The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 30, 1906, Page 4

THE LOG-BOO of NOAH'S Al ot P - T i " W O*RESCUE the world's first great transport ship from the nursery, where it has been stranded for cent nder a Christmes tree, to recomstruct the ark as it was vigated by Captain Noah, of F. Watlington of the es is the labor Saflor farbor in New York. Wa knows more about the real ark than the manufacturers of children’'s toys ever did, because he has been to sea. Being & sallor he Lnows thet a high-gabled barn loaded on the deck of a scow, with elephants stabled in the upper stories, could mot I've in the tempest, when “the windows of She would heve added to the menagerie by turn- ing turtie on the very first of the forty days. With this conviction as & start- ing point, Watlington goes to the text heaven were opened.” in Genesis and finds there no more au- thority for the barp-on-a-scow plan of naval architecture than there is foun- e Gospel for the common belle t there were three wise men of the East, rather than two, or four or a dozen for that matter. Sticking to the text and guided by his knowledge of navigation, the dis- coverer of the reel ark retelis the old story in terms of “Duilder's specifics- tiops, charter party, home port, desti- nation end safling directions of the voyage.” The dimensions of the ship: 300 cu- bits length, 50 cubits in dreadth, and & beight of 30 cubits reveal to the nagt 1 mind the plcture of a ship roportioned sccording to the high- stendard of naval architecture of today. In present terms of measurement she would have been described in the register &s follows: “Length, §47.3 feet; beam, $1.2 feet; depth, §4.78 feet.” This would have given her a net ton- e nage of 186388, and a capacity of over 46,000 tons of 40 cublc feet. In other words the capacity of the “The- bah,” for that was the true mame of the ship, was twice as great as that of the latest mammoth Cunarders. Wher loaded she would have drawn n feet, “And,” adds the an- versed in marine af- fail to notice the beau- roportions of this magnificent poses intended.” It ship, where stability counted more than spesd, and comfort ca g capacity were the chief things desired for the voyage, which lasted a whole year. Jower, second and third stories” text becomes the spar the berth deck is further noted which 1is the singular, means ght,” and refers to igh sides of the t thou finish The of the then Geck sbove” is direction to construct a bulwark around the deck to the of two feet &s a protection to »rs and a shield to the sky- h for a start it is easy e that the phrase, “rooms in the ark r in skil s for the heavier ani- vain nd berth decks, h his immediate and adjacent apart- birds of song and and immediately >n to “piteh” the ark ithout” indicated that the r planking to be covered a cement to make it easier to cleanse the decks where the lan!mals were stalled and to protect the water and stores in the hold beneath from being pelinted by the sewage on and was bitumen TMALS-GOING ON BOARD THE AR K th> decks above. 4 similar coat of ce- ment on the outside planking would protect the bottom from the action of bernacles and answer the same purpose as the sheathing on a modern ves: That such & vessel, bullt of teak and strong es she was, could not weather the monsoon and cataclysm which was expected without masts end salls— heavier ones for calm weather and smaller cenvas for the storm—goes without saying. Watlington thinks she was rigged with three masts with yards and storm trysafls. As to the locality where the ark was built, that is, her home port, Watling- ton argues that it was the southwes: ern shore of the island of Sumatra, and much learning is evinced in the argu- to support this conclusion. Of chief interest is it tnat he has discov- ered that the cataclysm which floated® the glant ship was a tidal wave ac- compenied by volcanic disturbances such as occurred recently at Martinique, end that it came at the time of the April monsoon. Premonitory rumblings of the earth’s crust had warned Noah of the earthquake and disaster which ‘was to be expected, and for the coming of the tidal wave he prepared himself. On the coast, with her bow toward the water and the huge cargo-port in the stern open for the reception of pas- sengers and freight, the giant ship rested on the ways while the animals were being assembled. Flood Only Thirty Feet Deep At this point Watlington has some- thing to add about the nature of the “flood.” Inasmuch as the depth of the tidal wave was but fifteen cubits, that s, a little less than thirty feet, hardly greater than a Mississipp! freshet, it is not to be supposed that the entire earth was submerged. The words “all” and “every” in the text are not to be taken literally. With this in mind, the purpose of transporting the anlmals would be to have a com- plete stock of cattle to start life afresh ment wherever the ship should make land et the end of her voyage “The probabilities are that Noah would insert in some commercial pub- lication—the Punjab Messenger or the Yuka Yunyal—an aavertisement about as follows “Wanted—A Jlarge number of all kinds of animals pairs, male and fe- male. They must be young and heal- thy, in good order and condition, well bred and peaceable; common stock not wanted. The same to be received and held under observation on land near where the ark is building until date of shipment; payment to be made for such as are finglly accepted and deliv- ered on board according to maritime custom.” When the other people in Sumatra read this announcement they would probably have reasoned that the island had experienced earthquakes before and that they had not been accompanied by a tidal wave, hence Noah's alarm was groundless. and they would have proceeded - to take his coin for they could persuade ngton is of the opinion that if the loading of the ship had been left to the moment of the earthquake, and then such animals as could crowd on board taken, w the three . sons stood round shouting like steamboat passenger runners, “Step livel the ark would never have been properly equipped. It is his belief that Noah bujit a stockade near the shipyard in which the animals were assembled. He thinks that the dimensions and draught the ship preclude the excessive r of animals as accepted by the learned men. Moreover, he is unable to bring himself to accept the introduction of beasts of prey or poisonous reptiles, as their preserva- tion would have been without purpose. “Suppose a mouse got out of his cage,” he adds, “what a time among the women! Shem, Ham and Japhet would have had to stand guard con- stantly, ready to toss life preservers to them when they jumped overboard.” The dimensions and tonnage of the ark show that she could have carried 1200 beasts of the size and weight of an ox when drawing twenty-seven feet of water. And as the “waters pra- valled fifteen cubits upward,” that is less than thirty feet, it would have been - impossible for the ark to have THE LANDING been more deeply laden. The estimate provides for the heavier provisions, water and fodder stored in the hold, and leaves sufficient allowance for the baggage of the passengers. Room for One Thousand Souls In the matter of the number of souls on board during the voyage Watling- ton differs from the commentators who limit the number to eight. He points out that the “House of Noah” included the whole tribe, and that the passenger list may have numbered 1000 people, for whom there would have been ample room in the deck staterooms. They would have enjoved the voyage. Then, too, it is to be remembered that the actual work of navigating such a large vessel would have taken many ‘men. Watlington computed that it would have taken a watch of five men to have managed the tiller, with double that number in heavy weather. The following computation of the cargo manifest is submitted by Wat- lington. It is computed on the basis that the ark drew fourteen feet when light, and ‘that it would have taken 20,000 tons of dead weight to have sub- merged her to her draught when loaded, namely, twenty-seven feet. The computation fs made In tons: BELOW WATER LINE Articles Grain of all kinds for food and seed.. Foodstuff for passengers and crew. . all stores—sugar, tea. coffee, ete. .000 gatlons of water in tanks Weight of animais on lower deck.: Goo tiels and personal proper Tools, and naval stores. 22 Weight below water lipe. b ABOVE. WATER LIN Weight of 1000 t 150 pounds each... Cabin stores . on Hay or millet grass for animals Water on main deck, ship's gear, etc, Weight above water line Total weight on board—z0,000 When the time came to take the'ani- mals on board a platform would have been constructed leading to the great cargo-port in the stern, and with due solemnity the beasts would have been led up and placed in" the s s which had been prepared for. them.” The wa- ter-tanks would Have been filled and the hay and grain with the other stores packed away in the capaclous hold.- ON BOARD THE OLIVE LEAF W) THE DOVE BRINCING S DAYS AT SEA Then came the great monsoon with the downpouring of rain and the rum- bling of earthquake. A portion of ths coast sank and the tidal wave which resulted floated the ark. In that first night at-sea the mam- moth “ship would ‘have been driven southward under storm sails. The red glare of 'volcanoes would have lit the rain clouds and tlie ‘force of the tem- pest ‘would have tried the timbers of the stanch hull. e The picture'is’drawn by Mr. Wat- lington from a knowiedge of the mon- sooms, coupled ‘with the belief ‘that the tradition is based on actual fact. Con- o sequently Watlington s in a position to argue that it must have been plafined and carried out by Noah along the lines of nautical knowledge which, it is ac- cepted, was possessed by the ancients. An ark of the Christmas tree type would not have weathered this night of storm in the Indlan Ocean. When Noah saw that If he continued on his course to the south he would be driven away from land, he would ha known that hé must go over on th Port tack and shape his course more the north. Then came the moment o * ‘erucial test'for the great ship. ~Would - UNDER, STORLT . SASLS she hang in the trough of the waves 2nd founder in'the attempt to bring her Prow round info the wind? * ‘*“Brail up the mizzen! Let the.main sheet flow! Hard-a-weather the helm!” Such must have been the commands to ‘Wwhich: the majestic ship ‘descending the slope of the waters: would have hung rolling in the trough. “Haul out the mizzen! Gather aft the main! Shift over the head safls’ Again the order rang out and the ship gathered headway on the port tack, forcing her ' way through the 'stormy ‘waters. R ke The Mount Ararat' Shoal Now comes the point on which the truth of Watlington's assumption of the voyage of the ark must rest. The ‘narrative states that on the seven- teenth day of the seventh month the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat. ‘This, he ‘argues, could pot have been the mountain in Arabia by that name. If for’ no other'reason a flood which was less than thirty feet deep could not have covered a mountain which was 17,200 feet high. What wag it. then?” A sheal in .the Indlan Cceap by the same name on which the ark grounded and remained until a higher tide floated her off. . This is Watling- ton's theory. He argues that as the flood lasted but forty days it could not have covered the mountains at the end of the one hundred and fiftieth day. The distance to the shoal of Ararat from the starting point of the voyage he assumes to have been 1630 miles. This shows a rate of speed of twelve miles a day, which {s about what might be expected of a vessel com- structed on the dimensions given. Now the text says that Noah re. mained in the ark for 210 days longer, during which time it is said that the waters “continually abated.” The prop- er interpretation of this, as any nauti- . cal man will see, is that Nogh, after getting off the shoal on which his’ shjp had grounded, shaped his course for Persian Gulf and sounding as he went, he found that he was getting com- stantly into shallower water. This the narrator expressed by phrase, “the waters abated continually.” As the later Hebrews among whom the story passed were not a nautical peopls, this would have been a very probable way for them to have expressed it. Moreover, on thess assumptions the account of the appearance of the mountain tops out of the water be- came plausible, which it could not have been under the older interpretation; remembering always that the flood it- self, that is, the original tidal wawe which floated the vessel, was scarcely thirty feet in depth. Coming now to the port of destins- tion, Watlington makes the very plaus- fble selection of the city of Ur on the Euphrates River. It will be remem- bered that there was a tradition that Abraham came from this city. Why, then, should not Noah have landed there and settled himself and his house in that country, from which they were afterward to migrate to Canaan? Gradually it comes to the reader that this theory of the nautical writer about the .voyage of the ark is not such a wild guess as it seems at the first blush. It is strictly slomg the lines of the higher critictsm, which, taking a tradition and assuming that there must ever be some great fact at the root of every tradition, tries to discover what that fact really was. Of course there is much more argu- ment .n Watlington's book than can be shown in a short article. He has spent much time on the detalls of his theory. That it would have been passidle to sail up the Euphrates at that time is argued both from the fact that the water is shallower now than formerly, and that the ark would have been lighter than at the beginning of the voyage, and consequently would have drawn less. As they approached the shore the dove. would have been able to fiy to the land and return with the olive leaf, telling ‘Noah that he was near the coast. Seven days afterward when she left and did not return Noah would have been reassured of what his so were showing him, that he would soon be able to land. Thus every part of the old story finds its plausible explanation in this carefully told mryflmu'um‘ of the first emigrant the north, and that sailing toward the |