Ark

A large wooden ship built by Noah and his family to survive the Great Flood sent on earth to destroy humanity.

The primary material for the construction of the vessel was a durable wood (“gopherwood” – exact meaning unknown) waterproofed with pitch1.

Dimensions & Size

The Bible specifies the size using cubits (an ancient measure based on the forearm, roughly 18 inches / 45 centimeters). It was 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high2. Converted to modern measurements, the Ark was approximately 137 meters (450 feet) long, 23 meters (75 feet) wide, and 13.7 meters (45 feet) high3. The vessel included three internal levels, an opening around the top for light and ventilation and a door in it’s side4. This was likely the largest ship built until the SS Great Eastern built in 18585. The schooner Wyoming, launched in 1909 was a wooden ship that was theoretically marginally longer6 than the likely dimensions of the Ark (140 metres) but the actual hull length on deck excluding the bowsprit was only 110 metres and it was not as wide, nor as high – making the Ark, the largest wooden vessel ever constructed.

Engineering Feasability

When assessing the engineering of the Ark, caution must be taken when comparing it to modern vessels since the Ark was designed primarily as a giant lifeboat. It had no need for propulsion or speed. The schooner Wyoming and similarly large wooden ships suffered badly from flexing due to the structural limitations of wood that caused a large amount of leaking7. Indeed the Wyoming was lost with all hands in a storm, quite likely due to this engineering limitation. This fact has been used to dismiss the technical feasibility of the Ark. However, there are key differences between the Wyoming (and similar modern vessels) and the Ark. The Wyoming had 6 large sails for propulsion. Sails intrinsically create a great deal of force that is distributed through the masts to the hull (else they wouldn’t be much use for propulsion). Unless the wind is directly behind the vessel, sails also create sideways or “twisting” stresses on the hull due the ship “tacking” (moving at an angle to the wind) in order to go in the desired direction. The Ark had no such forces applied and hence would only experience the force of the waves and wind on the hull itself.

The Wyoming was a coal carrier and as such could include the essential internal structural reinforcement for a wooden ship of it’s size as the coal could be stored around the cross-bracing. Likewise, the Ark, although in some ways a cargo ship could have easily included a great deal of internal reinforcement, potentiaall even more than the Wyoming, due to the mobile and flexible nature of it’s cargo. It should be noted that the Wyoming and other more succesful large wooden vessels of the time8 used iron internal bracing but we cannot preclude that the Ark also included some metal in it’s construction due to the unknown state of the technology of the time.

The Ark featured a 6 to 1 length to width ratio, relatively similar to modern transport ships like supertankers and container ships which is remarkable in itself but also noteworthy for being more “boxy” than the Wyoming which had a 6.6 to 1 ratio. The Ark is also believed to have a flatter more “barge-like” hull instead of slimmer, more streamlined hull used in the Wyoming. Wave stresses on hull are created by the difference between the crests and troughs. For example: If there is a crest at either end of the hull they provide more buoyancy (upward force) to the front and rear of the hull which leaves the middle with less support. This causes the middle of the hull to “sag”. At the wave crest moves to the middle of the hull, the situation is reversed, meaning the front and rear of the hull sags. A hull with a boxier shape increases the contact area of the hull in the supported region (where ever the crest(s) of the waves are) which allows the forces to be distributed over a wide area which in turn reduces the stresses on the hull. The drawback of a wide hull is that it slows the ship down, which was not a problem for the Ark.

In addition, the much greater height of the Ark’s hull also improves the ability of the hull to resist flexing along it’s length again due to the larger area created by the height spreading out the forces and allow for the inclusion of many more structural beams.

Finally, the properties of the wood used in the Ark: “gopherwood” is unknown. The Wyoming used the softwood yellow pine for her construction which contributed to her flexibility. Using a hardwood like oak would have made the Wyoming much stronger. It would also have introduced it’s own drawbacks with the increased weight of the hull signifiantly reducing cargo carrying capacity and potentailly creating other engineering challenges due to the heavier hull. It would also have made the Wyoming exorbitantly expensive. The Ark did not have to carry 6000 tons of coal so weight would have been far less of a concern which suggests that a much stronger, heavier wood may still have been the preferred option. It also did not have to survive many years of service which reduces the engineering requirements.

Nonetheless, despite these differences, modern architectural engineering indicates that the Ark was pushing the boundaries of the “art of the possible” and presumably required impressive (possibly divine) engineering to achieve. It is remarkable that the Ark appears to be at the absolute upper limit of what is realistically possible – or as many believe slightly beyond. If it were a complete myth fabricated in an age and a people that had no concept of the engineering involved, it would be expected that the dimensions would be much more extravagant. The fact that with the right resources it might be possible is testament to the fact that it probably was.

Timeframe to Build

The Ark was built in an age where the engineering capabilities were completely unknown. Due to the long life of the people fo the time, the rate of technological advancement would likely have been much high since each individual could continue to contribute for hundreds of years and the number of offspring per person is also much, much greater although it should be noted that according to the Genesis record people generally seemed to start having children later.

The Bible does not explicitly give a single number of years for how long construction took. However, two primary timeframes are inferred from scripture:

  • Up to 120 Years (Traditional View): Often inferred from God’s decree regarding humanity’s remaining time before judgment.
    • Verse: “And the Lord said, ‘My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.'” — Genesis 6:3 (NKJV)
  • 50 to 75 Years (Chronological Text View): Calculated from Noah’s age when he fathered his sons at 500 years old, through their growth and marriage (as they are listed as married when given the command), to the arrival of the flood when Noah was 600.
    • Verses: “And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” — Genesis 5:32 (NKJV)
    • Verses: “Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came upon the earth.” — Genesis 7:6 (NKJV)
  1. Genesis 6:14 ↩︎
  2. Genesis 6:15 ↩︎
  3. Genesis 6:15 ↩︎
  4. Genesis 6:16 ↩︎
  5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Great_Eastern ↩︎
  6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyoming_(schooner) ↩︎
  7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyoming_(schooner) ↩︎
  8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Republic_(1853_clipper) ↩︎