The `Ark` arrives in Ipswich
Having seen the news items and listened to the superlatives as people described it, I thought I must visit the half sized replica of Noah`s Ark which arrived in Ipswich. Although the brain behind the Ark said it was a non Christian floating museum, I fail to see how a 70 m long floating museum, full of bible stores, can be construed as anything else!.
From the stern end
It is certainly impressive as it sits in the Neptune dock, in Ipswich. It is around half-size to the Ark described in the Bible. As far as I know, the largest wooden vessel ever built (about the size of the Biblical Ark) was Wyoming, a wooden six-masted schooner built and completed in 1909 by the firm of Percy & Small in Bath, Maine. With a length of 450 ft (140 m) from jib-boom tip to spanker boom tip.
Because of her extreme length and wood construction, Wyoming tended to flex in heavy seas, which would cause the long planks to twist and buckle, thereby allowing sea water to intrude into the hold. Wyoming had to use pumps to keep her hold relatively free of water. In March 1924, she foundered in heavy seas and sank with the loss of all hands.
Now considering that the Wyoming had access to steel to keep the shape, I am not sure how Noah managed with no steel / iron etc - and just using this strange Gopher wood!
How much wood? And here we run into a big problem: simply gathering enough wood to build the boat. When another notoriously large ship (that was purportedly only a fraction of the Ark's size), the Great Michael, was built in 1511, it was said to have taken "all the woods of Fife" (a county in Scotland famous for its shipbuilding), as well as having to import wood from France, other areas in the Baltic sea, and cargo ships scrapped for use in its construction. The Wyoming used 3100 tons wood and 300 tons metal. A ship of Noah's size would have required tens of thousands of trees (and on top of that, high quality timber trees) to be cut for its construction, something that is not exactly feasible considering the Ark was probably built somewhere in what is modern day Iraq, which as anyone can tell you has never exactly been known for its thick abundant forests.
The day I visited, there was a group representing the `Extinction Rebellion`, had a banner from the Ark, and a small demonstration outside. I believe they were allowed 2 or 3 hours.
A view from the bow end
There are numerous problems surrounding the flood and the Ark. Also with Noah living several hundred years!. However, it makes a great story. So does Harry Potter.
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