete dismantling of the shipyard two years later. Every piece of machinery and equipment – including the pots in the works canteen – are distributed among the 15 nations of the victorious allies. In 1949, the directors and owners of Blohm + Voss stand trial for non-compliance with the dismantling regulations. At the same time the other West German yards begin to build new ships in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement. The 1950’s brought about positive change for the shipyard, when in 1953, permission was granted for ship repair and the construction of coasters – eventually extended to seagoing ships and industrial turbines. In 1955, two floating docks were returned to the shipyard and the establishment of Blohm + Voss AG commences with Phoenix-Rheinrohr AG acquiring 50 percent of the share capital of $9.4 million. One year later, Blohm + Voss constructs a trio of passenger vessels for Hurtigrouten Bergen-Kirkenses, thus signifying its re-entry into the export business. The collapse of the adjacent Schlieker Shipyard offered Blohm + Voss opportunities – specifically within navy shipbuilding. The yard was contracted to pick up where Schlieker left off in the construction of tenders for the German navy, resulting in the yard’s designation as the project shipyard for vessels of this type. In 1967, the yard constructed Polar Ecuador for Hamburg Süd, and also introduced the Pioneer multi carrier system – a uniform type ship consisting of almost exclusively of flat, rectangular surfaces. Overall, the company had a large range of products, which expanded further by a large number of other activities both in shipbuilding and mechanical engineering. Evolving into the containership and cargo ship business was the plan in the 1970s with the yard delivering a second-generation containership Sydney Express for Hapag’s Europe-Australia service. In 1971, Blohm + Voss delivered a trio of cargo ships of 164,000 dwt each, followed by another pair of containerships one year later. The German navy also continued to be an important customer for the yard – primarily for repairs and conversions – eventually branching out to the realization of the frigate program. Blohm + Voss delivered two mainly equipped units of Type F 122 to general contractor Bremer Vulkan. In the following series F 123 and F 124, Blohm + Voss was already established as the leading yard in German frigate consortium and went on to build the first ship of each series. Blohm + Voss again proved its technological prowess in the creation of the hovercraft catamaran MEKAT, which was presented to the public in 1989. While numerous civil and military variants were developed, this type of ship did not catch on, and apart from the prototype built for trials and presentations, no other ships of this kind were created. On the other hand, the development of fast single hull ships was promising. The first success for Blohm + Voss in this area was with an order for two fast 24,000 BRZ cruiser ships by a Greek shipping company. This order was also considered yet another innovation on the yard’s part, as it signified its re-entry into the realm that it had so highly occupied before the war – the passenger shipbuilding business. The order was followed by a contract from Royal Olympic Cruise Lines, which called on the yard to build Olympic Voyager, which has had a successful run since 2000, followed by the vessel’s sistership Olympia Explorer, which was launched recently.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
NOAH’S VESSEL
NOAH’S VESSEL
NOAH’S VESSEL
24,000 DEADWEIGHT TONS
By Samuel R. Windsor
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. CONTENTS
2. TABLE OF FIGURES
3. INTRODUCTION
4. DEFINITIONS
5. RAW DATA AND ASSUMPTIONS
6. THE FASOLD FORMATION COMPARED TO TRADITION
7. NAVIGATION AND SHIP HANDLING
8. VESSEL ARRANGEMENTS
9. SIGNIFICANCE, CONCLUSIONS AND QUESTIONS
10. IF WISHES WERE HORSES (BEGGARS WOULD RIDE)
11. FOOTNOTES
INTRODUCTION
Throughout the last 4 1/2 millennia, much has been written about Noah’s Ark (Genesis), Nuh’un Gemisi (Turkish), the vessel of Utnapishtim (Assurbanipal’s Epic of Gilgamesh), the vessel of Nu (Egyptian legend), the vessel built by Manu (Vedas of India), etc. Most books attempt to authenticate the various stories by comparison, religious faith, etc.
No one has seriously evaluated Noah’s Ark as a sea going barge. Such an examination is possible using the artifact measured dimensions published in "The Ark of Noah", by David Fasold, Wynwood Press, New York, N.Y., 1988. We are limited to the plan view only. We lack depth dimensions until more sophisticated non-destructive measurements are taken of the Ark formation.
I assumed David’s measurements are accurate. Some were corroborated by myself in June of 19990. Depth assumptions are based upon an ancient hull form used by Thor Heyerdahl for his construction of the "Ra I", "Ra II" and a few vestiges of Egyptian hull forms used later in wooden vessels.
I also assume that currently accepted principles of marine engineering are applicable to the vessel’s environment, i.e., sea water weighed 64 lbs. per cubic foot, etc.
DEFINITIONS
DEADWEIGHT refers to the carrying capacity of a vessel in weight, not volume. DISPLACEMENT refers to the total weight of water displaced by a vessel. Thus, displacement at full load is the total of the deadweight and the empty vessel displacement, SUPERSTRUCTURE consists of the house, masts, etc. built above the main deck of a vessel.
SCANTLINGS refer to the skeletal structure of any part of a vessel. CENTER OF BUOYANCY is the exact center of the "hole in the water" made by a vessel. CENTER OF GRAVITY is the exact center of all of the "weight" of a vessel and its cargo. (These two centers are always in vertical alignment when a vessel is at rest in the water.)
STERN is the back; BOW is the front; PORT is the side on your left when you face forward; STARBOARD is the side on your right when facing forward. MAIN DECK is the top surface of the hull in our case and HULL is the board part of the vessel, as opposed to the superstructure or "house part". A MOON POOL is a vertical hole clear through the vessel (rectangular in the Ark), from the main deck down through the bottom (most commonly found in modern drill rigs). DRAFT is the hull depth below water line. FREEBOARD is the distance between deck and water line. METACENTER is an imaginary point in space, above the center of gravity. It can thought of as a point from which the vessel would swing, were it a pendulum having the same swing period as the vessel has roll period. The distance between metacenter and center of gravity is call GM. This is the dimensional measure of STABILITY or the reliability of the vessel remaining upright.
RAW DATA AND ASSUMPTIONS
Both David Fasold and John Baumgardner independently measured the Ark Formation’s "shape" in plan view. They both used subsurface metal detectors and frequency generators with identical results. A more complete description of their conclusions can be found in Fasold’s book, including commentary on finding nearly 5400 ferromagnetic (iron) readings, in patterned location, throughout the Ark formation.
The largest wooden vessel ever built by modern man was under 350 feet (in the nineteenth century). It was the U.S.S. Wyoming and was a structural failure. Our overall conclusion is inescapable that the Fasold artifact is the remains of a reed raft with some sort of bulkheading or transverse bracing and binding.
Figure 1 is produced from Fasold’s dimensions and sketches. The "Plan View" is a scale drawing of the measurements taken and shown in his work, "The Ark of Noah". The balance of Figure 1 as well as the drawings and calculations in Figure 2 are produced from some elementary assumptions concerning form, floatation and sea keeping requirements. The capacity characteristics, stability, etc. shown in Figures 1 and 2 are simply calculated results using Fasold’s dimensions and the assumed depth and midship section. (There is no intent to say the vessel was actually laden with 24,000 long tons of cargo and crew.)
I calculated the length of the cubit by dividing 300 into the Ark’s measured length, 515.7 feet. The 137.5 foot beam (width) of the vessel then becomes 80 cubits. Because of the builders’ apparent fascination with the number phi, 1.62, the depth is taken as the beam divided by the square of phi or 80/(1.62 x 1.62). Phi is called the golden ratio. It is the number obtained by dividing any straight line into two segments, a and b in length where b/a = (a+b)/b.
Genesis gives the volume of the Ark as 300 by 50 by 30 cubits. Ancient writers did not always use an expression for cubic measurement and appear to have given its volume in terms of the product of three numbers. They either had no way of saying 450,000 cubic cubits, or didn’t choose to do so. (I understand this is still a practice in some languages, today.) Logically, any one or two of the three might be a specific dimension; or perhaps none are. I’ve assumed the 300 cubits to have been a real dimension because the length of 20.625" is within the range of the "cubit" as discussed by scholars over the years.
In any case, a vessel with a length 6 times its width and 10 times it depth, as the translation has it, is appropriate only for modern steel barges; and then only when the cargo is carried below the main deck.
The box-like artistic depiction of the Ark over the centuries has implied the hold was water tight with the cargo stowed below water line. This line of supposition ignores the need for bilge pumps and piping. Further, it is impossible to build a seaworthy, large, slender, thin shelled vessel out of wood. Such configuration requires steel plate and scantlings.
Traditional artists’ paintings ignore the need for a protected work area on the main deck. Such an area is needed for line handling during docking and maneuvering. The Ark had to be handled afloat at the terminus of its trip. Were it allowed to ground before unloading, it might have followed the draining water rushing back to the Caspian sea. If the Ark couldn’t be unloaded while afloat, the unloading process might well be a sudden, capsizing motion as the vessel grounded on a slope it couldn’t accommodate. The master (Noah) would have been concerned about ship wreck! He had to solve some world class maneuvering problems to safely deliver his cargo. He had to successfully locate a beach, maneuver the vessel to it, and moor the vessel to prevent drift. To get his cargo off safely was sufficient miracle to warrant thanksgiving. These aspects of Noah’s experience are passed over as unimportant by artists and authors having little marine experience.
Fasold discovered that the vessel was a shaped, reed raft with a multiple deck superstructure providing rigidity. This boat shape makes plausible both the great size and the general mission of the vessel. ("Raft" comes from the Latin "ratis" or vessel without a keel.) My assumption of bilge radius equaling 25’-9" and of stem and stern profile radii approximating 65’, is conservative. The actual bilge radius may well have been sharper (less) or the stem and stern profile radii greater (or non-circular). These dimensions also roughly reflect the form later Egyptian boat builders employed. They are similar to the form used by reed raft builders in both South America and North Africa.
Although a sharper bilge radius (more rectangular cross section) would increase dead weight by adding volume to the hull, the price paid would be a jerky ride. This discomfort in severe weather isn’t worth the gain in cargo capacity, so I made no attempt to persuade myself or my reader that we should leave tradition and assume unusually sharp bilge radii. Moreover, the presence, size and location of the moon pool indicates EXTREMELY SOPHISTICATED VESSEL DESIGN. The snappy roll of a too full (rectangular) hull form would impose tortuous forces on the structure, the cargo and the passengers. This simply isn’t in keeping with the otherwise clever design of the artifact.
Fasold assumed the raft profile of the Ark was the same at both ends. However, he found large "foundation" stones along the gunnel only at the bow. My own examination of the Ark site in June 1990 supports a configuration that curls the bow stem back and over the fore deck but blunts the stern at a stern log. I have shown this slight modification in the drawings.
The moon pool appears to have transverse bulkheads at both ends. The aft bulkhead of the moon poo1 seems to be triple. Fasold’s metal detector results show three rows on iron "fittings" about 30" apart. This bulkhead appears to be snagged on the large rock. The rock prevents the artifact from sliding downhill with the mud flows that surround it. The moon pool is located 55’ (exactly 32 of our cubits) aft of amidships. This is an extremely significant position and later in this paper, I will discuss it more.
Fossilized log ends appear several places along the gunnels and at the stern. These logs show complete circular sediment layering and they are uniformly round. They also appear only outboard of the gunnel center line, with two exceptions. I believe the two inboard exceptions result from the absence of the superstructure in this area when the vessel became covered with mud. The mud covering the exterior of the Ark found its way inside the hollowed out hull here. Mud imbedment of the log ends permitted their replacement by silt during the rotting process. This area is about 45 yards from the stem, on the port side. This suggests the unloading access hole in the superstructure was not closed after its last use. The lack of inboard log projections elsewhere, either means that there were none or that soil was excluded in the structure during the wood rotting period and these logs had to rot in an air environment.
The Ark’s remains appear to have rotated counter-clockwise, crushing the port side on a large, snagging rock, and come to rest on it. The soil around continues to flow downhill (at 11 degrees) while the formation only pivots slightly about the rock. The total swing of the artifact from the vessel’s original beaching position appears to have been at least 240 degrees. This observation follows from thinking the loading ramp was on the port side, forward. The original beach is two hundred feet higher, and is southwest of the present site.
For the reader interested in examining my value assumptions, they are:
1.
1. The specific weight of the reed bundles is 15 lbs per cubic foot.
2. The specific weight of the wood superstructure members is 50 lbs. per cubic foot.
3. The specific weight of the deck covering (the "gopher wood") is 120 lbs. per cubic foot.
4. The light ship water line is assumed to be 1/2 hull depth (15 cubits or 309"). This is taken from Heyerdahl’s experience with the Ra II and comments he later heard regarding the correct time of year in which to cut the reeds.
5. Because the Ark’s shape is unconventional (relative to modern vessels), the still water bending moment was calculated. (A modern "code allowance" for the still water bending moment was rejected. Unlike modern vessels, the Ark’s shape significantly reduces the actual imposed bending moment.) Bending stresses are induced as the raft spans a wave trough or is supported by a wave crest.
6. Both deck sheer and camber were assumed to be zero. In all probability, the sheer was normal. The ends of the main deck were probably several feet higher than at midships and the edges of the moon pool and the ship centerline was lower than the gunnels, for drainage.
7. The actual deck house plan dimensions are assumed to be 210 cubits (beam times the square of phi or 80 x 1.62 x 1.62) long and 80 cubits wide.
8. The eve height of the superstructure was 32 cubits. This is the volume divided by the deck area or 450,000 cubic cubits divided by 14062.5 square cubits.
9. The depth of the main deck covering is assumed to be equal to the thickness of the transverse frame members used in the structure of the deck house, i.e., 24". (While I measured the fossilized "log ends" to be 30" diameter, they are located in areas of major strength points and I think them "oversized" relative to the superstructure frame members.)
10. The floor loading for the upper decks in the superstructure was 100 lbs. per square foot distributed and a point load of one long ton (2240 Ibs.) at 10’ x 10’ nodes. This strength will support large animals, at rest, such as cattle but will not support the larger species of dinosaur.
11. Grain feed and fresh water reservoirs are assumed distributed on the main deck with hay feed located on upper decks.
The foregoing assumptions result from Noah loading his heaviest cargo at the lowest, possible level. This would be on the main deck of the raft. Bins of grain, tanks of fresh water, vessel handling poles and pikes, windlass equipment and all really large animals must have been evenly distributed over the main deck. Smaller animals, hay, passengers, etc. would have been allowed on upper decks. The reader will notice that the maximum strength of the superstructure decks will not support the maximum deadweight allowed by the flotation of the hull. It is unlikely that Noah launched the Ark with anything like the maximum deadweight, i.e., he had considerable margin in stability.
12. The anchors (the drogue stones) are assumed to have weighed an average of 7 long tons each and their number is assumed to have been 24. While only 12 are accounted for, those found include a flailing stone (used in smaller form by Egyptian river masters) for maneuvering. Certainly, at least two such flailing stones would been carried and some unused anchors could have remained aboard the vessel and still might be buried in it, or buried in the soil above, up at the beaching point.
Steering a vessel involves a feature unfamiliar to most readers. Vessel steering usually is by a rudder at the stern. If a tow line connects to this same point, the tow line determines the orientation of the vessel in wind and current. This vessel must be turned while the anchor is in place. Therefore the anchor line must connect to the midships section and not to the stern. This is the reason the towing bits at the stern of a modern tug have to be retractable under the load. If the towed vessel (anchor) is blown to one side of the tug, the line can be allowed to run along the bulwark forward and permit rudder steerage of the tug. The tug will otherwise not be able to pivot and turn because of the line force off its stern.
Having a line permanently attached to the stern in an adverse wind is called "being in irons". Because of ship handling requirements, anchor handling is assumed to be from the aft end of the moon pool. Maneuvering with anchors from the bow and stern would be nearly impossible because of the tendency to put the vessel in irons. That Noah also understood this is suggested by the fact the aft end of the moon pool is aft of midships, i.e., the center of lateral water resistance is forward of the "drag point" but only a little.
13. Iron in the Ark formation in large quantity, is demonstrated by strong, ferromagnetic readings over about 48" diameter at each aft corner of the moon pool. Anchor handling requires the vessel be fitted with bits, cleats or bollards and windlasses that can be animal powered. Both the sophistication of the Ark remains and the presence of iron in it make this assumption plausible. Ataturk Museum in Ankara displays a dagger believed to have been made between 2900 and 2400 B.C.E. It even has a "CARBONIZED IRON BLADE". The brinell hardness is greater than 400. Yet, we are told that the iron age supposedly didn’t start until circa 1500 B.C.E. It appears that both iron and case hardening processes were available to the builders of the Ark, a thousand years earlier.
14. The rope holes in the, anchor stones were drilled for rope of constant strength per square inch (of cross section). The hole in the end of the smallest anchor we saw is 3 inches in diameter and its centerline curved to a 9-1/2 inch radius. The hole in the end of the largest anchor is 4-1/2 inches in diameter and its centerline curved to a 12 inch radius. The smallest stone weighs about 4 long tons. (A long ton is 2240 lbs. or 35 cubic feet of sea water.) The largest approximate 10 long tons. The working strength the designer expected was about 1400 lbs. per square inch of circular rope cross section.
Today’s requirement of breaking strength (5 times rated load) would mean the rope used in the 3 inch hole (about 2-3/4 inches diameter) would have a breaking strength of 42,000 Ibs. This is well within the capacity of hand wound hemp. The larger curvature of the drilled hole corresponds to the requirement that bending the rope through the eye of the anchor not fray the rope fibers. The holes are through the narrow, thick end of the stones. The other end is relatively broad and thin.F2
15. Implied in my previous remarks is the assumption that construction personnel had previously achieved the skills required for the construction of the vessel we see in the Fasold formation. Also, I have assumed that the builders crewed the vessel as is reported in the Epic of Gilgamesh. The crew must be large enough to maintain the craft during the trials of the flood, during the wait at anchor and during the water runoff/beaching activity. Traditional dependency upon divine intervention for even the most rudimentary ship handling and maintenance activities flies in the face of first hand experience. Divine intervention doesn’t seem to include menial tasks such as line handling, scrubbing down a deck, etc.
THE FASOLD FORMATION COMPARED TO TRADITION
The reader might not be familiar with all of the reasons modern vessels are shaped and equipped as they are. Some of the reasons are found in the limitations of the materials used.
A floating vessel is like a long beam in that it must resist imposed forces while supporting its own weight and that of its cargo. A vessel is subject to bending, both up and down and sideways. It is also subject to twisting (torsion) of one end relative to the other. When a vessel is riding on a single wave amidships, its ends will be over the wave. Such bending is "hogging". When the vessel spans two waves, it bends downward into the trough. This is "sagging". When the bow takes an off center wave to the port bow while the stern is still riding an off center wave to starboard, the ship will twist. This is "wracking". Waves rising suddenly under bow or stern produce "slamming". A vessel pivoting in the plan view about a vertical axis through its center is "yawing". A vessel pivoting about an axis fore and aft is "roIling". "Pitching" occurs when a vessel pivots about a horizontal, transverse axis.
The weight of the vessel and cargo provides "inertia" and some time increment is required to move it, change its direction or change its speed of motion. The time increment is influenced by the shape of the vessel. If the surfaces are square cornered and flat, the time increments during wave application are so short as to be impact or shock. If the shapes are soft and rounded, the time increment extends so that the motion is changed with less force. One consequence will be a more comfortable ride. The important consequence will be survival of the structure . A smooth ride is required if the crew must feed and maintain animals. Neither the animal nor the handler’s digestion is improved if the crew must hang on for dear life in virtually all sea states.
The shape of the vessel is also dictated by its mission. A river raft travels among established dock facilities in protected water. It needs less freeboard than does a sea going vessel. It need not be arranged to facilitate 30 to 60 degree rolls and 15 degree pitches. The sea going vessel must remain upright in sea states never experienced by the river raft. A measure of this stability is the "GM".
Recall that GM is the distance between the center of gravity of the loaded vessel and an imaginary point called the metacenter. The metacenter can be thought of as the point in space from which the ship would swing were it a pendulum having a swing period equal to the actual roll period (or pitch period).F3
For a piece of pipe or round log this point- is in the center and coincides with the center of gravity. This explains why a pipe or log rolls so easily, it "spins" in the water. As the shape assumes more elliptical configuration, this point rises above the center of gravity. Here, it provides a definite preference for floating with the flatter side down and the sharper radiused sides port and starboard.
As the hull shape becomes more rectangular, the metacenter rises so high that even small rolls result in tremendous force righting the vessel. This makes the vessel snappy and imposes the forces that throw dishes off of counters, that pop pump foundations loose, and result in a poor ride and failed structure. Attempts to preserve a stable condition in an active sea, while softening the impact of wave action, account for the considerable variety of modern vessel configurations. The ideal shape differs for each cargo, each environment (wind, wave height expectation, temperature, etc.) and each power source. Artistic representations of Noah’s Ark and insistence that it had to be a box 300 by 50 by 30 cubits contribute to the fact that few scientists and no marine engineers (to my knowledge) have previously expressed interest in pursuing any analysis of the Ark, Noah’s voyage, or any part of that fuzzy sector of history.
A reed raft in the shape of the artifact southeast of Dogubayazit, Turkey, is four times more stable than is the traditional 50 cubit beam. The stability varies with the cube of the beam (80 x 80 x 80)/(50 x 50 x 50) = 4. More significantly, the traditional 50 cubit beam with 30 cubit depth is too slender to permit a superstructure. Yet, the length of the vessel at 300 cubits is so great that the additional depth contribution from a superstructure is required for all materials except steel.
A reed raft in the tear drop shape of the Fasold formation can be handled and maneuvered in adverse currents by skilled dragging of anchors in combination with selecting the wind presentation. This is the reason the ability to pivot the vessel about an anchor line is so important. Without sails, the superstructure can be used as a sail, provided the anchors can be played like the doors of a trawl net and provided the hull form is "racy" with an underwater shape that won’t result in the vessel crabbing sideways in high velocity water flow. The fine stern (long, narrow "back end") of the vessel will act like the skegs of a modern barge (and like feathers on an arrow) and will assist in maintaining the bow forward when wind force exceeds water resistance. However, the traditional "box" will rotate to about 9-1/2 degrees sideways, heel over in an angular wind, roll violently, and possibly capsize. It virtually cannot be handled.
NAVIGATION AND SHIP HANDLING
The majority of the anchor stones are found near the village of Kazan, a few miles northwest of Dogubayazit. One anchor stone is in Ankara. This stone in Ankara is traditionally thought to have been imported from Egypt. More probably, it was used on the original Ark and was later imported from Eastern Anatolia.
The flailing anchor we looked at in Kazan differs from the other stones in that the hole is located about 1/3 down from the top. It is shaped like one wing of a butterfly. It is used by banding the line around the stone, full girth. The tail is tied through the hole to prevent slipping and brought around and tied off to the drag line. This forms a bridle. If the stone lies such that the bridle part to the hole side is shorter than the drag line part, the stone will drift to one side when the wind blows the vessel.
The vessel is then drifted downwind while paying out the flailing anchor until it hits bottom. A heavy anchor is dropped straight down after the vessel comes down wind of the grounded flailing anchor. The flailing anchor line is hauled in, and the anchor is retrieved. The heavy anchor is weighed or cast off and the process repeated. This will bring the flailing anchor again to an angle behind the vessel. Lifting or cutting loose the heavier anchor line lets the vessel swing on the flailing anchor line, downwind. This is the means by which the vessel may be worked crosswind.
The village of Kazan lies just north of an enormous upthrust of rock that appears to have been a temporary shelter for an anchored raft. The rock "island" would have permitted tying up while waiting for a landing beach to appear. Further, it would have provided sea water level perception to a master in waters that were totally unfamiliar.
When Noah observed that the mountains appeared after several months, he probably was saying that they had been obscured by fog, clouds, and volcanic dust in the air. (The enormous body of water was still warm from residual heat before the flood. This water would be covered day and night with heavy fog due to cold air above it. The cold air also would be full of volcanic dust resulting from the volcanic activity prevalent on a hemisphere wide basis, including Mount Ararat and Little Ararat.) This late appearance of the mountains is traditionally assigned to mean that the mountains emerged from the water.
However, such a meaning isn’t required by the literature. It is presumed only by those failing to note the catastrophic effect on the Earth’s crust of the total flood event including the fact that residual heat in the flood waters had to be given up to cooler air above them.
Two miles to the west of Kazan lies a chip of rock that appears to be made of evenly laminated material and is ridged in 1-1/2" concave troughs on both large surfaces. The troughs appear in the pattern of bundled reeds, but have been weathered severely. The chip is about 16" thick, four feet wide and eight feet long. If it is from the deck covering of the reed raft, the Ark, it was broken loose about the time the vessel began its final voyage to the beach site several miles to the east. Material such as this was smeared on the Ark deck for water runoff and to protect the reed mat from animal urine. A reed mat that might well have been in the first stages of disintegration. This would help motivate Noah to find a berth soon, using the winds and anchors to navigate. (I think it likely that the outflow rate was increasing so rapidly that he didn’t need other "motivation".)
The lie of the land, location of the Ark site and the anchor stones suggest that Noah had a few, really bad moments between his last anchor site at Kazan and when he beached the vessel. Some of the choices may not have been his. The Ark site is located in the last protected "cul de sac" in Turkey before the outlet to the next lower valley eastward into present day Iran. (See figure 4, the Ark Site Sketch.) Noah elected to cast off from his protected anchor site when a major water dam broke 150 miles to his east. He then had no choice but to go with the flow. He had to use the first beach he found, ideal or not. Noah’s problem was to find one and tie up to it before the outflowing water became a torrent, impossible to navigate.
This is the stuff for an adventure movie. A strong water current draining the lake and the accompanying severe wind may be why Noah elected to weigh anchor! His depth soundings would have informed him at his anchor site that the lake bed was level. Had he been lucky, the outflow would have been gradual enough to allow him to ground the Ark "straight down" (in the manner assumed by most non-marine students). However, his beaching at the last possible site before a down hill run suggests much anxiety aboard the Ark in the last few miles of her voyage.
He made the turn into the cul de sac with very little margin for error. That he was saved from rocketing down into the next lower valley, probably is a miracle on par with the one that sustained him while being swept inland and upward by tidal forces in the first place. The record states that a "great wind" passed over the Earth and the waters receded, in this case downward into the Caspian Sea. The usual reading of this text confuses cause and effect. A violent river breach occurred to the east through a ridge of mountains that formed a dam. The trapped, inland sea, began to empty. It Would contribute to an accompanying "great wind" from the northwest.
VESSEL ARRANGEMENTS
The boat shaped formation I examined and Fasold measured appears to have had sea keeping features appropriate to both its mission and to materials in use for vessels at the time in which it was built. These are not the result of a "natural formation". There is an old "saw" in the field of statistical probability suggesting that if components of a modern battleship were all thrown into a large, erratically sloshing tub of sea water, there is a minute probability that they would assemble themselves into a working weapon of war. That probability, however, is "very low" and is never seriously considered when a battleship is cited! Similarly, consider the probability that nature might provide a "dirt, iron and rock" formation with all of the following properties:
1. It is a ship shaped form, in three dimensions, with circular sedimented "log ends" at points of high stress. It is particularly difficult for sediment layers to lie in full, 360 degree circles, like liners in a pipe when they do not result from the decay and rot of the circular layers of a wooden tree trunk.. It is generally true that a rock which looks in cross section like a tree trunk WAS a tree trunk before rot and sediment transformed it to rock.
2. It has a moon pool of just the right size and shape to control hogging and sagging by reducing forward buoyancy without sacrificing stability;
3. The moon pool provides overboard drainage without compromising deck flooding and provides "forced venting";
4. The moon pool is wide enough to provide protected anchor handling;
5. The moon pool is located far enough back to permit dragging a sea anchor and flailing anchor with the bow held forward. Yet it is far enough forward to allow the vessel to turn without putting the vessel in irons.
6. The moon pool is positioned to retard forward motion caused by wind, without reversing the orientation of the vessel;
7. There are incrementally located iron nodules in about 5400 places showing lineal patterns corresponding both in regularity and position to transverse and longitudinal members or scantlings of a "shaped" hull;
8. There are repeated relationships among dimensions of the ratio phi (one dimension divided by another being 1.62, 1.62 squared or cubed, etc.) This is a number that was also fascinating to the builders of the great pyramid of Giza, an unlikely coincidence;
9. It has a configuration possible only with the construction materials in vogue at the time the vessel was reputedly built, reeds. Such a configuration wasn’t again possible until steel was used in the late 1800’s C.E.
10. There are flat foundation stones in regular formation precisely located where they would be needed to support compression columns required in bow stem tension masting;
11. The anchors found are sized and located appropriate to the vessel size and mission and they were left in the valley floor upstream of the beaching site;
12. The gentle grade of the beach site is the only such site at its elevation east of the anchor stones’ location which would accommodate a large raft where it could be successfully off loaded. All other such large, "beach like" landing sites are at lake bottom elevations. Finally, this site is the last available beach west of the downhill slope into Iran. Without the flood depth, the raft could not go downhill. (The water movement onto the land was at a very much higher flow rate than the water recession. The terrain on the way in, however, didn’t present the same obstacles to the vessel as it did on the way out. The trapping of the water in high, intermountain basins forced the Ark to beach in the highest, or run "rapids" down into each successive lake. The first such run would probably have destroyed the Ark.)
13. The drilled holes in the anchor stones conform to the use of wound rope line. The ratio of drilled hole dimensions to stone weight indicates design to known and consistent strength of both rope and stone. The holes are appropriately sized for hand wound hemp rope.
14. The technique used to drill the holes in the stones is evidenced only in ancient artifacts, and was achieved by a process unknown even to this day.
15. The site location corresponds to ancient folklore and literary descriptions of the flood event;
16. The site location is within 1/2 mile of the longitude and latitude given in triangulation coordinates by Berossus relative to the tomb of Darius near Persopolis. Careful reading of Fasold’s discussion on this point is advised. Fasold calculated the location of the Ark site navigationally, using the ancient methods before he ever visited it for observation and research.
SIGNIFICANCE, CONCLUSIONS AND QUESTIONS
I find these data very convincing that this isn’t a natural formation. I further, have seen nothing convincing me this formation was a land side building. Nor do I have any reason to think a later vessel was built on site to sail in some prehistoric lake. The reasonable question isn’t "is this all that remains of a vessel?" The reasonable questions are:
Was this the vessel built by Noah, and if not, who did build it?
Was this vessel built locally, at 6300 feet elevation, at time when this area was a mighty lake? There is absolutely no evidence for such a supposition.
Where did the iron come from if the Hittites were the inventors of the iron smelter? (The Hittites, who lived here at a later date, might well have found the iron from the Ark. Using the coal available in the mountains around, they learned how to smelt the iron. The iron dagger in Ataturk Museum supports iron smelting pre-dating the Hittites.) If the presence of iron in the formation is just coincidentally in the land inhabited by them, wouldn’t a skeptic be justified in questioning such "chance"? Other cultures were more advanced in all of the required resources, except one. The others didn’t have an artifact with old iron fittings in it, that illustrated to them both material and application.
Where were these anchor stones quarried? Does the quarry still exist (or has it been submerged ever since)? What celestial forces were operating, creating tides on the Indian Ocean that were powerful enough to wash the Ark inland and upward?
The mountains had to have been upthrust even while the water brought the Ark inland, and upland so as to trap the vessel. This offers an explanation of why her master was forced to wait until valley outflow exposed some beach. Were the mountains lifted into place by the same extra-terrestrial force (a flyby planet) that washed the vessel inland? Continents may drift, but is their drifting responsible for the formation of mountain ranges? (Suggested reading on this subject are several of the writings by Donald Wesley Patten).F4
Is it a coincidence that Mt. Ararat belongs to the same lineal pattern as the highest mountains on Earth, the Himalayas? Does this not suggest that the enormous flood depositing the Ark in Eastern Anatolia (Turkey) resulted from the same extreme celestial event that formed those mountains? (See Patten and Windsor’s, "A Catastrophic Theory for Mountain Uplifts".)
Because the Ark was constructed with such a single special purpose in mind, was the flood event predictable? The Epic of Gilgamesh says it happened "when the fixed time arrived". Our several major religions claim its coming to have been the subject of divine communication with Noah. However, engineering concepts must relate to the existence of the artifact along lines of mechanism because it is a real object and its presence must be explained in engineering terminology.
Assuming predictability, was the flood simply a worst case version of a previous catastrophic occurrence? The records indicate that less severe, yet major catastrophes occurred on anniversary dates. (This periodicity included several "Passovers".)
Was this repetition periodic because its cause relates to planetary motion and regular orbit? Can that account for the ancients’ preoccupation with the doings of the various planets? We could certainly never convince all peoples on Earth, today, to fear "the stars
Does such repeated flooding experiences account for the strata we find on all continents, little of which is found in the ocean floors?
Does such repeated flooding experiences account for the ancients’ preoccupation with building things out of massively large stones and arranging them so that except for Britain’s henges, they won’t topple in high velocity currents?
Can this particular flood explain the formation of crustacean borings on the sides of the great pyramid in Giza.
Can the extreme cold Noah experienced the year after the flood relate to extra-terrestrial sourced ices and gases streaming in at the magnetic poles and freezing giant mammoths from the inside out, in their tracks, as they munched happily on their buttercups near what is now the North Pole?
Does the presence of this one nautical artifact bear witness to the accuracy of ancient literature describing the periodic orbital interference with Earth by the planet Mars? Mars’ orbital interference with Earth is a possibility raised for Earth by Gerald Sussman some 300,000,000 years into the future.F5 Sussman hasn’t addressed ancient descriptions of the orbital interference he postulates for the future. His interference’s have already been experienced and described, if one is to take the ancient literature seriously. An example on nearly everyone’s book shelf is the change of Earth’s axis tilt to the solar plane noted by Isaiah; 38:8.F6 These same scriptures connect electrical effects to the disastrous end of Assyrian military aspirations by fire from heaven. (A similar fate was experienced by the Greeks at Troy, earlier.)
If one doesn’t take the literature seriously, we have no rational explanation for the pre-telescope knowledge of Mars’ two satellites ("Gulliver’s Travels" by Jonathan Swift and Hesiod’s, "The Shield of Herakles"). Neither can we explain why ancient people couldn’t count, judging from the fact that all calendars before 701 B.C.E. employed a 360 day year (Rome’s 10, 36 day months, the Mayan 72, 5 day weeks, the Chinese 24, 15 day periods, Judah’s 12, 30 day months, the 360 degree circle ... etc.)F7
IF WISHES WERE HORSES (BEGGARS WOULD RIDE)
One would hope that the Turkish government finds the funds and interest to move the "chip" and anchor stones either to a museum or to the Ark site where they can be protected. The local people use the anchor stones for walls of small buildings (such as an outhouse) at the present. Protection of the exposed Ark artifact may be a futile hope, technologically. However, the Turkish government has built an observation building above the site to encourage viewing before the formation further disintegrates.
I would also encourage a project of flying over the site by helicopter with infrared photography. Pictures should be taken in three passes per hour during the night between the end of one hot day and the beginning of the next. One pass of each set should be directly above the center line, fore and aft and the other two down each side, with the camera at an angle to the formation. The differing heat capacities of the material in the artifact might then portray its skeletal structure.
The light (and "heat") such scientific investigation would produce might illuminate subjects like the source of Earth’s geo-magnetism, and the reason for the rapid decay of the geo-magnetic field. It might allow discovery of the reason for the cooling of the Earth and an explanation for the lack of ancient storm activity. Reports of oxygen ratios as high as 36% in ancient atmospheres (found in amber) and lush forestation in "pre-historic" times preclude lightning as we know it today. Such an atmosphere would never have rain, but would instead condense moisture out of air at night; pretty much as is described in the ancient records for the antediluvian environment, an ancient greenhouse atmosphere.
The reason the ancient people were convinced that the Earth rode on the head of a bull and that earthquakes resulted from his shaking his head is an equal mystery. Perhaps they viewed Mars with electron flux tubes curving up to Earth’s magnetic north pole and down to Earth’s magnetic south pole ala’ Io/Jupiter. (One half of this circuit would appear to be the "Sword of the Lord", or the "Scimitar of Apollo Shootafar".)
Perhaps the reason for most modern earthquake activity can be learned. Is it that the continents are still reverberating and adjusting from planet wars with Mars? The system, fortunately came unglued around 701 B.C.E.
Were the astrological signs named 60 degrees ahead and over 4000 years before the constellations defining them arrived at the points where they correctly relate to Earth’s spring equinox? Could orbital precession have reversed periodically so that there was no net change in the fixed stars’ positions for over 4000 years?
Such informational light might be quite blinding! It might even result in the correction of the "dating" systems that produce such bizarre conclusions as 70 million year old Etruscan sandal prints, fossilized woven cloth in Precambrian granite and 18’ tall animals freezing from falling into water that became ice. Such freezing requires a freeze rate of temperatures below -300 degrees Fahrenheit! It takes -40 degrees F to freeze a 4" thick salmon fast enough to prevent deterioration of the "gut". Scientists and Eskimos have dined in our generation on mammoth meat quick frozen millennia ago in the Arctic. These animals were feet not inches thick.
The lack of public interest in the Ark site may not be "all bad". Religious "Ark hunters" have used dynamite trying to find 5000 year old wood! Exploration of the site should be by helicopter or airplane, using sophisticated, non-destructive examination methods. This author hopes that electronic exploration can be just as satisfying as climbing around on the Ark formation. It still would provide an enjoyable trip to a beautiful country and it would open to pilgrims the reality of our heritage.
Various organizations and foundations have an apparent interest in "the Ark of Noah". However, they have an established opinion concerning the vessel or its location that is too inflexible (must be on Mt. Ararat) to allow consideration of actual evidence when that evidence suggests error in their pre-suppositions. Even finding the ship’s builder’s plaque in pre-Chaldean script wouldn’t be convincing to such investigators. The possible salvation of the Ark formation and the anchor stones falls to those who are not locked into any of the various dogmas that substitute faith and guru worship for evidentiary truth and logic.
Recent studies of the planet Mercury proves the bankrupt nature of the geo-dynamo theory. (Mercury has a solid core, not a liquid one.) The Sun is the generator of Mercury’s electro-magnetic field. Jupiter’s satellites, including Io are the generator of Jupiter’s field, Triton of Neptune’s and Uranus’ satellites of at least half of Uranus’ field (the remainder being residual). Mars is the author of 97% of Earth’s residual field. (And, we are losing it. Earth’s field strength is declining by 4-1/2% per century.)
Sussman’s studies in chaos mathematics applied to the inner four planetary orbits shows them to be unstable. One of the "strange attractor" or probable. configurations is an elongated Mars’ orbit and/or an elongated orbit for one of the asteroids. NASA’s Magellan is sending us pictures of sharp features, mountains and canyons on Venus that should have been worn away ``millions’’ of years ago under the Venusian heavy, corrosive, eroding atmosphere. Surely, this would be the case were it not for Mars’ ancient 66,000,000 mile perihelion being so "recent". Mars ancient orbit brought it inside Venus’ orbit and caused some of the same features on Venus as on Earth. It was probably Venus that influenced the break up of the resonant system in 701 B.C.E., resulting in the rounding out of the orbit of Mars.
Detractors can sputter and protest but the cat is out of the bag. Pandora’s box is opening and the escaping spirits taking flight this time are shafts of truth. Truths are emerging, long suppressed on the altar of self aggrandizement and emotional need for scholarly conformity.
David Fasold espouses the correct Ark site. His conclusions are founded on evidence and logic. His detractors support their opinion by "other opinion" and lack the support of either evidence or logic. Donald Wesley Patten has the correct mechanism for flooding the Earth and raising mountains. His detractors are very selective in their considered evidence. Patten’s detractors favor a bankrupt cosmology that is demonstrably wrong. The several versions of the Nebular Hypothesis are, after all, absolutely without supporting evidence. Any theory espousing the formation of the several planets where we find them today, has one primary obstacle to acceptance. It must reject actual evidence and fundamental engineering principle. A second, lesser millstone is that such a theory must coexist with written record in literature identifying the theory as hogwash.
This author is having a great time watching a naked establishment marching off into a sea of absurdity. Their bankrupt uniformitarian conviction is being pummeled by every revelation of the NASA probes, by the polar explorations celestial geographer, Donald Wesley Patten, and by one Mr. David Fasold, ship salver.
FOOTNOTES
#
# F1 I have learned that John Baumgardner claims to no longer believe this artifact to be Noah’s Ark. His measurements of geometry, discovery of the presence of iron and manganese, etc. preclude the formation being a natural formation. I don’t know if he believes the artifact to be a newer ship sailed to this elevation or a "monastery" of marine shape and characteristics.
F2 Drilled, curved holes in stone also are found in the plumbing systems in South and Central American structures. There they drilled curved holes in large stones, and then fit the stones together so perfectly that leakage was insignificant. To my knowledge, we have no idea how the ancients drilled such curved holes. The uplifting of mountains after stone edifices were built in the Andes is the logical explanation for how 1000 ton stones were moved among, what are today, mountain tops. The Earth existed before its inclusion in our Solar system. This is the logical explanation for how Earth captured a Moon that cannot be captured in Earth’s present Solar orbit. We know Moon and Earth didn’t form simultaneously, as planet and satellite, because the Moon is made of different stuff than is Earth. The "mountains of Urartu" were raised up by the same tidal forces imposed by Mars that trapped a raft at 6700 feet elevation. This is the only rational explanation for finding the remains of a vessel southeast of Dogubayazit, Turkey today. (It is now at 6300 feet.) Our halls of learning seem to have equal difficulty with all such rather obvious observations. The problem isn’t the logic involved. The problem is that the conclusion violates prejudiced opinion. Learned response to such violation is nearly always a proclamation that the evidence does not exist. For some obscure reason, this response seems to be effective among the credentialed members of the establishment while singularly ineffective among "laity".
F3 Practically, the metacenter can be approximated graphically as follows: (See Figure 3.)
1.
1. Draw a cross section of the vessel at midships on transparent paper
1. Draw a vertical line up and down through the centerline of the ship’s cross section
1. Draw the water-line across the hull
1. Trace this image on another piece of paper and slip the tracing beneath the first picture
1. Rotate one picture about 10 degrees with the pivot point at the intersection of the water-line and the vertical centerline
1. Now is the hard part - trace the first water-line on the second (rotated) copy
Locate the center of the new underwater section. This is done by making yet a third tracing of only the new underwater area, then cutting it out and hanging it from a pin located at two different places. At each pin placement hang a weighted string from the pin and draw a line marking where the string hangs across on the paper. The two lines will intersect at the center of the area. (Unfortunately, for checking the Ark with its moon pool, the graphic method described only works where there is no moon pool.) Place this paper "cut-out" under the sketch and draw the center of the new section on the sketch. Finally, draw a line perpendicular to the (rotated) water surface, down through the located center of the new underwater area and extend it up to intersect the original vertical centerline.
#
# F4 "Catastrophism and the Old Testament" (The Mars-Earth Conflicts) by Donald Wesley Patten, Pacific Meridian Publishing Company, Seattle, Washington, 1988.
F5 "Gravity’s Revenge" by David H. Freedman, Discover Magazine, May 1990
F6 "Watch the shadow cast by the Sun on the stairway of Ahaz: I will bring backwards ten steps the shadow which has gone down on the stairway down which it had gone:" Isaiah 38:8 This verse identifies not only that the latitude of Jerusalem changed while Hezekiah and Isaiah watched; it also had changed earlier within the memory of their culture! This speaks strongly of the periodic nature of the celestial goings-on that is found so prevalent throughout the Bible, Homer’s Iliad, Gilgamesh’s Epic voyage, etc. If our predecessors thought their descendants would live in such a celestially peaceful state that their catastrophic histories wouldn’t be believed, they might have left even better records.
F7 "Response to Critique by Leroy Ellenberger" by Donald Wesley Patten, Page 77, C & AH Volume XII, Part 1, January 1990.
NOAH’S VESSEL
24,000 DEADWEIGHT TONS
By Samuel R. Windsor
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. CONTENTS
2. TABLE OF FIGURES
3. INTRODUCTION
4. DEFINITIONS
5. RAW DATA AND ASSUMPTIONS
6. THE FASOLD FORMATION COMPARED TO TRADITION
7. NAVIGATION AND SHIP HANDLING
8. VESSEL ARRANGEMENTS
9. SIGNIFICANCE, CONCLUSIONS AND QUESTIONS
10. IF WISHES WERE HORSES (BEGGARS WOULD RIDE)
11. FOOTNOTES
INTRODUCTION
Throughout the last 4 1/2 millennia, much has been written about Noah’s Ark (Genesis), Nuh’un Gemisi (Turkish), the vessel of Utnapishtim (Assurbanipal’s Epic of Gilgamesh), the vessel of Nu (Egyptian legend), the vessel built by Manu (Vedas of India), etc. Most books attempt to authenticate the various stories by comparison, religious faith, etc.
No one has seriously evaluated Noah’s Ark as a sea going barge. Such an examination is possible using the artifact measured dimensions published in "The Ark of Noah", by David Fasold, Wynwood Press, New York, N.Y., 1988. We are limited to the plan view only. We lack depth dimensions until more sophisticated non-destructive measurements are taken of the Ark formation.
I assumed David’s measurements are accurate. Some were corroborated by myself in June of 19990. Depth assumptions are based upon an ancient hull form used by Thor Heyerdahl for his construction of the "Ra I", "Ra II" and a few vestiges of Egyptian hull forms used later in wooden vessels.
I also assume that currently accepted principles of marine engineering are applicable to the vessel’s environment, i.e., sea water weighed 64 lbs. per cubic foot, etc.
DEFINITIONS
DEADWEIGHT refers to the carrying capacity of a vessel in weight, not volume. DISPLACEMENT refers to the total weight of water displaced by a vessel. Thus, displacement at full load is the total of the deadweight and the empty vessel displacement, SUPERSTRUCTURE consists of the house, masts, etc. built above the main deck of a vessel.
SCANTLINGS refer to the skeletal structure of any part of a vessel. CENTER OF BUOYANCY is the exact center of the "hole in the water" made by a vessel. CENTER OF GRAVITY is the exact center of all of the "weight" of a vessel and its cargo. (These two centers are always in vertical alignment when a vessel is at rest in the water.)
STERN is the back; BOW is the front; PORT is the side on your left when you face forward; STARBOARD is the side on your right when facing forward. MAIN DECK is the top surface of the hull in our case and HULL is the board part of the vessel, as opposed to the superstructure or "house part". A MOON POOL is a vertical hole clear through the vessel (rectangular in the Ark), from the main deck down through the bottom (most commonly found in modern drill rigs). DRAFT is the hull depth below water line. FREEBOARD is the distance between deck and water line. METACENTER is an imaginary point in space, above the center of gravity. It can thought of as a point from which the vessel would swing, were it a pendulum having the same swing period as the vessel has roll period. The distance between metacenter and center of gravity is call GM. This is the dimensional measure of STABILITY or the reliability of the vessel remaining upright.
RAW DATA AND ASSUMPTIONS
Both David Fasold and John Baumgardner independently measured the Ark Formation’s "shape" in plan view. They both used subsurface metal detectors and frequency generators with identical results. A more complete description of their conclusions can be found in Fasold’s book, including commentary on finding nearly 5400 ferromagnetic (iron) readings, in patterned location, throughout the Ark formation.
The largest wooden vessel ever built by modern man was under 350 feet (in the nineteenth century). It was the U.S.S. Wyoming and was a structural failure. Our overall conclusion is inescapable that the Fasold artifact is the remains of a reed raft with some sort of bulkheading or transverse bracing and binding.
Figure 1 is produced from Fasold’s dimensions and sketches. The "Plan View" is a scale drawing of the measurements taken and shown in his work, "The Ark of Noah". The balance of Figure 1 as well as the drawings and calculations in Figure 2 are produced from some elementary assumptions concerning form, floatation and sea keeping requirements. The capacity characteristics, stability, etc. shown in Figures 1 and 2 are simply calculated results using Fasold’s dimensions and the assumed depth and midship section. (There is no intent to say the vessel was actually laden with 24,000 long tons of cargo and crew.)
I calculated the length of the cubit by dividing 300 into the Ark’s measured length, 515.7 feet. The 137.5 foot beam (width) of the vessel then becomes 80 cubits. Because of the builders’ apparent fascination with the number phi, 1.62, the depth is taken as the beam divided by the square of phi or 80/(1.62 x 1.62). Phi is called the golden ratio. It is the number obtained by dividing any straight line into two segments, a and b in length where b/a = (a+b)/b.
Genesis gives the volume of the Ark as 300 by 50 by 30 cubits. Ancient writers did not always use an expression for cubic measurement and appear to have given its volume in terms of the product of three numbers. They either had no way of saying 450,000 cubic cubits, or didn’t choose to do so. (I understand this is still a practice in some languages, today.) Logically, any one or two of the three might be a specific dimension; or perhaps none are. I’ve assumed the 300 cubits to have been a real dimension because the length of 20.625" is within the range of the "cubit" as discussed by scholars over the years.
In any case, a vessel with a length 6 times its width and 10 times it depth, as the translation has it, is appropriate only for modern steel barges; and then only when the cargo is carried below the main deck.
The box-like artistic depiction of the Ark over the centuries has implied the hold was water tight with the cargo stowed below water line. This line of supposition ignores the need for bilge pumps and piping. Further, it is impossible to build a seaworthy, large, slender, thin shelled vessel out of wood. Such configuration requires steel plate and scantlings.
Traditional artists’ paintings ignore the need for a protected work area on the main deck. Such an area is needed for line handling during docking and maneuvering. The Ark had to be handled afloat at the terminus of its trip. Were it allowed to ground before unloading, it might have followed the draining water rushing back to the Caspian sea. If the Ark couldn’t be unloaded while afloat, the unloading process might well be a sudden, capsizing motion as the vessel grounded on a slope it couldn’t accommodate. The master (Noah) would have been concerned about ship wreck! He had to solve some world class maneuvering problems to safely deliver his cargo. He had to successfully locate a beach, maneuver the vessel to it, and moor the vessel to prevent drift. To get his cargo off safely was sufficient miracle to warrant thanksgiving. These aspects of Noah’s experience are passed over as unimportant by artists and authors having little marine experience.
Fasold discovered that the vessel was a shaped, reed raft with a multiple deck superstructure providing rigidity. This boat shape makes plausible both the great size and the general mission of the vessel. ("Raft" comes from the Latin "ratis" or vessel without a keel.) My assumption of bilge radius equaling 25’-9" and of stem and stern profile radii approximating 65’, is conservative. The actual bilge radius may well have been sharper (less) or the stem and stern profile radii greater (or non-circular). These dimensions also roughly reflect the form later Egyptian boat builders employed. They are similar to the form used by reed raft builders in both South America and North Africa.
Although a sharper bilge radius (more rectangular cross section) would increase dead weight by adding volume to the hull, the price paid would be a jerky ride. This discomfort in severe weather isn’t worth the gain in cargo capacity, so I made no attempt to persuade myself or my reader that we should leave tradition and assume unusually sharp bilge radii. Moreover, the presence, size and location of the moon pool indicates EXTREMELY SOPHISTICATED VESSEL DESIGN. The snappy roll of a too full (rectangular) hull form would impose tortuous forces on the structure, the cargo and the passengers. This simply isn’t in keeping with the otherwise clever design of the artifact.
Fasold assumed the raft profile of the Ark was the same at both ends. However, he found large "foundation" stones along the gunnel only at the bow. My own examination of the Ark site in June 1990 supports a configuration that curls the bow stem back and over the fore deck but blunts the stern at a stern log. I have shown this slight modification in the drawings.
The moon pool appears to have transverse bulkheads at both ends. The aft bulkhead of the moon poo1 seems to be triple. Fasold’s metal detector results show three rows on iron "fittings" about 30" apart. This bulkhead appears to be snagged on the large rock. The rock prevents the artifact from sliding downhill with the mud flows that surround it. The moon pool is located 55’ (exactly 32 of our cubits) aft of amidships. This is an extremely significant position and later in this paper, I will discuss it more.
Fossilized log ends appear several places along the gunnels and at the stern. These logs show complete circular sediment layering and they are uniformly round. They also appear only outboard of the gunnel center line, with two exceptions. I believe the two inboard exceptions result from the absence of the superstructure in this area when the vessel became covered with mud. The mud covering the exterior of the Ark found its way inside the hollowed out hull here. Mud imbedment of the log ends permitted their replacement by silt during the rotting process. This area is about 45 yards from the stem, on the port side. This suggests the unloading access hole in the superstructure was not closed after its last use. The lack of inboard log projections elsewhere, either means that there were none or that soil was excluded in the structure during the wood rotting period and these logs had to rot in an air environment.
The Ark’s remains appear to have rotated counter-clockwise, crushing the port side on a large, snagging rock, and come to rest on it. The soil around continues to flow downhill (at 11 degrees) while the formation only pivots slightly about the rock. The total swing of the artifact from the vessel’s original beaching position appears to have been at least 240 degrees. This observation follows from thinking the loading ramp was on the port side, forward. The original beach is two hundred feet higher, and is southwest of the present site.
For the reader interested in examining my value assumptions, they are:
1.
1. The specific weight of the reed bundles is 15 lbs per cubic foot.
2. The specific weight of the wood superstructure members is 50 lbs. per cubic foot.
3. The specific weight of the deck covering (the "gopher wood") is 120 lbs. per cubic foot.
4. The light ship water line is assumed to be 1/2 hull depth (15 cubits or 309"). This is taken from Heyerdahl’s experience with the Ra II and comments he later heard regarding the correct time of year in which to cut the reeds.
5. Because the Ark’s shape is unconventional (relative to modern vessels), the still water bending moment was calculated. (A modern "code allowance" for the still water bending moment was rejected. Unlike modern vessels, the Ark’s shape significantly reduces the actual imposed bending moment.) Bending stresses are induced as the raft spans a wave trough or is supported by a wave crest.
6. Both deck sheer and camber were assumed to be zero. In all probability, the sheer was normal. The ends of the main deck were probably several feet higher than at midships and the edges of the moon pool and the ship centerline was lower than the gunnels, for drainage.
7. The actual deck house plan dimensions are assumed to be 210 cubits (beam times the square of phi or 80 x 1.62 x 1.62) long and 80 cubits wide.
8. The eve height of the superstructure was 32 cubits. This is the volume divided by the deck area or 450,000 cubic cubits divided by 14062.5 square cubits.
9. The depth of the main deck covering is assumed to be equal to the thickness of the transverse frame members used in the structure of the deck house, i.e., 24". (While I measured the fossilized "log ends" to be 30" diameter, they are located in areas of major strength points and I think them "oversized" relative to the superstructure frame members.)
10. The floor loading for the upper decks in the superstructure was 100 lbs. per square foot distributed and a point load of one long ton (2240 Ibs.) at 10’ x 10’ nodes. This strength will support large animals, at rest, such as cattle but will not support the larger species of dinosaur.
11. Grain feed and fresh water reservoirs are assumed distributed on the main deck with hay feed located on upper decks.
The foregoing assumptions result from Noah loading his heaviest cargo at the lowest, possible level. This would be on the main deck of the raft. Bins of grain, tanks of fresh water, vessel handling poles and pikes, windlass equipment and all really large animals must have been evenly distributed over the main deck. Smaller animals, hay, passengers, etc. would have been allowed on upper decks. The reader will notice that the maximum strength of the superstructure decks will not support the maximum deadweight allowed by the flotation of the hull. It is unlikely that Noah launched the Ark with anything like the maximum deadweight, i.e., he had considerable margin in stability.
12. The anchors (the drogue stones) are assumed to have weighed an average of 7 long tons each and their number is assumed to have been 24. While only 12 are accounted for, those found include a flailing stone (used in smaller form by Egyptian river masters) for maneuvering. Certainly, at least two such flailing stones would been carried and some unused anchors could have remained aboard the vessel and still might be buried in it, or buried in the soil above, up at the beaching point.
Steering a vessel involves a feature unfamiliar to most readers. Vessel steering usually is by a rudder at the stern. If a tow line connects to this same point, the tow line determines the orientation of the vessel in wind and current. This vessel must be turned while the anchor is in place. Therefore the anchor line must connect to the midships section and not to the stern. This is the reason the towing bits at the stern of a modern tug have to be retractable under the load. If the towed vessel (anchor) is blown to one side of the tug, the line can be allowed to run along the bulwark forward and permit rudder steerage of the tug. The tug will otherwise not be able to pivot and turn because of the line force off its stern.
Having a line permanently attached to the stern in an adverse wind is called "being in irons". Because of ship handling requirements, anchor handling is assumed to be from the aft end of the moon pool. Maneuvering with anchors from the bow and stern would be nearly impossible because of the tendency to put the vessel in irons. That Noah also understood this is suggested by the fact the aft end of the moon pool is aft of midships, i.e., the center of lateral water resistance is forward of the "drag point" but only a little.
13. Iron in the Ark formation in large quantity, is demonstrated by strong, ferromagnetic readings over about 48" diameter at each aft corner of the moon pool. Anchor handling requires the vessel be fitted with bits, cleats or bollards and windlasses that can be animal powered. Both the sophistication of the Ark remains and the presence of iron in it make this assumption plausible. Ataturk Museum in Ankara displays a dagger believed to have been made between 2900 and 2400 B.C.E. It even has a "CARBONIZED IRON BLADE". The brinell hardness is greater than 400. Yet, we are told that the iron age supposedly didn’t start until circa 1500 B.C.E. It appears that both iron and case hardening processes were available to the builders of the Ark, a thousand years earlier.
14. The rope holes in the, anchor stones were drilled for rope of constant strength per square inch (of cross section). The hole in the end of the smallest anchor we saw is 3 inches in diameter and its centerline curved to a 9-1/2 inch radius. The hole in the end of the largest anchor is 4-1/2 inches in diameter and its centerline curved to a 12 inch radius. The smallest stone weighs about 4 long tons. (A long ton is 2240 lbs. or 35 cubic feet of sea water.) The largest approximate 10 long tons. The working strength the designer expected was about 1400 lbs. per square inch of circular rope cross section.
Today’s requirement of breaking strength (5 times rated load) would mean the rope used in the 3 inch hole (about 2-3/4 inches diameter) would have a breaking strength of 42,000 Ibs. This is well within the capacity of hand wound hemp. The larger curvature of the drilled hole corresponds to the requirement that bending the rope through the eye of the anchor not fray the rope fibers. The holes are through the narrow, thick end of the stones. The other end is relatively broad and thin.F2
15. Implied in my previous remarks is the assumption that construction personnel had previously achieved the skills required for the construction of the vessel we see in the Fasold formation. Also, I have assumed that the builders crewed the vessel as is reported in the Epic of Gilgamesh. The crew must be large enough to maintain the craft during the trials of the flood, during the wait at anchor and during the water runoff/beaching activity. Traditional dependency upon divine intervention for even the most rudimentary ship handling and maintenance activities flies in the face of first hand experience. Divine intervention doesn’t seem to include menial tasks such as line handling, scrubbing down a deck, etc.
THE FASOLD FORMATION COMPARED TO TRADITION
The reader might not be familiar with all of the reasons modern vessels are shaped and equipped as they are. Some of the reasons are found in the limitations of the materials used.
A floating vessel is like a long beam in that it must resist imposed forces while supporting its own weight and that of its cargo. A vessel is subject to bending, both up and down and sideways. It is also subject to twisting (torsion) of one end relative to the other. When a vessel is riding on a single wave amidships, its ends will be over the wave. Such bending is "hogging". When the vessel spans two waves, it bends downward into the trough. This is "sagging". When the bow takes an off center wave to the port bow while the stern is still riding an off center wave to starboard, the ship will twist. This is "wracking". Waves rising suddenly under bow or stern produce "slamming". A vessel pivoting in the plan view about a vertical axis through its center is "yawing". A vessel pivoting about an axis fore and aft is "roIling". "Pitching" occurs when a vessel pivots about a horizontal, transverse axis.
The weight of the vessel and cargo provides "inertia" and some time increment is required to move it, change its direction or change its speed of motion. The time increment is influenced by the shape of the vessel. If the surfaces are square cornered and flat, the time increments during wave application are so short as to be impact or shock. If the shapes are soft and rounded, the time increment extends so that the motion is changed with less force. One consequence will be a more comfortable ride. The important consequence will be survival of the structure . A smooth ride is required if the crew must feed and maintain animals. Neither the animal nor the handler’s digestion is improved if the crew must hang on for dear life in virtually all sea states.
The shape of the vessel is also dictated by its mission. A river raft travels among established dock facilities in protected water. It needs less freeboard than does a sea going vessel. It need not be arranged to facilitate 30 to 60 degree rolls and 15 degree pitches. The sea going vessel must remain upright in sea states never experienced by the river raft. A measure of this stability is the "GM".
Recall that GM is the distance between the center of gravity of the loaded vessel and an imaginary point called the metacenter. The metacenter can be thought of as the point in space from which the ship would swing were it a pendulum having a swing period equal to the actual roll period (or pitch period).F3
For a piece of pipe or round log this point- is in the center and coincides with the center of gravity. This explains why a pipe or log rolls so easily, it "spins" in the water. As the shape assumes more elliptical configuration, this point rises above the center of gravity. Here, it provides a definite preference for floating with the flatter side down and the sharper radiused sides port and starboard.
As the hull shape becomes more rectangular, the metacenter rises so high that even small rolls result in tremendous force righting the vessel. This makes the vessel snappy and imposes the forces that throw dishes off of counters, that pop pump foundations loose, and result in a poor ride and failed structure. Attempts to preserve a stable condition in an active sea, while softening the impact of wave action, account for the considerable variety of modern vessel configurations. The ideal shape differs for each cargo, each environment (wind, wave height expectation, temperature, etc.) and each power source. Artistic representations of Noah’s Ark and insistence that it had to be a box 300 by 50 by 30 cubits contribute to the fact that few scientists and no marine engineers (to my knowledge) have previously expressed interest in pursuing any analysis of the Ark, Noah’s voyage, or any part of that fuzzy sector of history.
A reed raft in the shape of the artifact southeast of Dogubayazit, Turkey, is four times more stable than is the traditional 50 cubit beam. The stability varies with the cube of the beam (80 x 80 x 80)/(50 x 50 x 50) = 4. More significantly, the traditional 50 cubit beam with 30 cubit depth is too slender to permit a superstructure. Yet, the length of the vessel at 300 cubits is so great that the additional depth contribution from a superstructure is required for all materials except steel.
A reed raft in the tear drop shape of the Fasold formation can be handled and maneuvered in adverse currents by skilled dragging of anchors in combination with selecting the wind presentation. This is the reason the ability to pivot the vessel about an anchor line is so important. Without sails, the superstructure can be used as a sail, provided the anchors can be played like the doors of a trawl net and provided the hull form is "racy" with an underwater shape that won’t result in the vessel crabbing sideways in high velocity water flow. The fine stern (long, narrow "back end") of the vessel will act like the skegs of a modern barge (and like feathers on an arrow) and will assist in maintaining the bow forward when wind force exceeds water resistance. However, the traditional "box" will rotate to about 9-1/2 degrees sideways, heel over in an angular wind, roll violently, and possibly capsize. It virtually cannot be handled.
NAVIGATION AND SHIP HANDLING
The majority of the anchor stones are found near the village of Kazan, a few miles northwest of Dogubayazit. One anchor stone is in Ankara. This stone in Ankara is traditionally thought to have been imported from Egypt. More probably, it was used on the original Ark and was later imported from Eastern Anatolia.
The flailing anchor we looked at in Kazan differs from the other stones in that the hole is located about 1/3 down from the top. It is shaped like one wing of a butterfly. It is used by banding the line around the stone, full girth. The tail is tied through the hole to prevent slipping and brought around and tied off to the drag line. This forms a bridle. If the stone lies such that the bridle part to the hole side is shorter than the drag line part, the stone will drift to one side when the wind blows the vessel.
The vessel is then drifted downwind while paying out the flailing anchor until it hits bottom. A heavy anchor is dropped straight down after the vessel comes down wind of the grounded flailing anchor. The flailing anchor line is hauled in, and the anchor is retrieved. The heavy anchor is weighed or cast off and the process repeated. This will bring the flailing anchor again to an angle behind the vessel. Lifting or cutting loose the heavier anchor line lets the vessel swing on the flailing anchor line, downwind. This is the means by which the vessel may be worked crosswind.
The village of Kazan lies just north of an enormous upthrust of rock that appears to have been a temporary shelter for an anchored raft. The rock "island" would have permitted tying up while waiting for a landing beach to appear. Further, it would have provided sea water level perception to a master in waters that were totally unfamiliar.
When Noah observed that the mountains appeared after several months, he probably was saying that they had been obscured by fog, clouds, and volcanic dust in the air. (The enormous body of water was still warm from residual heat before the flood. This water would be covered day and night with heavy fog due to cold air above it. The cold air also would be full of volcanic dust resulting from the volcanic activity prevalent on a hemisphere wide basis, including Mount Ararat and Little Ararat.) This late appearance of the mountains is traditionally assigned to mean that the mountains emerged from the water.
However, such a meaning isn’t required by the literature. It is presumed only by those failing to note the catastrophic effect on the Earth’s crust of the total flood event including the fact that residual heat in the flood waters had to be given up to cooler air above them.
Two miles to the west of Kazan lies a chip of rock that appears to be made of evenly laminated material and is ridged in 1-1/2" concave troughs on both large surfaces. The troughs appear in the pattern of bundled reeds, but have been weathered severely. The chip is about 16" thick, four feet wide and eight feet long. If it is from the deck covering of the reed raft, the Ark, it was broken loose about the time the vessel began its final voyage to the beach site several miles to the east. Material such as this was smeared on the Ark deck for water runoff and to protect the reed mat from animal urine. A reed mat that might well have been in the first stages of disintegration. This would help motivate Noah to find a berth soon, using the winds and anchors to navigate. (I think it likely that the outflow rate was increasing so rapidly that he didn’t need other "motivation".)
The lie of the land, location of the Ark site and the anchor stones suggest that Noah had a few, really bad moments between his last anchor site at Kazan and when he beached the vessel. Some of the choices may not have been his. The Ark site is located in the last protected "cul de sac" in Turkey before the outlet to the next lower valley eastward into present day Iran. (See figure 4, the Ark Site Sketch.) Noah elected to cast off from his protected anchor site when a major water dam broke 150 miles to his east. He then had no choice but to go with the flow. He had to use the first beach he found, ideal or not. Noah’s problem was to find one and tie up to it before the outflowing water became a torrent, impossible to navigate.
This is the stuff for an adventure movie. A strong water current draining the lake and the accompanying severe wind may be why Noah elected to weigh anchor! His depth soundings would have informed him at his anchor site that the lake bed was level. Had he been lucky, the outflow would have been gradual enough to allow him to ground the Ark "straight down" (in the manner assumed by most non-marine students). However, his beaching at the last possible site before a down hill run suggests much anxiety aboard the Ark in the last few miles of her voyage.
He made the turn into the cul de sac with very little margin for error. That he was saved from rocketing down into the next lower valley, probably is a miracle on par with the one that sustained him while being swept inland and upward by tidal forces in the first place. The record states that a "great wind" passed over the Earth and the waters receded, in this case downward into the Caspian Sea. The usual reading of this text confuses cause and effect. A violent river breach occurred to the east through a ridge of mountains that formed a dam. The trapped, inland sea, began to empty. It Would contribute to an accompanying "great wind" from the northwest.
VESSEL ARRANGEMENTS
The boat shaped formation I examined and Fasold measured appears to have had sea keeping features appropriate to both its mission and to materials in use for vessels at the time in which it was built. These are not the result of a "natural formation". There is an old "saw" in the field of statistical probability suggesting that if components of a modern battleship were all thrown into a large, erratically sloshing tub of sea water, there is a minute probability that they would assemble themselves into a working weapon of war. That probability, however, is "very low" and is never seriously considered when a battleship is cited! Similarly, consider the probability that nature might provide a "dirt, iron and rock" formation with all of the following properties:
1. It is a ship shaped form, in three dimensions, with circular sedimented "log ends" at points of high stress. It is particularly difficult for sediment layers to lie in full, 360 degree circles, like liners in a pipe when they do not result from the decay and rot of the circular layers of a wooden tree trunk.. It is generally true that a rock which looks in cross section like a tree trunk WAS a tree trunk before rot and sediment transformed it to rock.
2. It has a moon pool of just the right size and shape to control hogging and sagging by reducing forward buoyancy without sacrificing stability;
3. The moon pool provides overboard drainage without compromising deck flooding and provides "forced venting";
4. The moon pool is wide enough to provide protected anchor handling;
5. The moon pool is located far enough back to permit dragging a sea anchor and flailing anchor with the bow held forward. Yet it is far enough forward to allow the vessel to turn without putting the vessel in irons.
6. The moon pool is positioned to retard forward motion caused by wind, without reversing the orientation of the vessel;
7. There are incrementally located iron nodules in about 5400 places showing lineal patterns corresponding both in regularity and position to transverse and longitudinal members or scantlings of a "shaped" hull;
8. There are repeated relationships among dimensions of the ratio phi (one dimension divided by another being 1.62, 1.62 squared or cubed, etc.) This is a number that was also fascinating to the builders of the great pyramid of Giza, an unlikely coincidence;
9. It has a configuration possible only with the construction materials in vogue at the time the vessel was reputedly built, reeds. Such a configuration wasn’t again possible until steel was used in the late 1800’s C.E.
10. There are flat foundation stones in regular formation precisely located where they would be needed to support compression columns required in bow stem tension masting;
11. The anchors found are sized and located appropriate to the vessel size and mission and they were left in the valley floor upstream of the beaching site;
12. The gentle grade of the beach site is the only such site at its elevation east of the anchor stones’ location which would accommodate a large raft where it could be successfully off loaded. All other such large, "beach like" landing sites are at lake bottom elevations. Finally, this site is the last available beach west of the downhill slope into Iran. Without the flood depth, the raft could not go downhill. (The water movement onto the land was at a very much higher flow rate than the water recession. The terrain on the way in, however, didn’t present the same obstacles to the vessel as it did on the way out. The trapping of the water in high, intermountain basins forced the Ark to beach in the highest, or run "rapids" down into each successive lake. The first such run would probably have destroyed the Ark.)
13. The drilled holes in the anchor stones conform to the use of wound rope line. The ratio of drilled hole dimensions to stone weight indicates design to known and consistent strength of both rope and stone. The holes are appropriately sized for hand wound hemp rope.
14. The technique used to drill the holes in the stones is evidenced only in ancient artifacts, and was achieved by a process unknown even to this day.
15. The site location corresponds to ancient folklore and literary descriptions of the flood event;
16. The site location is within 1/2 mile of the longitude and latitude given in triangulation coordinates by Berossus relative to the tomb of Darius near Persopolis. Careful reading of Fasold’s discussion on this point is advised. Fasold calculated the location of the Ark site navigationally, using the ancient methods before he ever visited it for observation and research.
SIGNIFICANCE, CONCLUSIONS AND QUESTIONS
I find these data very convincing that this isn’t a natural formation. I further, have seen nothing convincing me this formation was a land side building. Nor do I have any reason to think a later vessel was built on site to sail in some prehistoric lake. The reasonable question isn’t "is this all that remains of a vessel?" The reasonable questions are:
Was this the vessel built by Noah, and if not, who did build it?
Was this vessel built locally, at 6300 feet elevation, at time when this area was a mighty lake? There is absolutely no evidence for such a supposition.
Where did the iron come from if the Hittites were the inventors of the iron smelter? (The Hittites, who lived here at a later date, might well have found the iron from the Ark. Using the coal available in the mountains around, they learned how to smelt the iron. The iron dagger in Ataturk Museum supports iron smelting pre-dating the Hittites.) If the presence of iron in the formation is just coincidentally in the land inhabited by them, wouldn’t a skeptic be justified in questioning such "chance"? Other cultures were more advanced in all of the required resources, except one. The others didn’t have an artifact with old iron fittings in it, that illustrated to them both material and application.
Where were these anchor stones quarried? Does the quarry still exist (or has it been submerged ever since)? What celestial forces were operating, creating tides on the Indian Ocean that were powerful enough to wash the Ark inland and upward?
The mountains had to have been upthrust even while the water brought the Ark inland, and upland so as to trap the vessel. This offers an explanation of why her master was forced to wait until valley outflow exposed some beach. Were the mountains lifted into place by the same extra-terrestrial force (a flyby planet) that washed the vessel inland? Continents may drift, but is their drifting responsible for the formation of mountain ranges? (Suggested reading on this subject are several of the writings by Donald Wesley Patten).F4
Is it a coincidence that Mt. Ararat belongs to the same lineal pattern as the highest mountains on Earth, the Himalayas? Does this not suggest that the enormous flood depositing the Ark in Eastern Anatolia (Turkey) resulted from the same extreme celestial event that formed those mountains? (See Patten and Windsor’s, "A Catastrophic Theory for Mountain Uplifts".)
Because the Ark was constructed with such a single special purpose in mind, was the flood event predictable? The Epic of Gilgamesh says it happened "when the fixed time arrived". Our several major religions claim its coming to have been the subject of divine communication with Noah. However, engineering concepts must relate to the existence of the artifact along lines of mechanism because it is a real object and its presence must be explained in engineering terminology.
Assuming predictability, was the flood simply a worst case version of a previous catastrophic occurrence? The records indicate that less severe, yet major catastrophes occurred on anniversary dates. (This periodicity included several "Passovers".)
Was this repetition periodic because its cause relates to planetary motion and regular orbit? Can that account for the ancients’ preoccupation with the doings of the various planets? We could certainly never convince all peoples on Earth, today, to fear "the stars
Does such repeated flooding experiences account for the strata we find on all continents, little of which is found in the ocean floors?
Does such repeated flooding experiences account for the ancients’ preoccupation with building things out of massively large stones and arranging them so that except for Britain’s henges, they won’t topple in high velocity currents?
Can this particular flood explain the formation of crustacean borings on the sides of the great pyramid in Giza.
Can the extreme cold Noah experienced the year after the flood relate to extra-terrestrial sourced ices and gases streaming in at the magnetic poles and freezing giant mammoths from the inside out, in their tracks, as they munched happily on their buttercups near what is now the North Pole?
Does the presence of this one nautical artifact bear witness to the accuracy of ancient literature describing the periodic orbital interference with Earth by the planet Mars? Mars’ orbital interference with Earth is a possibility raised for Earth by Gerald Sussman some 300,000,000 years into the future.F5 Sussman hasn’t addressed ancient descriptions of the orbital interference he postulates for the future. His interference’s have already been experienced and described, if one is to take the ancient literature seriously. An example on nearly everyone’s book shelf is the change of Earth’s axis tilt to the solar plane noted by Isaiah; 38:8.F6 These same scriptures connect electrical effects to the disastrous end of Assyrian military aspirations by fire from heaven. (A similar fate was experienced by the Greeks at Troy, earlier.)
If one doesn’t take the literature seriously, we have no rational explanation for the pre-telescope knowledge of Mars’ two satellites ("Gulliver’s Travels" by Jonathan Swift and Hesiod’s, "The Shield of Herakles"). Neither can we explain why ancient people couldn’t count, judging from the fact that all calendars before 701 B.C.E. employed a 360 day year (Rome’s 10, 36 day months, the Mayan 72, 5 day weeks, the Chinese 24, 15 day periods, Judah’s 12, 30 day months, the 360 degree circle ... etc.)F7
IF WISHES WERE HORSES (BEGGARS WOULD RIDE)
One would hope that the Turkish government finds the funds and interest to move the "chip" and anchor stones either to a museum or to the Ark site where they can be protected. The local people use the anchor stones for walls of small buildings (such as an outhouse) at the present. Protection of the exposed Ark artifact may be a futile hope, technologically. However, the Turkish government has built an observation building above the site to encourage viewing before the formation further disintegrates.
I would also encourage a project of flying over the site by helicopter with infrared photography. Pictures should be taken in three passes per hour during the night between the end of one hot day and the beginning of the next. One pass of each set should be directly above the center line, fore and aft and the other two down each side, with the camera at an angle to the formation. The differing heat capacities of the material in the artifact might then portray its skeletal structure.
The light (and "heat") such scientific investigation would produce might illuminate subjects like the source of Earth’s geo-magnetism, and the reason for the rapid decay of the geo-magnetic field. It might allow discovery of the reason for the cooling of the Earth and an explanation for the lack of ancient storm activity. Reports of oxygen ratios as high as 36% in ancient atmospheres (found in amber) and lush forestation in "pre-historic" times preclude lightning as we know it today. Such an atmosphere would never have rain, but would instead condense moisture out of air at night; pretty much as is described in the ancient records for the antediluvian environment, an ancient greenhouse atmosphere.
The reason the ancient people were convinced that the Earth rode on the head of a bull and that earthquakes resulted from his shaking his head is an equal mystery. Perhaps they viewed Mars with electron flux tubes curving up to Earth’s magnetic north pole and down to Earth’s magnetic south pole ala’ Io/Jupiter. (One half of this circuit would appear to be the "Sword of the Lord", or the "Scimitar of Apollo Shootafar".)
Perhaps the reason for most modern earthquake activity can be learned. Is it that the continents are still reverberating and adjusting from planet wars with Mars? The system, fortunately came unglued around 701 B.C.E.
Were the astrological signs named 60 degrees ahead and over 4000 years before the constellations defining them arrived at the points where they correctly relate to Earth’s spring equinox? Could orbital precession have reversed periodically so that there was no net change in the fixed stars’ positions for over 4000 years?
Such informational light might be quite blinding! It might even result in the correction of the "dating" systems that produce such bizarre conclusions as 70 million year old Etruscan sandal prints, fossilized woven cloth in Precambrian granite and 18’ tall animals freezing from falling into water that became ice. Such freezing requires a freeze rate of temperatures below -300 degrees Fahrenheit! It takes -40 degrees F to freeze a 4" thick salmon fast enough to prevent deterioration of the "gut". Scientists and Eskimos have dined in our generation on mammoth meat quick frozen millennia ago in the Arctic. These animals were feet not inches thick.
The lack of public interest in the Ark site may not be "all bad". Religious "Ark hunters" have used dynamite trying to find 5000 year old wood! Exploration of the site should be by helicopter or airplane, using sophisticated, non-destructive examination methods. This author hopes that electronic exploration can be just as satisfying as climbing around on the Ark formation. It still would provide an enjoyable trip to a beautiful country and it would open to pilgrims the reality of our heritage.
Various organizations and foundations have an apparent interest in "the Ark of Noah". However, they have an established opinion concerning the vessel or its location that is too inflexible (must be on Mt. Ararat) to allow consideration of actual evidence when that evidence suggests error in their pre-suppositions. Even finding the ship’s builder’s plaque in pre-Chaldean script wouldn’t be convincing to such investigators. The possible salvation of the Ark formation and the anchor stones falls to those who are not locked into any of the various dogmas that substitute faith and guru worship for evidentiary truth and logic.
Recent studies of the planet Mercury proves the bankrupt nature of the geo-dynamo theory. (Mercury has a solid core, not a liquid one.) The Sun is the generator of Mercury’s electro-magnetic field. Jupiter’s satellites, including Io are the generator of Jupiter’s field, Triton of Neptune’s and Uranus’ satellites of at least half of Uranus’ field (the remainder being residual). Mars is the author of 97% of Earth’s residual field. (And, we are losing it. Earth’s field strength is declining by 4-1/2% per century.)
Sussman’s studies in chaos mathematics applied to the inner four planetary orbits shows them to be unstable. One of the "strange attractor" or probable. configurations is an elongated Mars’ orbit and/or an elongated orbit for one of the asteroids. NASA’s Magellan is sending us pictures of sharp features, mountains and canyons on Venus that should have been worn away ``millions’’ of years ago under the Venusian heavy, corrosive, eroding atmosphere. Surely, this would be the case were it not for Mars’ ancient 66,000,000 mile perihelion being so "recent". Mars ancient orbit brought it inside Venus’ orbit and caused some of the same features on Venus as on Earth. It was probably Venus that influenced the break up of the resonant system in 701 B.C.E., resulting in the rounding out of the orbit of Mars.
Detractors can sputter and protest but the cat is out of the bag. Pandora’s box is opening and the escaping spirits taking flight this time are shafts of truth. Truths are emerging, long suppressed on the altar of self aggrandizement and emotional need for scholarly conformity.
David Fasold espouses the correct Ark site. His conclusions are founded on evidence and logic. His detractors support their opinion by "other opinion" and lack the support of either evidence or logic. Donald Wesley Patten has the correct mechanism for flooding the Earth and raising mountains. His detractors are very selective in their considered evidence. Patten’s detractors favor a bankrupt cosmology that is demonstrably wrong. The several versions of the Nebular Hypothesis are, after all, absolutely without supporting evidence. Any theory espousing the formation of the several planets where we find them today, has one primary obstacle to acceptance. It must reject actual evidence and fundamental engineering principle. A second, lesser millstone is that such a theory must coexist with written record in literature identifying the theory as hogwash.
This author is having a great time watching a naked establishment marching off into a sea of absurdity. Their bankrupt uniformitarian conviction is being pummeled by every revelation of the NASA probes, by the polar explorations celestial geographer, Donald Wesley Patten, and by one Mr. David Fasold, ship salver.
FOOTNOTES
#
# F1 I have learned that John Baumgardner claims to no longer believe this artifact to be Noah’s Ark. His measurements of geometry, discovery of the presence of iron and manganese, etc. preclude the formation being a natural formation. I don’t know if he believes the artifact to be a newer ship sailed to this elevation or a "monastery" of marine shape and characteristics.
F2 Drilled, curved holes in stone also are found in the plumbing systems in South and Central American structures. There they drilled curved holes in large stones, and then fit the stones together so perfectly that leakage was insignificant. To my knowledge, we have no idea how the ancients drilled such curved holes. The uplifting of mountains after stone edifices were built in the Andes is the logical explanation for how 1000 ton stones were moved among, what are today, mountain tops. The Earth existed before its inclusion in our Solar system. This is the logical explanation for how Earth captured a Moon that cannot be captured in Earth’s present Solar orbit. We know Moon and Earth didn’t form simultaneously, as planet and satellite, because the Moon is made of different stuff than is Earth. The "mountains of Urartu" were raised up by the same tidal forces imposed by Mars that trapped a raft at 6700 feet elevation. This is the only rational explanation for finding the remains of a vessel southeast of Dogubayazit, Turkey today. (It is now at 6300 feet.) Our halls of learning seem to have equal difficulty with all such rather obvious observations. The problem isn’t the logic involved. The problem is that the conclusion violates prejudiced opinion. Learned response to such violation is nearly always a proclamation that the evidence does not exist. For some obscure reason, this response seems to be effective among the credentialed members of the establishment while singularly ineffective among "laity".
F3 Practically, the metacenter can be approximated graphically as follows: (See Figure 3.)
1.
1. Draw a cross section of the vessel at midships on transparent paper
1. Draw a vertical line up and down through the centerline of the ship’s cross section
1. Draw the water-line across the hull
1. Trace this image on another piece of paper and slip the tracing beneath the first picture
1. Rotate one picture about 10 degrees with the pivot point at the intersection of the water-line and the vertical centerline
1. Now is the hard part - trace the first water-line on the second (rotated) copy
Locate the center of the new underwater section. This is done by making yet a third tracing of only the new underwater area, then cutting it out and hanging it from a pin located at two different places. At each pin placement hang a weighted string from the pin and draw a line marking where the string hangs across on the paper. The two lines will intersect at the center of the area. (Unfortunately, for checking the Ark with its moon pool, the graphic method described only works where there is no moon pool.) Place this paper "cut-out" under the sketch and draw the center of the new section on the sketch. Finally, draw a line perpendicular to the (rotated) water surface, down through the located center of the new underwater area and extend it up to intersect the original vertical centerline.
#
# F4 "Catastrophism and the Old Testament" (The Mars-Earth Conflicts) by Donald Wesley Patten, Pacific Meridian Publishing Company, Seattle, Washington, 1988.
F5 "Gravity’s Revenge" by David H. Freedman, Discover Magazine, May 1990
F6 "Watch the shadow cast by the Sun on the stairway of Ahaz: I will bring backwards ten steps the shadow which has gone down on the stairway down which it had gone:" Isaiah 38:8 This verse identifies not only that the latitude of Jerusalem changed while Hezekiah and Isaiah watched; it also had changed earlier within the memory of their culture! This speaks strongly of the periodic nature of the celestial goings-on that is found so prevalent throughout the Bible, Homer’s Iliad, Gilgamesh’s Epic voyage, etc. If our predecessors thought their descendants would live in such a celestially peaceful state that their catastrophic histories wouldn’t be believed, they might have left even better records.
F7 "Response to Critique by Leroy Ellenberger" by Donald Wesley Patten, Page 77, C & AH Volume XII, Part 1, January 1990.
Bahtera Nabi Nuh A.S (The Great Noah Ark)
Bahtera Nabi Nuh A.S
(The Great Noah Ark)
Rujukan asal dari : http://www.variasari.cjb.net/
Artikel telah di edit tanpa menjejaskan artikel sebenar.
Gambar : Bahtera Nabi Nuh AS di gunung Ararat.
Di sebuah gunung yg sentiasa diselimuti salji yg terletak di Timur Turkey, tersembunyi sebuah misteri 'berharga' yang berusia lebih 5000 tahun Peninggalan sejarah yg maha berharga itu bukan saja menarik minat para pengkaji sejarah malah pihak perisik US seperti CIA/KGB pun cuba menyelongkar. pihak2 CIA telah menggunakan satelite dan pesawat 'Stealth' utk mengambil gambar objek yg terdampar di puncak gunung itu.
Gambar2 itu telah menjadi 'rahsia besar' dan disimpan rapi dgn kawalan yg ketat bersama dgn 'rahsia2' penting yg lain di Pentagon. Sudah beratus2 org cuba mendaki Gunung Aghi-Dahl yg bermaksud 'Gunung Kesengsaraan'atau dgn nama petanya iaitu Mount Ararat, namun hanya beberapa2 kerat saja yg berjaya.Yang sebahagian besarnya selebihnya hanyalah menjadi korban.
Sehingga ke hari ini, cuma ada beberapa orang pendaki shj yg berjaya sampai ke puncak Mt.Ararat dan dapat menyaksikan dgn mata kepala sendiri kesan artifak peninggalan purba yg 'mahaberharga' itu.Ada sesetengah pendaki dapat mengambil gambar.
Apa yg masih menjadi tanda tanya,kesemua orang2 yg berjaya membawa balik gambar tersebut telah ditimpa berbagai2 bencana. Ada diantara mereka telah dibunuh dgn penuh misteri.Hanya semata2 kerana gambar tersebut. Memang ramai org yg telah mengambil gambar kesan sejarah 'Noah' itu telah mati misteri.
Soalnya sekarang, mengapakah 'kuasa2 besar' mahu merahsiakan gambar peninggalan lama itu dan menyimpannya di tempat2 rahsia tentera ?. Mengapa mereka tak mau mengesahkan bahawa peninggalan 'Noah' benar2 ada di puncak Mt .Ararat itu ? Pada masa yg sama mereka juga menafikan bahawa itu sebenarnya adalah The Great Noah Ark ! Pyramid Sphinx di Giza sendiri pun telah tertimbus dalam pasir selama lebih kurang 2000 tahun sebelum dijumpai,kerana selama itu orang menafikannya.
Samalah The Great Noah Ark tu pun.Ia tertimbus di bawah salji selama hampir 5000 tahun dan selama 5000 thn itu jugalah misteri itu sedang menunggu masa utk dibongkar.
Sebenarnya, zaman Nabi Noah AS dulu tidaklah seprimitif yg kita semua bayangkan. Hakikatnya pada zaman itu they all dah maju ke depan. Pengetahuan Sains mereka dah maju pada masa itu. Di kaki Mount Ararat itu sahaja pun, Para Pengkaji dan Scientist Russia telah menemui lebih kurang 500 kesan artifak bateri elektrik purba yg digunakan utk menyadurkan logam.
Mengikut kiraan ahli anstronomi secara berkomputer.Noah AS mula membina bahteranya pada tahun 2465 B.C dan hujan mula turun pada tahun 2345 B.C
Rupa bentuk The Great Noah Ark itu sebenarnya tidak sama dengan bentuk kapal laut yang ada didunia sekarang. Mengikut para pendaki yg pernah melihat "Noah Ark" di puncak Mt.Ararat itu, Noah Ark memang sebuah bahtera besar yg cukup hebat. "Noah Ark" itu diperbuat drp spesis kayu purba yg memang sudah tidak ujud lagi di dunia ini. Ia diselaputi syelek, bebentuk 'kotak kasut', tidak cantik, tapi sangat berfungsi.
Ia telah dibina seluas 300 cubit X 50 cubit X 30 cubit. Untuk pengetahuan anda cubit itu adalah satu kiraan jarak panjang diantara siku dgn jari yg digunakan oleh orang2 zaman dahulu. Bersamaan 18 inchi bagi 1 cubit, bermakna panjang "Noah Ark" ini adalah lebih kurang 450 kaki,75 kaki lebar,45 kaki tinggi.
Ada juga Para Pengkaji berpendapat,"Noah Ark" berukuran satu dan satu setengah padang bola. Bumbung bahtera itu pula adalah seluas 20 padang bola keranjang. Keluasan dalamannya cukup utk memuatkan 170 gerabak ketapi. Ia memerlukan sebanyak 9000 hingga 13000 batang balak utk membinanya. Dan dianggarkan seberat 4,100 tan.
Hari nih terdapat lebih kurang 1,072,000 haiwan dari pelbagai spesis di dunia ini.Mengikut kajian Dr.Whitcomb, dianggarkan kira2 3,700 binatang mamalia,
8600 jenis itik/burung,6300 jenis reptilia,2500 jenis amfibia yg menaiki The Great Noah Ark itu.Berat kargo/muatan bahtera itu mungkin lebih kurang 24,300 tan.
Di sebalik fakta saintifik, anda perlu ingat:
Perumpamaan Ahlul Baytku ibarat Bahtera Nuh. Sesiapa yang ikut berlayar bersamanya dia akan selamat, dan sesiapa yang enggan dan terlambat, dia akan tenggelam. (Ibnu Hajar, Zawaid Musnad al-Bazzar, hlm.277;Al-Tabrani, al-Mu'jam al-Kabir, Juzuk I, hlm.168)
Gambar : Angaran saiz Bahtera Nabi Nuh AS dgn sebuah rumah.
The Great Noah Ark ini berada di Mt.Ararat, dimanakah agaknya ia dibina dan berapa jauhkah ianya telah belayar ?
Mengikut seorang pengkaji 'Noah Ark' ini, bahtera itu telah dibina disebuah tempat bernama Shuruppak, iaitu sebuah bandar yg terletak di selatan Iraq. Jika ia dibina di selatan Iraq dan akhirnya terdampar di Utara Turkey ini bermakna ianya telah ditolak arus sejauh 520 batu. Mount Ararat Mt.Ararat ini bukan sebarang gunung. Ia adalah sebuah gunung yg unik. Antara salah satu keunikan yg terdapat pada gunung ini ialah, pada setiap hari akan muncul pelangi pada sebelah utara puncak gunung itu.
Mt.Ararat ini ialah salah satu gunung yg mempunyai kemuncak yg luas di muka bumi ini. Ia adalah gunung yg tertinggi sekali di Turkey. Gunung ini tegak sendirian dgn kemuncak dipanggil Ararat Besar dgn ketinggian 16,984 kaki.Bersententangan dgn sebuah lagi kemuncak gunung yg dipanggil Ararat Kecil setinggi 12,806 kaki menegak naik dari Bayazit Orang yg menaiki gunung ini akan dapat melihat 3 negara iaitu "Russia,Iran,Turkey".
Kedudukan Mt.Ararat yg sememangnya strategik itu telah membuatkan ia menjadi rebutan banyak negara pada suatu masa dahulu. Kalau korang tengok
CNN hari nih pun masih ada lagi perebutan sempadan antara tentera Turkey vs Puak2 Guerilla Qurdish yg mahukan kemerdekaan dari kr'jaan Turkey.
Keluasan dasar [bawah] Mt.Ararat itu kira2 25 batu garis pusat.Garispusat kemuncaknya pula 17 hingga 22 batu persegi ditutupi air batu setebal kira2 200 kaki. Ketulan2 air batu sentiasa jatuh dan tersilap langkah akan terjatuh jatuh ke dalam jurang Ahora.
Gambar : Sebahagian Bahtera Nabi Nuh AS dilitupi salji.
Sebuah 'anchor' purba yg besar telah ditemui di Khairouan, Tunissia. Menurut pengkaji, sauh itulah yg digunakan oleh 'Noah Ark' semasa berlabuh di puncak Mt.Ararat. Sebuah 'batu nisan' yg didakwa kepunyaan nabi Noah AS telah dijumpai di Mt.Lebanon di Syria. Batu nisan itu berukuran 120 kaki panjang.
Pada tahun 1917,Maharaja Russia Tsar Nicholas II telah menghantar sejumlah 150 org pakar pelbagai bidang yg terdiri dari jurutera, saintis dan tentera untuk mencari dan menyelidik The Great Noah Ark tersebut.
Pasukan ekspedisi itu mengambil masa selama satu bulan utk sampai ke puncak Mt.Ararat itu.Segala penat lelah mereka berhasil kerana akhirnya berjaya menemui 'Noah Ark' tersebut.
Dalam keadaan tergaman,kagum mereka mengambil gambar sebanyak yg mampu. Pasukan Saintis Russia itu cuba mengukur size 'Noah Ark' dan didapati 'Noah Ark' itu berukuran 500 kaki panjang,83 kaki lebar dan 50 kaki tinggi [bahagian selebihnya tenggelam didalam salji]
Hasil dari siasatan itu telah dihantar pulang kepada Tsar, malangnya belum pun sempat laporan siasatan itu sampai ke tangan baginda, Perang Bolshevik Komunist (1917) meletus. Laporan itu akhirnya jatuh ke tangan General Leon Trotsky. Sehingga sekarang masih lagi belum diketahui samada segala 'laporan siasatan' itu masih disimpan atau dimusnahkan.
Gambar : Bahtera Nabi Nuh AS menurut gambaran pendaki.
Artikel Pengalaman-pengalaman Menarik Para Pengkaji Noah Ark.
* Catatan seorang Pendaki dan Pengkaji "Noah Ark" di Mount Ararat. (Dr.John Morris)
Banyak sungguh halangan utk mencari The Great Noah Ark.Saya dah daki banyak gunung lain di dunia dan saya dah daki Ararat nih sebanyak 13 kali sebelum berjaya. Saya cuma nak ingatkan "Mt.Ararat nih memang sebuah gunung yg meragut nyawa". Kalau dari sebelah selatan,Mt.Ararat ini adalah seperti kon air batu, dari sebelah berlawanannya pula terdapat sebuah lurah yg dipanggil "Lurah Ahora", terdapat dinding2 batu yg curam.Bahagian yg curam itu sememangnya sukar utk didaki.
Mt.Ararat ialah sebuah gunung berapi yg telah meletus beberapa kali semenjak peristiwa 'banjir besar Noah" itu dulu.Puncaknya ditutupi dgn air batu seluas 17 batu persegi glasiar dan penutupan ke bawah ke paras 14,000 kaki. Semasa glasiar itu bergerak turun, ia juga membawa sama bekas kepingan lahar gunung berapi dan terjadinya batu runtuh.
Memanjat dari arah air batu yg meluncur itu memang susah. Bermacam² masalah akan timbul. Tanah runtuh, cuaca ganas, anjing serigala liar, beruang gunung beserta ular² berbisa sering datang menganggu.
Puncak gunung yg setinggi 17,000 kaki yg ditutupi dgn airbatu itu pula selalu terjadi cuaca yg tidak menentu. Di situ angin bertiup kencang, suhu amat sejuk dan sebarang cecair akan menjadi beku tersejat.
Setiap petang terdapat kilat yg diikuti angin,hujan dan salji.Angin yg bertiup biasanya 100 batu/jam. Pada suatu malam saya pernah alami suhu menurun sehingga negatif 40 darjah Celsius dan angin bertiup selaju 80 batu sejam. Cuaca sahaja pun telah membuat kita cukup sengsara. Oleh kerana Ararat ialah sebuah gunung berapi,gas yg keluar dari gunung itu ialah gas beracun yg boleh mendatangkan masalah utk kami bernafas. Saya sendiri pun tinggal di puncak Ararat selama 1 minggu dan dlm keadaan susah utk bernafas.
Puak2 yg tinggal berdekatan dgn gunung juga turut memberikan banyak masalah kpd kami,kami telah ditembak beberapa kali,oleh perompak. Guerrila Qurdish juga telah menggunakan gunung itu sbg tempat persembunyian dalam pertelingkahan dgn kerajaan Turkey dan Timur Tengah. Kumpulan kami tidak ada yg terkorban tapi kami menghadapi banyak masalah dan cedera parah.
Ramai org telah terkorban di gunung itu dalam mencari The Great Noah Ark. Pengalaman yg paling pahit sekali ialah ketika kami berada di paras 14,000 kaki. Kami terkena pancaran kilat. Akhirnya kami berjaya juga sampai ke puncak Ararat dan menghabiskan masa selama 1 minggu utk mencari The Great Noah Ark.
* Catatan Mr.Ronald Bennet, bekas jurufoto Whitehouse yg sekarang ini telah bersara,tinggal di sebuah bandar -La Jolla,California
US.President-Jimmy Carter telah dijemput hadir ke Majlis Tahun Baru yg diadakan oleh Shah Iran di Tehran. Ronald Bennet telah ternampak sesuatu berbentuk seperti 'kotak kasut yg besar' ditimbus airbatu ketika Air Force One yg membawa President Jimmy Carter melintasi Mt.Ararat. [Air Force One telah bertolak dari Washington DC menuju ke Warsaw, Poland pada 29th.Dec.1977 dan kemudiannya ke Tehran pada 31th.Dec.1977]
"Saya adalah jurufoto dan wartawan ygb meliputi segala aktiviti Whitehouse selalu sahaja ikut President Jimmy Carter ke mana² bagi membuat laporan tentang aktiviti US.President. Semasa peristiwa itu berlaku, kami dalam perjalanan dari Poland ke Tehran. Semasa terbang diutara Turkey, kami telah disuruh memandang ke tingkap. Pada masa yg sama ada beberapa buah pesawat MIG Fulcrum USSR sedang mengiringi Air Force One yg kami naiki. Kami memandang ke tingkap kami nampak dengan jelas "sebuah kotak panjang seperti bahtera yg besar sebahagiannya ditutupi dgn airbatu."
* Gambar The Noah Ark Yang Hilang
Seorang jurutera minyak telah menaiki helikopter di bahagin Utara Mt.Ararat kerana urusan perniagaan.Tiba² terkejut melihat satu kotak besar yg panjang menyerupai bahtera terjulur keluar dari air batu. Jurutera itu kemudiannya menyuruh pilotnya mendekatkan helikopter ke bahtera sedekat yg mungkin bagi mengambil seberapa banyak gambar.
Dengan rasa bangga dan seronok dia menunjukkan segala gambar² yg telah diambil olehnya itu kepad semua rakan² di Timur tengah dan Amerika. Dalam masa yg sama dia cuba mencari bantuan kewangan utk menjalankan satu ekspidisi bagi mencari "Noah Ark". Malangnya dia tidak berjaya dan dgn rasa kecewa dia ke British Guyana dan membuka lombong minyak disitu.
Pada 27th.Dec.1962, Jurutera itu dijumpai mati dibunuh dgn keadaan badannya dijumpai terapung di kolam renang hotel.
Kawan baiknya dalam membuat laporan Polis ada mengatakan bahawa almari tempat menyimpan segala gambar/filem "Noah Ark" telah digeledah orang 10 hari sebelum kejadian.
Filem dan gambar Noah Ark telah hilang, ramai kawan baik jurutera itu mengesahkan yg mereka telah melihat foto hitam/putih "Noah Ark" yg berukuran 8 X 10 inchi. Dan tidak menolak kemungkinan di bunuh kerana foto tersebut.
* Pengakuan Paderi Kristian - Pastor Harold William dari Logansport, Indiana
Pengakuan dibuat pada sebuah media, ada seorang kawannya seorang imigran Muslim yg berbangsa Armenia bernama Haji Yearam yg telah tinggal di kaki Mt.Ararat. Mengikut sejarah/tradisi,mereka ini adalah keturunan terus menerus yg keluar dari " Noah Ark " itu dan tidak berhijrah ke mana². Keturunan Hj.Yearam sentiasa tinggal di kaki Mt.Ararat itu.
Beberapa ratus tahun selepas 'bah besar' , anak cucu keturunannya telah mendaki ke Puncak Ararat utk memberi penghormatan dan melihat "Noah Ark" itu. Masa itu masih ada lagi laluan menuju ke bahtera dan entah macamana laluan itu telah musnah dan tidak dapat dikesan kini.mungkin kerana perubahan cuaca,gempa bumi dan sebagainya.
Semasa Hj.Yearam masih kecil,ada beberapa org bangsa asing telah datang ke rumahnya.Mereka ini adalah orang yg tidak percaya dgn Al-Quran dan sebarang agama. Mereka adalah saintis,mereka dlm perjalanan melakukan ekspidisi utk membuktikan bahawa cerita The Great Noah Ark itu adalah berupa dongeng semata².
Para saintist kemudiannya megupah bapa Hj.Yearam bagi menjadi pemandu ke Puncak Mt.Ararat dan Hj.Yearam yg pada masa itu masih kecil pun turut serta. Waktu itu musim panas, airbatu salji yg menutupi sebahgian Puncak Ararat mencair.
Selepas bersusah payah mendaki akhirnya mereka pun tiba di puncak. Dgn jelas "Noah Ark" kelihatan seolah2 berada didlm tasik kecil. Air dari tasik kelihatan melimpah keluar turun kebawah Apabila mereka sampai di tasik itu, jelas kelihatan sebahagian dari "Noah Ark"
itu tertonjol keluar dari airbatu.Para saintis kemudiannya meluru ke bahtera. Mereka tergaman dan berasa malu.
Seluruh behgian luar dan dalam "Noah Ark" itu diselaputi syellek atau lacker serta bahan pengilat yg kuat dan tebal. Tidak kelihatan sebarang tingkap, terdapat hanya sebuah pintu besar tetapi daun nya sudah tiada lagi. Para saintis kemudiannya marah. Mereka cuba mengopek kayu bahtera tersebut, membuat unggun api bagi tujuan membakar dan memusnahkan "Noah Ark" tersebut Maha Suci Allah dgn keadaan kekurangan pelbagai alatan segala usaha mereka itu sia². Apatah lagi dengan keadaan "Noah Ark" itu sendiri yg keras seperti batu. Kayunya tidak berupaya terbakar langsung.
Para saintist itu kemudianya memberi amaran kpd ayah Hj.Yearam agar merahsiakan apa yg mereka tahu dan nampak jika maukan keluarga mereka selamat. Sebab itu dikala tuanya baru bercerita,itu pun hanya pada org dipercayainya shj. Wallahuallam..
* Gempa Bumi
Pada 2nd.May.1883,telah berlaku satu gempa bumi menyebabkan batu dan ketulan runtuh dan turun hingga menutup hampir keseluhuran kampung2 yg terdapat di kaki Mt.Ararat. Letupan gunung berapi amatlah dasat,sehingga dikatakan keseluruhan
benua Eropah dapat merasainya.
Setahun kemudian, Kerajaan Turkey menghantar 1 kumpulan ekspidisi saintis bagi mengukur sejauh mana kemusnahan yg di akibatkan darinya.
Seorang Inggeris Captain Gayscoyne yg juga merupakan seorg Duta British di Istanbul telah memohon kpd kerajaan Turkey utk menyertainya. Diaamat bernasib baik kerana dapat melihat kemunculan The Great Noah Ark itu. Bukan itu sahaja, malah pasukan saintis/juru ukur itu telah dapat mengukur "Noah Ark" malangnya mereka tidak dapat mengukur dgn tepat dan lengkap kerana sebahagian darinya diselimuti dengan airbatu dan hanya 20 hingga 30 kaki shj yg terjulur keluar.
Tetapi para saintis/juru ukur itu dapat masuk ke dalam "Noah Ark".Apa yg mereka dapati ialah "Noah Ark" itu diperbuat dari kayu balak purba yg sudah tidak wujud lagi spesisnya di dunia hari ini. Jarak dari satu tingkat ke satu tingkat ialah 12 hingga ke 13 kaki.
* Pengalaman Ed.Davis
"Saya seorg Sarjan Master yg menjaga pembinaan dlm Kumpulan Perkhidmatan Khas Jurutera Tentera di Utara Iran,pada tahun 1943 .Ketika sedang m'geluarkan batu dari kuari..budak berbangsa Qurdish yg menjadi pemandu pasukan saya memandang kaki Mt.Ararat seraya berkata " Ya,disitulah kampung halaman dan tempat dimana org tua saya tinggal.Yang mana di puncaknya pula terdapat "Noah Ark"..dan ayah saya tahu di mana letaknya "Noah Ark" itu".
Saya terkejut dan berkata.."Benar?.. Boleh bawak saya kesana? " Budak pemandu Qurdish itu kemudiannya berjanji akan mengenalkan saya dgn ayahnya.
Suatu hari,budak Qurdish itu membawa ayahnya melawat saya. Dia memperkenalkan ayahnya. Nama ayahnya Abbas."Pada masa ini,"Noah Ark" masih tidak kelihatan. Dan apabila tiba masanya nanti saya akan datang jemput awak.." kata Abbas.
Beberapa bulan kemudiannya Abbas datang menjemput saya."Kita boleh pergi sekarang kalau nak.." kata Abbas. Saya tidak buang masa dan inilah saat2 yg paling saya tunggu.
Kami seramai 8 org mula mendaki Mt.Ararat.Suhu amat sejuk dan tidak pernah seumur hidup saya merasa sesejuk serta seletih itu. Jika saya tahu ianya seteruk ini sudah tentu saya tidak akan mahu pergi.
Semasa kumpulan kami mendaki ke atas, kami berhenti di sebuah telaga. Saya diberitahu Abbas telaga ini dinamakan Perigi Yaakub, memang telah menjadi adat beratus2 tahun Nenek Moyang Abbas akan berhenti di "Perigi Yaakob" berdoa dan meletakkan seketul batu dia atas himpunan batu yg diletakkan oleh orang2 yg menaiki Puncak Ararat sejak zaman berzaman dahulu lagi.
Kami pun meninggalkan "Perigi Yaakob" dan mendaki agak jauh dan melalui satu jalan yg digelar "Pintu Belakang".Itu merupakan jalan "short cut" agar perjalanan kami menjadi lebih cepat.
setelah beberapa hari mendaki Abbas menyuruh kami semua mengikat tali antara satu sama lain.Mereka memberi satu tali panjang yg mempunyai satu tempat utk mengikat pinggang.Kami semua mengikat pinggang kami dan saya berada di tempat ke 5. Dua org Qurdish sentiasa berada di belakang saya seolah2 pengawal peribadi.Abbas telah kehilangan 2 org anak lelaki semasa mendaki dahulu dan sebab itulah beliau sungguh berhati2.
Saya rasa mereka yg lain semua ada p'laman mendaki gunung ini,sebab mereka semua tahu jalan2 yg mereka lalui w'pun keadaan suasana yg gelap.Hanya saya seorang sahaja yg asing dan berbangsa Amerika.
Saya tidak mempunyai sebarang alat khas selain dari barang2 tentera.Saya lihat Abbas dan rakan2nya mempunyai peralatan yg baik dan sesuai. Mereka semua dapat alat itu entah dari mana.
Abbas kemudiannya memberi cermin penutup muka kpd semua. Kami memakainya sepanjang masa.Abbas juga memberi saya 1 keping logam bersinar yg buleh kami gunakan bagi memberi isyarat.Abbas juga memberikan saya 1 lampu suluh yg akan digunakan sewaktu melintasi gua. Saya diberikan wisel utk dibunyikan sekiranya memerlukan sesuatu bantuan dan dilarang sama sekali berteriak dan meninggikan suara.
Kami tidur di dalam tidak kurang dari 6 buah gua. Semasa mendaki, kami hanya memakan bubur. Saya sendiri tidak tahu apa isi bubur itu. rasa2nya seperti daging dan sayur shj. Pada dinding gua itu terdapat lukisan2 purba. Hanya Abbas dan rakannya2 shj tahu apa makna lukisan itu.
Semua org masih terikat dgn tali antara satu sama lain. Malah ketika hendak pergi buang air besar pun kami tidak dibenarkan sekali2 membuka tali.
Cuaca tidak elok semasa kami naik,sentiasa hujan dan berangin. kami berjalan dia atas batu dan ais batu. Terdapat bermacam2 bahaya, kami selalu shj tergelincir dan jatuh. Mereka kata jika berlaku sebarang kematian mereka tidak akan membawa mayat itu turun ke bawah. Sebab itu saya nampak banyak tulang dan serpihan tengkorak manusia di dalam airbatu. [Memang mereka tinggalkan org yg mati di atas gunung itu dan saya tidak tahu mengapa..]
Abbas dikatakan penjaga kepada "Noah Ark" itu semenjak turun temurun. Abbas kata dia tidak suka jika ada org/bangsa asing naik ke gunung itu utk mencari/mengkaji "Noah Ark". Dia kata setiap org yg naik mahu mengopek dan memecahkan mana2 bahagian "Noah Ark" bagi tujuan membawanya balik. Sedangkan org2 Qurdish ini tidak mahu "Noah Ark" itu di apa2kan. Pertama kali saya nampak "Noah Ark", ia seolah2 sebungkah batu biru yg sangat besar. Semakin dekat, barulah rupabentuknya jelas kelihatan. Saya nampak bahagian hujung bahtera itu sudah berlubang pecah mungkin bekas dikapak org.
Saya merasa sungguh kagum dan sedikit kecewa kerana tidak dapat menghampirinya. Hanya tuhan sahaja yg tahu betapa ingin saya menyentuh dan berjalan2 di atasnya. Abbas menerangkan bahawa "Noah Ark" itu mempunyai sumpahannya. Ada sesetengah org yg telah mendapat penyakit jantung serta mati serta merta di dalamnya.
Sebenarnya sebahgian dari barang2 antik muatan "Noah Ark" telah pun diambil oleh nenek moyang Abbas semenjak dahulu lagi. saya sendiri nampak beberapa barang antik berupa mangkuk besar setinggi 2 kaki setengah,pasu,bikar,pinggan yg diperbuat dari kulit kerang,piring pelita,itu dirumahnya. Mereka hanya setakat membenarkan saya tengok sahaja.
Abbas juga menerangkan pada saya,moyangnya telah menjumpai madu di dalam botol sewaktu ekspidisi bersama saintis Turkey. Dan sekarang madu itu telah di hantar ke Switzerland dan disahkan sbg madu asli.
* Kisah ED BEHLING.
Dalam tahun 1973 Ed Behling berada dalam Pasukan Tentera Udara yg. ditugaskan mengawal dan memberi perlindungan semasa pembinaan kem tentera di Diaberker ,kira-kira 100 batu dari tengarra gunung Ararat.. ia mempuyai kawan dari tentera turki Berketurunan Kurdish yg. bernama Mustafa.(sebagaimana yg. diketahui orang kurdish dianggap "penjaga" gunung Ararat,,"Namanya Mustafa dan dia juga seorang askar ketika itu dan saya tak mungkin dapat mencarinya lagi sekarang ini.." kata Edward Behling.
Saya dan Mustafa telah mendaki ke puncak Ararat pada bulan hujung Mei. Sebenarnya Mustafa sendiri pun langsung tidak pernah melihat "Noah Ark" itu sebelumnya,dan dia berjanji memujuk Pakcik saudaranya yg juga bangsa Qurdish agar turut membawa saya bagi tujuan melihat "Noah Ark" tersebut.
Saya tidak membawa 'kamera' kerana diberitahu pakcik Mustafa sangat berbahaya kerana "Noah Ark" itu letaknya bersempadan dgn Russia, sementara saya sendiri pula berbangsa Amerika jika ditangkap tentunya mereka semua akan mendapat susah. seperti yg telah dijangka, pada awalnya Pakcik Mustafa agak keberatan membawa saya ke "Noah Ark",apatah lagi saya ini berbangsa asing.[orang Qurdish sememangnya sukar mempercayai org luar]
Saya betul2 hairan kerana ada satu kumpulan ekspidisi Noah Ark yg bertolak baru2 ini tidak menemui Noah Ark walaupun menggunakan pemandu Qurdish. Dan saya syak mereka sengaja menunjuknya ke jalan yg tidak betul. Percayalah, jika golongan tua tidak merestui nescaya golongan muda yg memandu itu sekali2 tidak akan ingkar. Tidak ada sesiapa yg dapat menghampiri "Noah Ark" tanpa kebenaran golongan tua Qurdish itu.
Setelah bangun awal, Pakcik Mustafa terus membawa kami ke sebelah kawasan gunung. Saya meresakan seolah2 sedang melalui sebuah lorong di celah2 batu dan salji turun dgn sungguh lebat. Pak Cik Mustafa itu seolah2 tahu dgn tepat segala laluan yg dibawanya. setelah beberapa lama berjalan meredah lorong batu saya merasa teramat2 letih dan benar2 berharap mereka akan berhenti rehat dengan tidak semena2 tetiba Mustafa berpaling ke arah kami dan menunjukkan sesuatu saya tengok di satu lurah
50 kaki kebawah, Saya nampak sebuah binaan yang hitam dan besar . Ianya amat besar Salji yang menutup bahagian atasnya telah cair. Bahagian depan Bahtera itu sudah pecah dan berlubang. Saya tidak nampak sebarang pintu.Saya sendiri melihat benda sebesar itu terdampar di puncak Gunung Ararat. Oleh kerana cahaya agak kurang.lubang yang terdapat di bahtera itu tidak kelihatan.
Bahtera itu berwarna hitam.Saya nampak ianya seperti satu kotak besar yang panjang. Saya nampak 150-200 kaki saja,selebihnya badan bahtera itu terkambus dengan salji. saya nampak bahagian hujung bahtera itu sudah dtakuk atau dipecahkan. Ketebalan
dinding kapal itu lebih kurang 18 inci. Selepas memerhatinya, Pakcik Mustafa memberi isyarat untuk bergerak. Kami tak dapat untuk melompat kebawah ditempat kapal berada kerana ianya terlalu jauh. Kami tidak membawa tali , Saya memang nak sangat berjalan diatasnya tapi tidak ada peluang.
* Penemuan Dr Robert Ballard
Sekali lagi cerita dari al-Qur'an terbukti kebenarannya melalui kajian saintifik yang dijalankan oleh barat. Sekumpulan pengkaji ukur bawah air (underwater surveyors) yang diketuai oleh Dr Robert Ballard, yang juga telah menemui Titanic, telah menemui sebuah bangunan lama berusia kira-kira 7500 tahun di dasar Laut Hitam, 12 batu dari pantai Turki. Mereka telah menemui struktur bangunan dari batu dan kayu beberapa ratus kaki dari paras air. Penemuan mereka menjadi bukti terhampir kejadian banjir besar di zaman Nabi Noh seperti diceritakan di dalam al-Qur'an dan juga Old Testament.
Ahli sains percaya penemuan tersebut membuktikan kewujudan sebuah kawasan penempatan yang telah tenggelam disebabkan
banjir besar yang melanda sekitar tahun 5000 sebelum masihi. Menurut teori mereka, banjir besar tersebut disebabkan pencairan glasier dari tanah tinggi di Eropah. "Ia merupakan penemuan yang sangat menakjubkan" kata Dr Ballad di dalam rancangan National Geographic Society bertajuk "Research Ship Northern Horizon".
Beliau menerangkan bagaimana sebuah robot bawah air yang meninjau 300 kaki di bawah paras air telah menemui kawasan segiempat berukuran 12 x 45 kaki persegi di mana terdapatnya sebuah struktur daripada kayu dan tanah liat yang telah runtuh. "Beberapa artifak yang ditemui di situ tersimpan rapi tanpa diusik terdiri daripada bim kayu berukir, beberapa cabang kayu dan peralatan
dari batu yang telah runtuh dan diselaputi lumpur"
kata Dr Ballard. Kumpulan pengkaji Dr Ballard memulakan kajian di kawasan tersebut setelah dua kapal selam pakar geologi dari Universiti Colombia di New York mencadangkan bahawa ia disebabkan oleh banjir besar beribu tahun dahulu. Mereka meramalkan
apabila zaman ais (Ice Age) berakhir 12,000 tahun dahulu, glasier mula menjadi cair. Kawasan timur Mediteranian yang terputus daripada Laut Hitam telah menyebabkan Laut Hitam tidak ditenggelami air walaupun paras air lautan yang lain telah naik. Ini menyebabkan pada sekitar 7000 tahun yang lepas, empangan semula jadi di Bosphorus telah pecah menyebabkan air di Laut Mediteranian melimpah ke timur menjadi Laut Hitam yang sememangnya terputus daripada laut-laut yang lain. Kekuatan limpahan air
tersebut dianggarkan 10,000 kali ganda Niagara Falls.
Mereka mendakwa bukti saintifik menunjukkan bahawa kulit kerang dari kawasan tersebut berusia lebih 7000 tahun manakala yang daripada laut lain berusia sekitar 6500 tahun. Dr Ballard menerangkan "Banyak perkara berlaku telah berlaku apabila air tawar dari sebuah tasik bertukar menjadi air masin sebuah laut 7000 tahun dahulu dan hasil daripada banjir besar tersebut menyebabkan kawasan tanah darat yang sangat luas bertukar menjadi dasar laut".
Dipetik daripada: James Chapman, Daily Mail, UK, 14 September
2000. Jamil Adimin Research
and Graduate School University of Manchester.
* Pengalaman Ahmet Ali Arslan - Ketua Pengarang sebuah akhbar berbahasa Turkey di Washington DC.
Pernah bekerja sebagai juruhebah di stesen radio Suara Amerika.Beliau juga seorang penasihat dan penyelidik kanan Institut Sains dan International Technology-Washington DC. "Keluarga saya dari Aralik yg terletak di kaki Mt.Ararat.Di situlah saya dibesarkan. Semenjak kecil saya telah naik ke gunung itu mungkin telah lebih dari 50 kali termasuklah ekspidisi Navarra
Saya menemani satu rombongan ekspidisi saintist dalam tahun 1989 utk mencari kawasan jurang yg dikenali sbg Lurah Ahora di pinggir gunung itu, Lurah Ahora ini adalah satu lurah yg sangat curam dan bahaya.
Oleh kerana saya seorang wargenegara Turkey maka saya diberi kebenarkan membuat siasatan ke bahagian2 tertentu di Mt.Ararat yg mana dikenalpasti oleh satelit sbg kawasan yg mungkin merupakan kawasan bahtera.
Sebaik sahaja saya dekat dgn kawasan itu lapisan ais yg saya pijak mula bergerak dan saya telah tergelincir sejauh berpuluh2 kaki ke bawah jurang. Mujurlah saya tidak terjatuh ke dalam lubang jurang.
Apabila saya berdiri,dihadapan saya kira 2,100 kaki, saya terlihat satu struktur bangunan yg diperbuat drp kayu. Kira2 beberapa ribu kaki dari puncak gunung. Saya mula cepat2 ambil gambar. Saya yakin itulah The Great Noah Ark yg ada diceritakan oleh kebanyakkan orang. Jika ada pembaca yang ingin mendapat maklumat lanjut bolehlah menghubungi Dr Ahmet Ali arsan dialamat 9430,Cloverdale Court, Burke, Va 22015, Amerika Syarikat.
Kenyataan dan Persoalan dari artikel/catatan pengkaji sejarah:
* Maha Suci Allah yang telah menentukan Bahtera Nabi Nuh AS ditempatkan diatas Gunung Ararat (Gunung Kesengsaraan) yang mana ianya menyukarkan para pengkaji dan saintis untuk merosakkan Bahtera tersebut dan satu dari pada kesan sejarah Islam yang terulung memerlukan keredaan Allah untuk dikaji.
* Beberapa saintis barat diberi hidayah Allah untuk mengakui kebenaran Islam melalui penemuan Bahtera Nabi Nuh AS yang juga mengiakan Kalam Allah yang termaktub dalam Al-Quran.
* Dan juga beberapa saintis barat yang menafikan Bahtera Nabi Nuh AS justeru ingin terus merosakkan.
* Kenapakah beberapa badan siasatan merahsiakan penemuan Bahtera Nabi Nuh AS dan bukti disimpan oleh Pentagon yang juga ingin merahsiakan misteri-misteri penemuan seperti Piramid, Kewujudan UFO, Penangkapan Makluk Asing, Misteri Segitiga Bermuda dan beberapa misteri yang masih disembunyikan dari umum.
Wallahualam
1
(The Great Noah Ark)
Rujukan asal dari : http://www.variasari.cjb.net/
Artikel telah di edit tanpa menjejaskan artikel sebenar.
Gambar : Bahtera Nabi Nuh AS di gunung Ararat.
Di sebuah gunung yg sentiasa diselimuti salji yg terletak di Timur Turkey, tersembunyi sebuah misteri 'berharga' yang berusia lebih 5000 tahun Peninggalan sejarah yg maha berharga itu bukan saja menarik minat para pengkaji sejarah malah pihak perisik US seperti CIA/KGB pun cuba menyelongkar. pihak2 CIA telah menggunakan satelite dan pesawat 'Stealth' utk mengambil gambar objek yg terdampar di puncak gunung itu.
Gambar2 itu telah menjadi 'rahsia besar' dan disimpan rapi dgn kawalan yg ketat bersama dgn 'rahsia2' penting yg lain di Pentagon. Sudah beratus2 org cuba mendaki Gunung Aghi-Dahl yg bermaksud 'Gunung Kesengsaraan'atau dgn nama petanya iaitu Mount Ararat, namun hanya beberapa2 kerat saja yg berjaya.Yang sebahagian besarnya selebihnya hanyalah menjadi korban.
Sehingga ke hari ini, cuma ada beberapa orang pendaki shj yg berjaya sampai ke puncak Mt.Ararat dan dapat menyaksikan dgn mata kepala sendiri kesan artifak peninggalan purba yg 'mahaberharga' itu.Ada sesetengah pendaki dapat mengambil gambar.
Apa yg masih menjadi tanda tanya,kesemua orang2 yg berjaya membawa balik gambar tersebut telah ditimpa berbagai2 bencana. Ada diantara mereka telah dibunuh dgn penuh misteri.Hanya semata2 kerana gambar tersebut. Memang ramai org yg telah mengambil gambar kesan sejarah 'Noah' itu telah mati misteri.
Soalnya sekarang, mengapakah 'kuasa2 besar' mahu merahsiakan gambar peninggalan lama itu dan menyimpannya di tempat2 rahsia tentera ?. Mengapa mereka tak mau mengesahkan bahawa peninggalan 'Noah' benar2 ada di puncak Mt .Ararat itu ? Pada masa yg sama mereka juga menafikan bahawa itu sebenarnya adalah The Great Noah Ark ! Pyramid Sphinx di Giza sendiri pun telah tertimbus dalam pasir selama lebih kurang 2000 tahun sebelum dijumpai,kerana selama itu orang menafikannya.
Samalah The Great Noah Ark tu pun.Ia tertimbus di bawah salji selama hampir 5000 tahun dan selama 5000 thn itu jugalah misteri itu sedang menunggu masa utk dibongkar.
Sebenarnya, zaman Nabi Noah AS dulu tidaklah seprimitif yg kita semua bayangkan. Hakikatnya pada zaman itu they all dah maju ke depan. Pengetahuan Sains mereka dah maju pada masa itu. Di kaki Mount Ararat itu sahaja pun, Para Pengkaji dan Scientist Russia telah menemui lebih kurang 500 kesan artifak bateri elektrik purba yg digunakan utk menyadurkan logam.
Mengikut kiraan ahli anstronomi secara berkomputer.Noah AS mula membina bahteranya pada tahun 2465 B.C dan hujan mula turun pada tahun 2345 B.C
Rupa bentuk The Great Noah Ark itu sebenarnya tidak sama dengan bentuk kapal laut yang ada didunia sekarang. Mengikut para pendaki yg pernah melihat "Noah Ark" di puncak Mt.Ararat itu, Noah Ark memang sebuah bahtera besar yg cukup hebat. "Noah Ark" itu diperbuat drp spesis kayu purba yg memang sudah tidak ujud lagi di dunia ini. Ia diselaputi syelek, bebentuk 'kotak kasut', tidak cantik, tapi sangat berfungsi.
Ia telah dibina seluas 300 cubit X 50 cubit X 30 cubit. Untuk pengetahuan anda cubit itu adalah satu kiraan jarak panjang diantara siku dgn jari yg digunakan oleh orang2 zaman dahulu. Bersamaan 18 inchi bagi 1 cubit, bermakna panjang "Noah Ark" ini adalah lebih kurang 450 kaki,75 kaki lebar,45 kaki tinggi.
Ada juga Para Pengkaji berpendapat,"Noah Ark" berukuran satu dan satu setengah padang bola. Bumbung bahtera itu pula adalah seluas 20 padang bola keranjang. Keluasan dalamannya cukup utk memuatkan 170 gerabak ketapi. Ia memerlukan sebanyak 9000 hingga 13000 batang balak utk membinanya. Dan dianggarkan seberat 4,100 tan.
Hari nih terdapat lebih kurang 1,072,000 haiwan dari pelbagai spesis di dunia ini.Mengikut kajian Dr.Whitcomb, dianggarkan kira2 3,700 binatang mamalia,
8600 jenis itik/burung,6300 jenis reptilia,2500 jenis amfibia yg menaiki The Great Noah Ark itu.Berat kargo/muatan bahtera itu mungkin lebih kurang 24,300 tan.
Di sebalik fakta saintifik, anda perlu ingat:
Perumpamaan Ahlul Baytku ibarat Bahtera Nuh. Sesiapa yang ikut berlayar bersamanya dia akan selamat, dan sesiapa yang enggan dan terlambat, dia akan tenggelam. (Ibnu Hajar, Zawaid Musnad al-Bazzar, hlm.277;Al-Tabrani, al-Mu'jam al-Kabir, Juzuk I, hlm.168)
Gambar : Angaran saiz Bahtera Nabi Nuh AS dgn sebuah rumah.
The Great Noah Ark ini berada di Mt.Ararat, dimanakah agaknya ia dibina dan berapa jauhkah ianya telah belayar ?
Mengikut seorang pengkaji 'Noah Ark' ini, bahtera itu telah dibina disebuah tempat bernama Shuruppak, iaitu sebuah bandar yg terletak di selatan Iraq. Jika ia dibina di selatan Iraq dan akhirnya terdampar di Utara Turkey ini bermakna ianya telah ditolak arus sejauh 520 batu. Mount Ararat Mt.Ararat ini bukan sebarang gunung. Ia adalah sebuah gunung yg unik. Antara salah satu keunikan yg terdapat pada gunung ini ialah, pada setiap hari akan muncul pelangi pada sebelah utara puncak gunung itu.
Mt.Ararat ini ialah salah satu gunung yg mempunyai kemuncak yg luas di muka bumi ini. Ia adalah gunung yg tertinggi sekali di Turkey. Gunung ini tegak sendirian dgn kemuncak dipanggil Ararat Besar dgn ketinggian 16,984 kaki.Bersententangan dgn sebuah lagi kemuncak gunung yg dipanggil Ararat Kecil setinggi 12,806 kaki menegak naik dari Bayazit Orang yg menaiki gunung ini akan dapat melihat 3 negara iaitu "Russia,Iran,Turkey".
Kedudukan Mt.Ararat yg sememangnya strategik itu telah membuatkan ia menjadi rebutan banyak negara pada suatu masa dahulu. Kalau korang tengok
CNN hari nih pun masih ada lagi perebutan sempadan antara tentera Turkey vs Puak2 Guerilla Qurdish yg mahukan kemerdekaan dari kr'jaan Turkey.
Keluasan dasar [bawah] Mt.Ararat itu kira2 25 batu garis pusat.Garispusat kemuncaknya pula 17 hingga 22 batu persegi ditutupi air batu setebal kira2 200 kaki. Ketulan2 air batu sentiasa jatuh dan tersilap langkah akan terjatuh jatuh ke dalam jurang Ahora.
Gambar : Sebahagian Bahtera Nabi Nuh AS dilitupi salji.
Sebuah 'anchor' purba yg besar telah ditemui di Khairouan, Tunissia. Menurut pengkaji, sauh itulah yg digunakan oleh 'Noah Ark' semasa berlabuh di puncak Mt.Ararat. Sebuah 'batu nisan' yg didakwa kepunyaan nabi Noah AS telah dijumpai di Mt.Lebanon di Syria. Batu nisan itu berukuran 120 kaki panjang.
Pada tahun 1917,Maharaja Russia Tsar Nicholas II telah menghantar sejumlah 150 org pakar pelbagai bidang yg terdiri dari jurutera, saintis dan tentera untuk mencari dan menyelidik The Great Noah Ark tersebut.
Pasukan ekspedisi itu mengambil masa selama satu bulan utk sampai ke puncak Mt.Ararat itu.Segala penat lelah mereka berhasil kerana akhirnya berjaya menemui 'Noah Ark' tersebut.
Dalam keadaan tergaman,kagum mereka mengambil gambar sebanyak yg mampu. Pasukan Saintis Russia itu cuba mengukur size 'Noah Ark' dan didapati 'Noah Ark' itu berukuran 500 kaki panjang,83 kaki lebar dan 50 kaki tinggi [bahagian selebihnya tenggelam didalam salji]
Hasil dari siasatan itu telah dihantar pulang kepada Tsar, malangnya belum pun sempat laporan siasatan itu sampai ke tangan baginda, Perang Bolshevik Komunist (1917) meletus. Laporan itu akhirnya jatuh ke tangan General Leon Trotsky. Sehingga sekarang masih lagi belum diketahui samada segala 'laporan siasatan' itu masih disimpan atau dimusnahkan.
Gambar : Bahtera Nabi Nuh AS menurut gambaran pendaki.
Artikel Pengalaman-pengalaman Menarik Para Pengkaji Noah Ark.
* Catatan seorang Pendaki dan Pengkaji "Noah Ark" di Mount Ararat. (Dr.John Morris)
Banyak sungguh halangan utk mencari The Great Noah Ark.Saya dah daki banyak gunung lain di dunia dan saya dah daki Ararat nih sebanyak 13 kali sebelum berjaya. Saya cuma nak ingatkan "Mt.Ararat nih memang sebuah gunung yg meragut nyawa". Kalau dari sebelah selatan,Mt.Ararat ini adalah seperti kon air batu, dari sebelah berlawanannya pula terdapat sebuah lurah yg dipanggil "Lurah Ahora", terdapat dinding2 batu yg curam.Bahagian yg curam itu sememangnya sukar utk didaki.
Mt.Ararat ialah sebuah gunung berapi yg telah meletus beberapa kali semenjak peristiwa 'banjir besar Noah" itu dulu.Puncaknya ditutupi dgn air batu seluas 17 batu persegi glasiar dan penutupan ke bawah ke paras 14,000 kaki. Semasa glasiar itu bergerak turun, ia juga membawa sama bekas kepingan lahar gunung berapi dan terjadinya batu runtuh.
Memanjat dari arah air batu yg meluncur itu memang susah. Bermacam² masalah akan timbul. Tanah runtuh, cuaca ganas, anjing serigala liar, beruang gunung beserta ular² berbisa sering datang menganggu.
Puncak gunung yg setinggi 17,000 kaki yg ditutupi dgn airbatu itu pula selalu terjadi cuaca yg tidak menentu. Di situ angin bertiup kencang, suhu amat sejuk dan sebarang cecair akan menjadi beku tersejat.
Setiap petang terdapat kilat yg diikuti angin,hujan dan salji.Angin yg bertiup biasanya 100 batu/jam. Pada suatu malam saya pernah alami suhu menurun sehingga negatif 40 darjah Celsius dan angin bertiup selaju 80 batu sejam. Cuaca sahaja pun telah membuat kita cukup sengsara. Oleh kerana Ararat ialah sebuah gunung berapi,gas yg keluar dari gunung itu ialah gas beracun yg boleh mendatangkan masalah utk kami bernafas. Saya sendiri pun tinggal di puncak Ararat selama 1 minggu dan dlm keadaan susah utk bernafas.
Puak2 yg tinggal berdekatan dgn gunung juga turut memberikan banyak masalah kpd kami,kami telah ditembak beberapa kali,oleh perompak. Guerrila Qurdish juga telah menggunakan gunung itu sbg tempat persembunyian dalam pertelingkahan dgn kerajaan Turkey dan Timur Tengah. Kumpulan kami tidak ada yg terkorban tapi kami menghadapi banyak masalah dan cedera parah.
Ramai org telah terkorban di gunung itu dalam mencari The Great Noah Ark. Pengalaman yg paling pahit sekali ialah ketika kami berada di paras 14,000 kaki. Kami terkena pancaran kilat. Akhirnya kami berjaya juga sampai ke puncak Ararat dan menghabiskan masa selama 1 minggu utk mencari The Great Noah Ark.
* Catatan Mr.Ronald Bennet, bekas jurufoto Whitehouse yg sekarang ini telah bersara,tinggal di sebuah bandar -La Jolla,California
US.President-Jimmy Carter telah dijemput hadir ke Majlis Tahun Baru yg diadakan oleh Shah Iran di Tehran. Ronald Bennet telah ternampak sesuatu berbentuk seperti 'kotak kasut yg besar' ditimbus airbatu ketika Air Force One yg membawa President Jimmy Carter melintasi Mt.Ararat. [Air Force One telah bertolak dari Washington DC menuju ke Warsaw, Poland pada 29th.Dec.1977 dan kemudiannya ke Tehran pada 31th.Dec.1977]
"Saya adalah jurufoto dan wartawan ygb meliputi segala aktiviti Whitehouse selalu sahaja ikut President Jimmy Carter ke mana² bagi membuat laporan tentang aktiviti US.President. Semasa peristiwa itu berlaku, kami dalam perjalanan dari Poland ke Tehran. Semasa terbang diutara Turkey, kami telah disuruh memandang ke tingkap. Pada masa yg sama ada beberapa buah pesawat MIG Fulcrum USSR sedang mengiringi Air Force One yg kami naiki. Kami memandang ke tingkap kami nampak dengan jelas "sebuah kotak panjang seperti bahtera yg besar sebahagiannya ditutupi dgn airbatu."
* Gambar The Noah Ark Yang Hilang
Seorang jurutera minyak telah menaiki helikopter di bahagin Utara Mt.Ararat kerana urusan perniagaan.Tiba² terkejut melihat satu kotak besar yg panjang menyerupai bahtera terjulur keluar dari air batu. Jurutera itu kemudiannya menyuruh pilotnya mendekatkan helikopter ke bahtera sedekat yg mungkin bagi mengambil seberapa banyak gambar.
Dengan rasa bangga dan seronok dia menunjukkan segala gambar² yg telah diambil olehnya itu kepad semua rakan² di Timur tengah dan Amerika. Dalam masa yg sama dia cuba mencari bantuan kewangan utk menjalankan satu ekspidisi bagi mencari "Noah Ark". Malangnya dia tidak berjaya dan dgn rasa kecewa dia ke British Guyana dan membuka lombong minyak disitu.
Pada 27th.Dec.1962, Jurutera itu dijumpai mati dibunuh dgn keadaan badannya dijumpai terapung di kolam renang hotel.
Kawan baiknya dalam membuat laporan Polis ada mengatakan bahawa almari tempat menyimpan segala gambar/filem "Noah Ark" telah digeledah orang 10 hari sebelum kejadian.
Filem dan gambar Noah Ark telah hilang, ramai kawan baik jurutera itu mengesahkan yg mereka telah melihat foto hitam/putih "Noah Ark" yg berukuran 8 X 10 inchi. Dan tidak menolak kemungkinan di bunuh kerana foto tersebut.
* Pengakuan Paderi Kristian - Pastor Harold William dari Logansport, Indiana
Pengakuan dibuat pada sebuah media, ada seorang kawannya seorang imigran Muslim yg berbangsa Armenia bernama Haji Yearam yg telah tinggal di kaki Mt.Ararat. Mengikut sejarah/tradisi,mereka ini adalah keturunan terus menerus yg keluar dari " Noah Ark " itu dan tidak berhijrah ke mana². Keturunan Hj.Yearam sentiasa tinggal di kaki Mt.Ararat itu.
Beberapa ratus tahun selepas 'bah besar' , anak cucu keturunannya telah mendaki ke Puncak Ararat utk memberi penghormatan dan melihat "Noah Ark" itu. Masa itu masih ada lagi laluan menuju ke bahtera dan entah macamana laluan itu telah musnah dan tidak dapat dikesan kini.mungkin kerana perubahan cuaca,gempa bumi dan sebagainya.
Semasa Hj.Yearam masih kecil,ada beberapa org bangsa asing telah datang ke rumahnya.Mereka ini adalah orang yg tidak percaya dgn Al-Quran dan sebarang agama. Mereka adalah saintis,mereka dlm perjalanan melakukan ekspidisi utk membuktikan bahawa cerita The Great Noah Ark itu adalah berupa dongeng semata².
Para saintist kemudiannya megupah bapa Hj.Yearam bagi menjadi pemandu ke Puncak Mt.Ararat dan Hj.Yearam yg pada masa itu masih kecil pun turut serta. Waktu itu musim panas, airbatu salji yg menutupi sebahgian Puncak Ararat mencair.
Selepas bersusah payah mendaki akhirnya mereka pun tiba di puncak. Dgn jelas "Noah Ark" kelihatan seolah2 berada didlm tasik kecil. Air dari tasik kelihatan melimpah keluar turun kebawah Apabila mereka sampai di tasik itu, jelas kelihatan sebahagian dari "Noah Ark"
itu tertonjol keluar dari airbatu.Para saintis kemudiannya meluru ke bahtera. Mereka tergaman dan berasa malu.
Seluruh behgian luar dan dalam "Noah Ark" itu diselaputi syellek atau lacker serta bahan pengilat yg kuat dan tebal. Tidak kelihatan sebarang tingkap, terdapat hanya sebuah pintu besar tetapi daun nya sudah tiada lagi. Para saintis kemudiannya marah. Mereka cuba mengopek kayu bahtera tersebut, membuat unggun api bagi tujuan membakar dan memusnahkan "Noah Ark" tersebut Maha Suci Allah dgn keadaan kekurangan pelbagai alatan segala usaha mereka itu sia². Apatah lagi dengan keadaan "Noah Ark" itu sendiri yg keras seperti batu. Kayunya tidak berupaya terbakar langsung.
Para saintist itu kemudianya memberi amaran kpd ayah Hj.Yearam agar merahsiakan apa yg mereka tahu dan nampak jika maukan keluarga mereka selamat. Sebab itu dikala tuanya baru bercerita,itu pun hanya pada org dipercayainya shj. Wallahuallam..
* Gempa Bumi
Pada 2nd.May.1883,telah berlaku satu gempa bumi menyebabkan batu dan ketulan runtuh dan turun hingga menutup hampir keseluhuran kampung2 yg terdapat di kaki Mt.Ararat. Letupan gunung berapi amatlah dasat,sehingga dikatakan keseluruhan
benua Eropah dapat merasainya.
Setahun kemudian, Kerajaan Turkey menghantar 1 kumpulan ekspidisi saintis bagi mengukur sejauh mana kemusnahan yg di akibatkan darinya.
Seorang Inggeris Captain Gayscoyne yg juga merupakan seorg Duta British di Istanbul telah memohon kpd kerajaan Turkey utk menyertainya. Diaamat bernasib baik kerana dapat melihat kemunculan The Great Noah Ark itu. Bukan itu sahaja, malah pasukan saintis/juru ukur itu telah dapat mengukur "Noah Ark" malangnya mereka tidak dapat mengukur dgn tepat dan lengkap kerana sebahagian darinya diselimuti dengan airbatu dan hanya 20 hingga 30 kaki shj yg terjulur keluar.
Tetapi para saintis/juru ukur itu dapat masuk ke dalam "Noah Ark".Apa yg mereka dapati ialah "Noah Ark" itu diperbuat dari kayu balak purba yg sudah tidak wujud lagi spesisnya di dunia hari ini. Jarak dari satu tingkat ke satu tingkat ialah 12 hingga ke 13 kaki.
* Pengalaman Ed.Davis
"Saya seorg Sarjan Master yg menjaga pembinaan dlm Kumpulan Perkhidmatan Khas Jurutera Tentera di Utara Iran,pada tahun 1943 .Ketika sedang m'geluarkan batu dari kuari..budak berbangsa Qurdish yg menjadi pemandu pasukan saya memandang kaki Mt.Ararat seraya berkata " Ya,disitulah kampung halaman dan tempat dimana org tua saya tinggal.Yang mana di puncaknya pula terdapat "Noah Ark"..dan ayah saya tahu di mana letaknya "Noah Ark" itu".
Saya terkejut dan berkata.."Benar?.. Boleh bawak saya kesana? " Budak pemandu Qurdish itu kemudiannya berjanji akan mengenalkan saya dgn ayahnya.
Suatu hari,budak Qurdish itu membawa ayahnya melawat saya. Dia memperkenalkan ayahnya. Nama ayahnya Abbas."Pada masa ini,"Noah Ark" masih tidak kelihatan. Dan apabila tiba masanya nanti saya akan datang jemput awak.." kata Abbas.
Beberapa bulan kemudiannya Abbas datang menjemput saya."Kita boleh pergi sekarang kalau nak.." kata Abbas. Saya tidak buang masa dan inilah saat2 yg paling saya tunggu.
Kami seramai 8 org mula mendaki Mt.Ararat.Suhu amat sejuk dan tidak pernah seumur hidup saya merasa sesejuk serta seletih itu. Jika saya tahu ianya seteruk ini sudah tentu saya tidak akan mahu pergi.
Semasa kumpulan kami mendaki ke atas, kami berhenti di sebuah telaga. Saya diberitahu Abbas telaga ini dinamakan Perigi Yaakub, memang telah menjadi adat beratus2 tahun Nenek Moyang Abbas akan berhenti di "Perigi Yaakob" berdoa dan meletakkan seketul batu dia atas himpunan batu yg diletakkan oleh orang2 yg menaiki Puncak Ararat sejak zaman berzaman dahulu lagi.
Kami pun meninggalkan "Perigi Yaakob" dan mendaki agak jauh dan melalui satu jalan yg digelar "Pintu Belakang".Itu merupakan jalan "short cut" agar perjalanan kami menjadi lebih cepat.
setelah beberapa hari mendaki Abbas menyuruh kami semua mengikat tali antara satu sama lain.Mereka memberi satu tali panjang yg mempunyai satu tempat utk mengikat pinggang.Kami semua mengikat pinggang kami dan saya berada di tempat ke 5. Dua org Qurdish sentiasa berada di belakang saya seolah2 pengawal peribadi.Abbas telah kehilangan 2 org anak lelaki semasa mendaki dahulu dan sebab itulah beliau sungguh berhati2.
Saya rasa mereka yg lain semua ada p'laman mendaki gunung ini,sebab mereka semua tahu jalan2 yg mereka lalui w'pun keadaan suasana yg gelap.Hanya saya seorang sahaja yg asing dan berbangsa Amerika.
Saya tidak mempunyai sebarang alat khas selain dari barang2 tentera.Saya lihat Abbas dan rakan2nya mempunyai peralatan yg baik dan sesuai. Mereka semua dapat alat itu entah dari mana.
Abbas kemudiannya memberi cermin penutup muka kpd semua. Kami memakainya sepanjang masa.Abbas juga memberi saya 1 keping logam bersinar yg buleh kami gunakan bagi memberi isyarat.Abbas juga memberikan saya 1 lampu suluh yg akan digunakan sewaktu melintasi gua. Saya diberikan wisel utk dibunyikan sekiranya memerlukan sesuatu bantuan dan dilarang sama sekali berteriak dan meninggikan suara.
Kami tidur di dalam tidak kurang dari 6 buah gua. Semasa mendaki, kami hanya memakan bubur. Saya sendiri tidak tahu apa isi bubur itu. rasa2nya seperti daging dan sayur shj. Pada dinding gua itu terdapat lukisan2 purba. Hanya Abbas dan rakannya2 shj tahu apa makna lukisan itu.
Semua org masih terikat dgn tali antara satu sama lain. Malah ketika hendak pergi buang air besar pun kami tidak dibenarkan sekali2 membuka tali.
Cuaca tidak elok semasa kami naik,sentiasa hujan dan berangin. kami berjalan dia atas batu dan ais batu. Terdapat bermacam2 bahaya, kami selalu shj tergelincir dan jatuh. Mereka kata jika berlaku sebarang kematian mereka tidak akan membawa mayat itu turun ke bawah. Sebab itu saya nampak banyak tulang dan serpihan tengkorak manusia di dalam airbatu. [Memang mereka tinggalkan org yg mati di atas gunung itu dan saya tidak tahu mengapa..]
Abbas dikatakan penjaga kepada "Noah Ark" itu semenjak turun temurun. Abbas kata dia tidak suka jika ada org/bangsa asing naik ke gunung itu utk mencari/mengkaji "Noah Ark". Dia kata setiap org yg naik mahu mengopek dan memecahkan mana2 bahagian "Noah Ark" bagi tujuan membawanya balik. Sedangkan org2 Qurdish ini tidak mahu "Noah Ark" itu di apa2kan. Pertama kali saya nampak "Noah Ark", ia seolah2 sebungkah batu biru yg sangat besar. Semakin dekat, barulah rupabentuknya jelas kelihatan. Saya nampak bahagian hujung bahtera itu sudah berlubang pecah mungkin bekas dikapak org.
Saya merasa sungguh kagum dan sedikit kecewa kerana tidak dapat menghampirinya. Hanya tuhan sahaja yg tahu betapa ingin saya menyentuh dan berjalan2 di atasnya. Abbas menerangkan bahawa "Noah Ark" itu mempunyai sumpahannya. Ada sesetengah org yg telah mendapat penyakit jantung serta mati serta merta di dalamnya.
Sebenarnya sebahgian dari barang2 antik muatan "Noah Ark" telah pun diambil oleh nenek moyang Abbas semenjak dahulu lagi. saya sendiri nampak beberapa barang antik berupa mangkuk besar setinggi 2 kaki setengah,pasu,bikar,pinggan yg diperbuat dari kulit kerang,piring pelita,itu dirumahnya. Mereka hanya setakat membenarkan saya tengok sahaja.
Abbas juga menerangkan pada saya,moyangnya telah menjumpai madu di dalam botol sewaktu ekspidisi bersama saintis Turkey. Dan sekarang madu itu telah di hantar ke Switzerland dan disahkan sbg madu asli.
* Kisah ED BEHLING.
Dalam tahun 1973 Ed Behling berada dalam Pasukan Tentera Udara yg. ditugaskan mengawal dan memberi perlindungan semasa pembinaan kem tentera di Diaberker ,kira-kira 100 batu dari tengarra gunung Ararat.. ia mempuyai kawan dari tentera turki Berketurunan Kurdish yg. bernama Mustafa.(sebagaimana yg. diketahui orang kurdish dianggap "penjaga" gunung Ararat,,"Namanya Mustafa dan dia juga seorang askar ketika itu dan saya tak mungkin dapat mencarinya lagi sekarang ini.." kata Edward Behling.
Saya dan Mustafa telah mendaki ke puncak Ararat pada bulan hujung Mei. Sebenarnya Mustafa sendiri pun langsung tidak pernah melihat "Noah Ark" itu sebelumnya,dan dia berjanji memujuk Pakcik saudaranya yg juga bangsa Qurdish agar turut membawa saya bagi tujuan melihat "Noah Ark" tersebut.
Saya tidak membawa 'kamera' kerana diberitahu pakcik Mustafa sangat berbahaya kerana "Noah Ark" itu letaknya bersempadan dgn Russia, sementara saya sendiri pula berbangsa Amerika jika ditangkap tentunya mereka semua akan mendapat susah. seperti yg telah dijangka, pada awalnya Pakcik Mustafa agak keberatan membawa saya ke "Noah Ark",apatah lagi saya ini berbangsa asing.[orang Qurdish sememangnya sukar mempercayai org luar]
Saya betul2 hairan kerana ada satu kumpulan ekspidisi Noah Ark yg bertolak baru2 ini tidak menemui Noah Ark walaupun menggunakan pemandu Qurdish. Dan saya syak mereka sengaja menunjuknya ke jalan yg tidak betul. Percayalah, jika golongan tua tidak merestui nescaya golongan muda yg memandu itu sekali2 tidak akan ingkar. Tidak ada sesiapa yg dapat menghampiri "Noah Ark" tanpa kebenaran golongan tua Qurdish itu.
Setelah bangun awal, Pakcik Mustafa terus membawa kami ke sebelah kawasan gunung. Saya meresakan seolah2 sedang melalui sebuah lorong di celah2 batu dan salji turun dgn sungguh lebat. Pak Cik Mustafa itu seolah2 tahu dgn tepat segala laluan yg dibawanya. setelah beberapa lama berjalan meredah lorong batu saya merasa teramat2 letih dan benar2 berharap mereka akan berhenti rehat dengan tidak semena2 tetiba Mustafa berpaling ke arah kami dan menunjukkan sesuatu saya tengok di satu lurah
50 kaki kebawah, Saya nampak sebuah binaan yang hitam dan besar . Ianya amat besar Salji yang menutup bahagian atasnya telah cair. Bahagian depan Bahtera itu sudah pecah dan berlubang. Saya tidak nampak sebarang pintu.Saya sendiri melihat benda sebesar itu terdampar di puncak Gunung Ararat. Oleh kerana cahaya agak kurang.lubang yang terdapat di bahtera itu tidak kelihatan.
Bahtera itu berwarna hitam.Saya nampak ianya seperti satu kotak besar yang panjang. Saya nampak 150-200 kaki saja,selebihnya badan bahtera itu terkambus dengan salji. saya nampak bahagian hujung bahtera itu sudah dtakuk atau dipecahkan. Ketebalan
dinding kapal itu lebih kurang 18 inci. Selepas memerhatinya, Pakcik Mustafa memberi isyarat untuk bergerak. Kami tak dapat untuk melompat kebawah ditempat kapal berada kerana ianya terlalu jauh. Kami tidak membawa tali , Saya memang nak sangat berjalan diatasnya tapi tidak ada peluang.
* Penemuan Dr Robert Ballard
Sekali lagi cerita dari al-Qur'an terbukti kebenarannya melalui kajian saintifik yang dijalankan oleh barat. Sekumpulan pengkaji ukur bawah air (underwater surveyors) yang diketuai oleh Dr Robert Ballard, yang juga telah menemui Titanic, telah menemui sebuah bangunan lama berusia kira-kira 7500 tahun di dasar Laut Hitam, 12 batu dari pantai Turki. Mereka telah menemui struktur bangunan dari batu dan kayu beberapa ratus kaki dari paras air. Penemuan mereka menjadi bukti terhampir kejadian banjir besar di zaman Nabi Noh seperti diceritakan di dalam al-Qur'an dan juga Old Testament.
Ahli sains percaya penemuan tersebut membuktikan kewujudan sebuah kawasan penempatan yang telah tenggelam disebabkan
banjir besar yang melanda sekitar tahun 5000 sebelum masihi. Menurut teori mereka, banjir besar tersebut disebabkan pencairan glasier dari tanah tinggi di Eropah. "Ia merupakan penemuan yang sangat menakjubkan" kata Dr Ballad di dalam rancangan National Geographic Society bertajuk "Research Ship Northern Horizon".
Beliau menerangkan bagaimana sebuah robot bawah air yang meninjau 300 kaki di bawah paras air telah menemui kawasan segiempat berukuran 12 x 45 kaki persegi di mana terdapatnya sebuah struktur daripada kayu dan tanah liat yang telah runtuh. "Beberapa artifak yang ditemui di situ tersimpan rapi tanpa diusik terdiri daripada bim kayu berukir, beberapa cabang kayu dan peralatan
dari batu yang telah runtuh dan diselaputi lumpur"
kata Dr Ballard. Kumpulan pengkaji Dr Ballard memulakan kajian di kawasan tersebut setelah dua kapal selam pakar geologi dari Universiti Colombia di New York mencadangkan bahawa ia disebabkan oleh banjir besar beribu tahun dahulu. Mereka meramalkan
apabila zaman ais (Ice Age) berakhir 12,000 tahun dahulu, glasier mula menjadi cair. Kawasan timur Mediteranian yang terputus daripada Laut Hitam telah menyebabkan Laut Hitam tidak ditenggelami air walaupun paras air lautan yang lain telah naik. Ini menyebabkan pada sekitar 7000 tahun yang lepas, empangan semula jadi di Bosphorus telah pecah menyebabkan air di Laut Mediteranian melimpah ke timur menjadi Laut Hitam yang sememangnya terputus daripada laut-laut yang lain. Kekuatan limpahan air
tersebut dianggarkan 10,000 kali ganda Niagara Falls.
Mereka mendakwa bukti saintifik menunjukkan bahawa kulit kerang dari kawasan tersebut berusia lebih 7000 tahun manakala yang daripada laut lain berusia sekitar 6500 tahun. Dr Ballard menerangkan "Banyak perkara berlaku telah berlaku apabila air tawar dari sebuah tasik bertukar menjadi air masin sebuah laut 7000 tahun dahulu dan hasil daripada banjir besar tersebut menyebabkan kawasan tanah darat yang sangat luas bertukar menjadi dasar laut".
Dipetik daripada: James Chapman, Daily Mail, UK, 14 September
2000. Jamil Adimin Research
and Graduate School University of Manchester.
* Pengalaman Ahmet Ali Arslan - Ketua Pengarang sebuah akhbar berbahasa Turkey di Washington DC.
Pernah bekerja sebagai juruhebah di stesen radio Suara Amerika.Beliau juga seorang penasihat dan penyelidik kanan Institut Sains dan International Technology-Washington DC. "Keluarga saya dari Aralik yg terletak di kaki Mt.Ararat.Di situlah saya dibesarkan. Semenjak kecil saya telah naik ke gunung itu mungkin telah lebih dari 50 kali termasuklah ekspidisi Navarra
Saya menemani satu rombongan ekspidisi saintist dalam tahun 1989 utk mencari kawasan jurang yg dikenali sbg Lurah Ahora di pinggir gunung itu, Lurah Ahora ini adalah satu lurah yg sangat curam dan bahaya.
Oleh kerana saya seorang wargenegara Turkey maka saya diberi kebenarkan membuat siasatan ke bahagian2 tertentu di Mt.Ararat yg mana dikenalpasti oleh satelit sbg kawasan yg mungkin merupakan kawasan bahtera.
Sebaik sahaja saya dekat dgn kawasan itu lapisan ais yg saya pijak mula bergerak dan saya telah tergelincir sejauh berpuluh2 kaki ke bawah jurang. Mujurlah saya tidak terjatuh ke dalam lubang jurang.
Apabila saya berdiri,dihadapan saya kira 2,100 kaki, saya terlihat satu struktur bangunan yg diperbuat drp kayu. Kira2 beberapa ribu kaki dari puncak gunung. Saya mula cepat2 ambil gambar. Saya yakin itulah The Great Noah Ark yg ada diceritakan oleh kebanyakkan orang. Jika ada pembaca yang ingin mendapat maklumat lanjut bolehlah menghubungi Dr Ahmet Ali arsan dialamat 9430,Cloverdale Court, Burke, Va 22015, Amerika Syarikat.
Kenyataan dan Persoalan dari artikel/catatan pengkaji sejarah:
* Maha Suci Allah yang telah menentukan Bahtera Nabi Nuh AS ditempatkan diatas Gunung Ararat (Gunung Kesengsaraan) yang mana ianya menyukarkan para pengkaji dan saintis untuk merosakkan Bahtera tersebut dan satu dari pada kesan sejarah Islam yang terulung memerlukan keredaan Allah untuk dikaji.
* Beberapa saintis barat diberi hidayah Allah untuk mengakui kebenaran Islam melalui penemuan Bahtera Nabi Nuh AS yang juga mengiakan Kalam Allah yang termaktub dalam Al-Quran.
* Dan juga beberapa saintis barat yang menafikan Bahtera Nabi Nuh AS justeru ingin terus merosakkan.
* Kenapakah beberapa badan siasatan merahsiakan penemuan Bahtera Nabi Nuh AS dan bukti disimpan oleh Pentagon yang juga ingin merahsiakan misteri-misteri penemuan seperti Piramid, Kewujudan UFO, Penangkapan Makluk Asing, Misteri Segitiga Bermuda dan beberapa misteri yang masih disembunyikan dari umum.
Wallahualam
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