Responses to "Another Idea for Nephi's Ship"

Dr. Stephen Carr wrote an article proposing a raft design for Nephi’s ship.

It can be found at:  www.bmaf.org/articles/another_idea_nephis_ship__carr   We had a large number of our readers who were interested in the article and a few sent comments to us.


Both Potter and Miner responded: 

From Step by Step Through the Book of Mormon (Unpublished) by Alan C.
Miner. Excerpt taken from Discovering The Lehi-Nephi Trail, Unpublished
Manuscript (July 2000), pp. 211, 235-242 by George Potter & Richard
Wellington,

1 Nephi 18:8  We Had All Gone down into the Ship . . . We Did Put Forth into the Sea:
 According to Potter and Wellington, the fact that Nephi mentions that they had "gone down into the ship" (1 Nephi 18:8) implies that Nephi's ship was tied to a mooring before they disembarked. Moored next to a port seawall, Nephi would have used a gangplank to "walk down" into the ship.  This appears to be the picture Nephi described as they put their supplies aboard the ship, and as the family entered the ship for the final voyage.  Nephi also says that they "put forth into the sea"        (1 Nephi 18:8), once again implying that the ship was initially in a port that was somewhat protected from the sea and had to "put forth into the sea."  Nephi's words also bring up the necessity of a port for building and launching a ship.  With this in mind Potter and Wellington made an analysis of all the possible ports in Dhofarusing criteria gleaned from the text and also from historical and cultural settings. The following criteria were listed for Nephi's port:

1.  The port would have to be large enough to accommodate a large ship. 2.  The port would have been protected year round from monsoon winds.
3.  The port should show evidence of ancient use. 4.  It would have been open to the sea during the time of Lehi. 
5.  It would have had protection from high surf. 6.  It was only necessary that Nephi had a place to moor his ship while finishing it.
7.  Nephi wrote that the place had "much fruit" (1  Nephi 17:5) 8.  There were apparently cliffs above deep water nearby because of Laman & Lemuel's attempt to throw Nephi to his death. (1Nephi 17:48)
9.  Trade with India would have been necessary for large timbers suitable for shipbuilding. 10.  There would need to be large domestic timbers nearby.
11.  There would need to be access to thousands of coconuts or other material for ropes. 12.  Sails would need to be available or the material to make canvas for sails.
  13.  Iron ore to make tools was nearby. (1 Nephi  17:10) 14.  Experienced shipwrights were needed.
15.  Experienced ship captains were needed in order to teach Nephi to captain a ship. 16.  There was apparently a mountain nearby where the Lord instructed Nephi. (1 Nephi 17:7; 18:3)
17.  Sailors capable of teaching Nephi's crew needed to be
available along with facilities for conducting sea trials.
18.  "Stones" to make fire with, or flint was needed nearby. (1 Nephi 17:11)

From the results of this comparison Potter and Wellington found only five serious candidates for the place where Nephi built and launched the ship: Reysut, Khor Suli, Khor Taqah, Khor Rori, and Mirbat--all  on the Salalah plain.  Interestingly, they found no evidence that Khor Kharfot was ever a port in Nephi's  time or at any other time for that matter.  By far the strongest candidate was the port of Moscha at Khor Rori,  especially when one considers the village of Taqa and Khor Rori as one site, as they are only two miles apart
Steve Carr wrote the following review of the above response:
 
 
 

In 1990, Warren Aston, an LDS scholar and researcher from Australia, developed a list of 14 criteria from what the Book of Mormon had to say about the land Bountiful on the Arabian Peninsula.  In 1992, he set out to discover where this might be along the coast of Yemen and Oman.  Because he was Australian he was allowed to do this, as Americans were still suspect during this time.  He located 8 inlets that could be construed to be essentially eastward from Nahom, which he had also discovered in the interior of Yemen earlier.  Of those 8, only 2 met more than half the criteria, and the two each met 13 of the criteria - Wadi Sayq/Khor Kharfot and Khor Rori at Salalah.  The one criterion that was missing from both was the location of metallic ore from which to make tools.  Since then, ore bodies of both copper and iron have been found.  These ore bodies are roughly equidistant from both Wadi Sayq on the south and Salalah on the north.  So, the ore deposits would have been the same for whichever location was the land Bountiful.  Below are the 14 criteria that Warren established.

 

Requirements for the Land of Bountiful on the shore of the Arabian Peninsula

 

1-  Same approximate latitude as Nahom (nearly eastward from Nahom) - 1 Nep. 17:1.

2-  Easily accessible from the high interior plateau - 1 Nep. 17:1.

3-  Abundance of fruit - 1 Nep. 17:5; 18:6. 

4-  Wild honey available - 1 Nep. 17:5: 18:6.

5-  Shoreline fronting a large expanse of water - 1 Nep. 17:5-6.

6-  Permanent supply of fresh water.  (Not mentioned in the scripture, but obviously necessary for a prolonged stay.)

7-  Mountain nearby where Nephi could go often to pray - 1 Nep. 17:7: 18:3.

8-  Ore in the vicinity for making tools - 1 Nep. 17:9-10, 16.

9-  Flint-type stones for producing fire - 1 Nep. 17:11.

10-  Cliff nearby from which the brothers could have thrown Nephi into the sea - 1 Nep. 17:48.

11-  Large trees nearby big enough to use for ship timbers - 1 Nep. 17:8; 18:1.

12-  Living area on a higher level than the beach where the ship was being built - 1 Nep. 18:5. 

13-  Suitable winds and ocean currents to take the ship out into the ocean - 1 Nep. 18:8.

14-  No nearby population from which to obtain tools, hiring help in building the ship, buying supplies, etc.  (Not mentioned, but suggestive.)

 

In reply to the questions that have come about as the result of Potter and Wellington's book - from what I understand, neither Potter nor Wellington had visited Wadi Sayq/Khor Kharfot at the time the book was published.  I have visited both Khor Kharfot and the Salalah area with Khor Rori twice, in 2000 and 2004.  And, although I'm not an expert on the country, I have studied the locations carefully and in person.  My comments below will be in red.

 

1 Nephi 18:8  We Had All Gone down into the Ship . . . We Did Put Forth into the Sea:

 

According to Potter and Wellington, the fact that Nephi mentions that they had "gone down into the ship" (1 Nephi 18:8) implies that Nephi's ship was tied to a mooriing before they disembarked.

Moored next to a port seawall, Nephi would have used a gangplank to "walk down" into the ship.  This appears to be the picture Nephi described as they put their supplies aboard the ship, and as the family entered the ship for the final voyage. Nephi also says that they "put forth into the sea" (1 Nephi 18:8), once again implying that the ship was initially in a port that was somewhat protected from the sea and had to "put forth into the sea."  Nephi's words also bring up the necessity of a port for building and launching a ship.  With this in mind Potter and Wellington made an analysis of all the possible ports in Dhofar using criteria gleaned from the text and also from historical and cultural settings. The following criteria were listed for Nephi's port:

Regarding going down into the ship:  At Khor Kharfot, there is a narrow plateau at the base of the only mountain present, right on the seacoast and forming one side of Wadi Sayq and Khor Kharfot.  There is archaeological evidence that people lived on that plateau in the distant past.  (The reason they would not have stayed down on the beach or lower areas is that those areas are either marshy or are full of yellow sand crabs.)  The end of the plateau, incidentally, juts out into the sea, about 80 feet above the rocks and water, and would have been the place from which Laman and Lemuel were threatening to toss off Nephi.  So, when it came time to load the ship, the party would have gone "down" to the ship from where they were quartered.

1.  The port would been large enough to accommodate a large ship. According to my suggestion of a possible raft of sorts (and even if a boat with a shallower draft than a deep-hulled ship) the port would not have been particularly large in which to build the craft.  The inlet at Khor Kharfot is plenty large enough for that purpose.

2.  The port would have been protected year round from monsoon winds.  This applies to Khor Kharfot, also.

3.  The port should show evidence of ancient use.  As mentioned, the habitation area shows archaeological evidence, as does the area all around the inlet.

4.  It would have been open to the sea during the time of Lehi.  The inlet at Khor Kharfot is at present closed off by a sandbar, as is the port at Khor Rori.  Hydrogeologist estimate it has been that way from probably 500 years, due to various wind and wave currents, but was probably open 600 BC.

5.  It would have had protection from high surf.  The inlet runs far enough up into Wadi Sayq that it would have been protected.

6.  It was only necessary that Nephi had a place to moor his ship while  finishing it.  Same as #5.

 

7.  Nephi wrote that the place had "much fruit" (1  Nephi 17:5) Wadi Sayq is full of fruit - wild dates and figs, specifically, and apparently grapes in times past.  Plus, the nearby, easily accessible cliffs contain caves, even now, with bees making honey.

8.  There were apparently cliff above deep water nearby because of Laman & Lemuel's attempt to throw Nephi to his death. (1 Nephi 17:48)  See the comments at the beginning.

9.  Trade with India would have been necessary for large timbers suitable for shipbuilding.  There is no suggestion at all in the Book of Mormon that such would be necessary or even advisable.  It is doubtful that the Lehite colony would have had the money with which to purchase expensive lumber transported all the way from India, or anywhere else.

10.  There would need to be large domestic timbers nearby. Wadi Sayq has many large trees, even now, 2700 years after the Lehite colony left there, with which to build a ship/boat/raft. Further, these trees are available right at the inlet of Khor Kharfot, whereas at Khor Rori, the nearest large trees are between 5 and 8 miles inland and, at present, there are no large trees, only smaller, wind-swept ones.  It is unknown what the trees may have been like in Lehi's time.

11.  There would need to be access to thousands of coconuts or other material for ropes.  Again, at present, and presumably for centuries and millennia earlier, Khor Kharfot is full of coconut palms.

12.  Sails would need to be available or the material to make canvas for sails.  Sails could have been made from many materials.  The Lehites could have made sails from their tents.  Palm fronds could have been woven and tied together, if necessary.

13.  Iron ore to make tools was nearby. (1 Nephi  17:10)  See the first paragraph.

 14.  Experienced shipwrights were needed.  There is no mention or even hint in the scripture of a shipwright being required or even consulted.  Because the colony was isolated away from all other habitations and human contact, the Lord, Jehovah, was the shipwright.  That is why He had Nephi come up to the mountain often to teach him how to construct the craft.  No other tutor was needed.
 

15.  Experienced ship captains were needed in order to teach Nephi to captain a ship.  If the Lord could teach Nephi how to build the ship, He could also teach him how to steer and handle the vessel.  Again, there is nothing said about any sort of tutor for Nephi.  It's interesting that Potter and Wellington state that Nephi did go to the Lord, yet they have him relying more on a supposed master shipwright and captain to actually be in charge of the construction and operation of the craft.  It seems that they almost completely leave the Lord out of the action.  I prefer to think that Jehovah taught Nephi all he needed to know about the ship.  If anything, he didn’t even need to consult a ship-builder, let alone rely on one.

 

16.  There was apparently a mountain nearby where the Lord instructed Nephi. (1 Nephi 17:7; 18:3)  There is a 2500-foot high mountain right on the coast at Khor Kharfot where Nephi went to receive his instruction.  It is the only mountain within 20 miles.  There would have been no question where when the Lord said, "Arise, and get thee into the mountain."  At Salalah, there is a range of the Dhofar Mountains that run essentially north and south about 8 miles inland from Khor Rori.  All the mountains are of the same height with saddles or passes between each pair of peaks. Nephi would not have known which of the half-dozen closest mountains were being referred to.

17.  Sailors capable of teaching Nephi's crew needed to be available along with facilities for conducting sea trials.  See #15.  Again, no suggestion that any extra training would have been needed aside from what the Lord was teaching Nephi.  There was also no hint as to the need for a trial at sea.  When the boat was completed, the families took their possessions and foodstuffs and entered the vessel and pushed off at high tide into the surf.

18.  "Stones" to make fire with, or flint was needed nearby.(1 Nephi 17:11)  Flint rocks are found in abundance at the head of Wadi Sayq.

 

From the results of this comparison Potter and Wellington found only five serious candidates for the place where Nephi built and launched the ship: Reysut, Khor Suli, Khor Taqah, Khor Rori, and Mirbat--all  on the Salalah plain. Interestingly, they found no evidence that Khor Kharfot was ever a port in Nephi's  time or at any other time for that matter.  By far the strongest candidate was the port of Moscha at Khor Rori, especially when one considers the village of Taqa and Khor Rori as one site, as they are only two miles apart.

Khor Kharfot probably never was a port like Khor Rori.  The inlet is too small to have been considered as a location for a large, permanent city.  But, for the type of vessel that the Lord had in mind, one that was unlike the crafts that were built "after the manner of men," it was eminently suitable.  Potter and Wellington state that it was necessary for the Lehite colony to come to a location where there were shipwrights and sailing people.  If that were the case, Nephi would not have had to go to the Lord to find where ore was in order to build the ship.  He could have simply gone down to the local Home Depot and purchased all the professional tools and supplies he would have needed.  Then, when Laman and Lemuel were in no mood to help with the enterprise, Nephi could have gone to the local labor board and hired as many willing workers as he would have needed.  But, no, the boat was constructed entirely by Nephi and his brothers with the Lord as the Master Shipwright.

Potter and Wellington also state that there would have had to be tons of food put on board for the maritime journey.  It would not have been necessary to load the ship with many tons of foodstuffs for the trip.  Thor Heyerdahl made his 'Kon-Tiki' trip with very few provisions, as I mentioned in the original article.  Further, it would not have been necessary to have had the trip take a year or more, and they could have stopped at various places to replenish food and supplies while going through the straits between Indonesia and Indochina.

 
Stephen L. Carr, 2012
 
 

Various Authors