Noah's Ark First Megayacht

The popularity of Johan Huibers' replica of Noah's ark has inspired him to build an "actual"-size ark which is 300 cubits long -- twice as long as the one you see in the picture above. It was supposed to launch in June of this year but is running a little behind schedule. If you never thought of Noah as the world's first yachtsman, then perhaps you should think again. The new ark will be on the order of 515' (158 m) long, with an 86' (26 m) beam, with a height of 51.5' (15.8 m) -- Paul Allen, eat your heart out! Those are the general dimensions of the biblical ark, give or take 15% as no one really knows exactly how long Noah's "cubits" were. Some archeologists have speculated the land mass where the Dardanelles is today collapsed allowing the Mediterranean to pour into the area that is now the Black Sea -- thus, the flood story that lasted for 40 days. Indeed, ancient towns have been found by scuba divers off the north coast of what is now Turkey, so there is not doubt that there was a great flood in antiquity near Mount Ararat.

This replica of the biblical Ark was built by Dutch Creationist Johan Huibers in 2007 and has been visited by over 500,000 people as it has toured around the Netherlands the last three years. But it was only 150 cubits long, not the 300 that Noah built.

The water at the top of the photo is the Black Sea, the Sea of Marmara is at the bottom and in the middle is the Bosporus. Istanbul surrounds the lower two-thirds of the Bosporus. Note the famous Golden Horn at the opening to the Bosporus.

The Flood Story

The exact cause for the formation of the Bosporus remains the subject of vigorous debate among geologists. Thousands of years ago, the Black Sea became disconnected from the Aegean Sea. The Black Sea deluge theory (published in 1997 by William Ryan and Walter Pitman from Columbia University) contends that the Bosporus was formed about 5600 BC when the rising waters of the Mediterranean/Sea of Marmara breached through to the Black Sea, which at the time (according to the theory) was a low-lying body of fresh water.

Some have argued that the resulting massive flooding of the inhabited and probably farmed northern shores of the Black Sea is thought to be the historic basis for the flood stories found in the Epic of Gilgamesh and in the Bible in Book of Genesis, Chapters 6-9. On the other hand, there is also evidence for a flood of water going in the opposite direction, from the Black Sea into the Sea of Marmara around 7000 or 8000 BC.

The first ark replica was built from 2005 to 2007 when it went on exhibit.

Tall animals such as this giraffe had to share space with meeting rooms and AV displays on the first replica of Noah's ark.

Life-sized models of giraffes, elephants, lions, crocodiles, zebras, bison and other animals greet visitors as they arrive in the main hold.

The new ark will be over 500' (153 m) long and nearly 90' (27 m) wide.

Johan's Ark Mk II

In the harbor of Dordrecht, Holland Johan Huibers is completing a "Noah's Ark" at full size. This second Ark will be 14x as big as the first and travel around the world says the promoters. In this way, John hopes to reach more people to tell them the story of Noah, his ark and the flood. Plans call for the ark to be in London in time for the 2012 Olympics.

Construction

To build this ark John used 24 LASH bins coming from New Orleans. These bins were used for years by the Holland America Line to transport products like rice, cotton and grain. The first thing John did with the bins was to join them together.

Did Noah paint his hull? The Bible doesn't tell us. However, it did say that it was to have a window one cubit from the gunwale. Obviously the new Dutch Noah has added a few extra windows.

Interior

The New Ark Will consist of four decks. Levels one and two, the storage of feed and the exhibition space, are currently completed. The Ark will be further decorated with bleachers in internal spaces used for exhibitions and lectures. On the third floor is more room for exhibitions. And the fourth floor Will Be Used as a restaurant.

The ark is huge inside reminding us a bit of the new cruise ship Oasis of the Sea.

How Long is a "Cubit"?

From Worldwideflood.com--

Do we really know the size of Noah’s Ark (Genesis 6:15), the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:10), the altar (Exodus 38:1), Goliath (1 Samuel 17:4), and Solomon’s Temple (1 Kings 6:2)? While the Bible tells us that the length of Noah’s Ark was 300 cubits, its width 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits, we must first ask, “How long is a cubit?” The answer, however, is not certain because ancient people groups assigned different lengths to the term “cubit” (Hebrew word אמה ), the primary unit of measure in the Old Testament.

The length of a cubit was based on the distance from the elbow to the fingertips, so it varied between different ancient groups of people. Here are some samples from Egypt, Babylon, and ancient Israel:

The Bible specified that there should be three decks in the ark. The new Johan/Noah's ark will have four levels, plus space for vending machines.

But when Noah came off the Ark, only one cubit measurement existed—the one he had used to construct the Ark. Unfortunately, the exact length of this cubit is unknown. After the nations were divided, years later at the Tower of Babel, different cultures (people groups) adopted different cubits. So it requires some logical guesswork to reconstruct the most likely length of the original cubit.

Since the Babel dispersion was so soon after the Flood, it is reasonable to assume that builders of that time were still using the cubit that Noah used. Moreover, we would expect that the people who settled near Babel would have retained or remained close to the original cubit. Yet cubits from that region (the ancient Near East) are generally either a common (short) or a long cubit. Which one is most likely to have come from Noah?

All internal passage ways of the new vessel are wide so as to accommodate most animals two-by-two.

In large-scale construction projects, ancient civilizations typically used the long cubit (about 19.8–20.6 in [52 ). The Bible offers some input in 2 Chronicles 3:3, which reveals that Solomon used an older (long) cubit in construction of the temple.

Most archaeological finds in Israel are not as ancient as Solomon, and these more modern finds consistently reveal the use of a short cubit, such as confirmed by measuring Hezekiah’s tunnel. However, in Ezekiel’s vision, an angel used “a cubit plus a handbreadth,” an unmistakable definition for the long cubit (Ezekiel 43:13). The long cubit appears to be God’s preferred standard of measurement. Perhaps this matter did not escape Solomon’s notice, either.

Though the original cubit length is uncertain, it was most likely one of the long cubits (about 19.8–20.6 in). If so, the Ark was actually bigger than the size described in most books today, which usually use the short cubit.

The Bible called for a door in the side of the vessel so that occupants could easily enter.

The new ark like the first replica is a labor of love designed to interest young people in Bible stories.

At 86' wide, Noah's ark had about the same beam as Titanic which was 92.5' wide, and 882' long.

This view of the interior of the new ark reminds us of the Shakespearian Globe Theater or a Biblical version of a Hyatt hotel. We wonder what Noah would have thought about this design direction.