NEW! Exploring The Book of Mormon In Americas Heartland Photographic Book

NEW!  Exploring The Book of Mormon In Americas Heartland Photographic Book
NEW! Exploring the Book of Mormon In America's Heartland, A Visual Journey of Discovery by Rod L. Meldrum is a gorgeous, large format 200+ page heirloom quality photographic journey into the exciting new "Heartland Model" geography. Click on the Picture above to learn more. Picture Book Cover Click to Order

Friday, May 27, 2011

Update on the Phoenicia Ship Expedition, Could the Hebrews, Phoenicians used this rout to trade with Ancient America?

 The Firm Foundation Founded by Rodney Meldrum and associates is a new leader in the studies of Archaeology, stories, facts, theory on the possibilities of a group of Hebrews could have come & lived in Ancient America as recorded in the Book of Mormon. FIRM = Foundation for Indigenous Research and Mormonism. Click to link to their web site for more interesting information.

The FIRM Foundation

Another Web site full of information related to this amazing study including DNA evidences that Ancient Hebrews lived in Ancient America is found here.

Book of Mormon Evidences 


Many theories exist, one of the statements Rodney something like this. "When the Facts out way the theory, one must go with the facts, and the theory changes based on the actual facts." Facts change we know that, science teaches us that one should follow the facts even when it goes against old or modern theory, this is good research, good science that makes sense. I invite all to visit and see what they have to offer if only out of curiosity if nothing else.

 

 

Update on the Phoenicia Ship Expedition!

Update on the Phoenicia Ship Expedition!
Written by: Rod Meldrum and the FIRM Foundation
Posted: Jun, 9, 2010
  The Phoenicia Ship Expedition has now demonstrated unequivocally that Lehi's voyage could have left the Arabian Peninsula and sailed around Africa to the America's rather than attempting to cross the earth's largest ocean at its widest point, as proposed by Mesoamerican theorists.

The Phoenicia 600 B.C ship replica
The Phoenician Ship Expedition
Those who attended the FIRM Foundation's National Conference in April were treated to a first-hand account of an incredibly important expedition for Book of Mormon enthusiasts. The Phoenicia Ship Expedition,  has now shown by actual experience that Lehi's group may have left the Arabian Peninsula and sailed around Africa to the America's rather than attempting to cross the earth's largest ocean at its widest point, as proposed by Mesoamerican theorists.   The expedition embarked on this ocean-going journey in a re-created wooden sailing ship patterned after the remains of ancient Phoenician vessels that were plying the oceans around Lehi's time, near 600 B.C.  The expedition has unequivocally demonstrated that a circumnavigation of Africa is not only possible; it is the most likely route for Lehi's voyage coming from the Old World to the New. The expedition, which left from Oman on the Saudi Arabian peninsula Oct. 26, 2009, reached its final destination less than one year later on Oct. 12, 2010 as it arrived at the Port of Sidon near Beirut, Lebanon in the Mediterranean.  
Route intented
Map of Phoenician Ship Expedition
 The ships captain has been desperately trying to sail north and east toward the Mediterranian from their position just east of Puerto Rico, but the prevailing winds in the Atlantic continued to blow the ship within miles of America! 
 On the journey between South Africa and the straights of Gibraltar the ship came within a few hundred miles from making landfall in North America! They intended to sail north along the western coastline from Cape Town, South Africa toward the Mediterranean, but the prevailing winds in the southern Atlantic blew them in a northwesterly direction, veering thousands of miles away from the African continent and toward the America's.  Once they crossed the equator into the North Atlantic the winds continued to blow them to within a couple hundred miles of Puerto Rico, off the southern tip of Florida in North America!
Click on the map and then click 'track the ships progress.'  Zoom out using the scale bar on the upper left.  
The assumption that Lehi's family crossed 10,000 miles of the open waters of the Pacific Ocean to land on the west coast of South America is one that must now be re-examined or discarded.  Never before has this level of evidence been available to demonstrate by actual experiment the route most likely to have been taken by Lehi's family to the Promised Land.  Such profound new evidence potentially validating and verifying the Book of Mormon journey has never before been demonstrated and is truly unprecedented in Book of Mormon geography research. You can track this expeditions progress , see photo's of the ships construction and learn of the ancient sea-faring Phoenician people who left their homes in the Mediterranean Holy Land near Lebanon, Syria and Palestine by ship to circumnavigate Africa in search of trade goods.  You can read more about their history by clicking HERE.  
Such a high level of actual evidence is mostly lacking for routes proposed by Mesoamerican theorists. In fact, a recent documentary film by the History Channel called Who Really Discovered America actually dismisses the Book of Mormon because of the satellite buoy "drifters" that follow ocean currents, beaming data to scientists who study their movements. Dr. Nikolai Maximenko, Physical Oceanographer with the International Pacific Research Center  estimated that an ocean voyage bearing east from Saudi Arabia across the Indian and Pacific oceans "would have taken 580 days...that's more than a year and a half!"  Dr. James Delgado with the Institute of Nautical Archaeology then summarizes the problem; "I don't think there is a question of ships making it.  A vessel can make it with dead people." With that, the entire premise of the Book of Mormon was dismissed.  How disappointing that they used misguided information from Mesoamerican theorists such as John Sorenson when, had they used the research from the Heartland Model geography, which has since 2007 been advocating a route around Africa to North America, they would have found ample evidence and now even direct proof, that such a voyage was not only possible, but probable. 

An article titled Sailing with Nephi, in Meridian Magazine by Mesoamerican theorist Warren Aston, Sailing with Nephi, discusses another expedition by a ship patterned after a much later 800 AD vessel with a deeper keel which helps it to better sail against contrary winds.  In contrast to the Phoenicia, this ship set sail in February from the Arabian Peninsula in an easterly direction towards their final destination of Singapore, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula of Southeast Asia.  The ship, deemed the 'Jewel of Muscat' after the port city where it was constructed, completed its journey across the Bay of Bengal arriving in Singapore, Southeast Asia, July 3rd, 2010.  During the voyage they experienced contrary winds and currents that slowed their progress significantly from reaching their destination, which was only made possible by the ships ability to 'tack' against the winds.  This is something the earlier design of the 600 B.C. Phoenicia could not have done effectively, due to its shallow hull design. The Phoenicia literally was "driven forth before the wind toward the promised land" (BoM 1 Nephi 18:8) just as described by Nephi.    
Aston, a Mesoamerican theory adherent, assumes the route of the Jewel of Muscat for Lehi's voyage as he states that this ship launched in February of this year, "sailing eastwards across the Indian Ocean toward Singapore in much the same direction that Nephi likely did."  According to Aston, Nephi  "headed in a different direction" from the Phoenicia expedition. He provided no indication why he believed this to have been the route, nor any evidence to support it. 
Contrary to Aston's assumptions, the Book of Mormon provides some clues about when they embarked on their journey.  It was a time of harvest of fruits and honey.
 
“And it came to pass that on the morrow, after we had prepared all things, much fruits and meat from the wilderness, and honey in abundance, and provisions according to that which the Lord had commanded us, we did go down into the ship, with all our loading and our seeds, and whatsoever thing we had brought with us,… “ (BoM 1 Nephi 18:6)

The summer rainy season along the coast of the Saudi Arabian peninsula occurs in the spring and summer. Date palms bear their fruit after these rains and are harvested from late June through early October.  Flowering plants bloom, enticing bees to produce honey which is harvested in June and November.  Lehi's family harvested fruits and honey just prior to embarking on their epic journey.  To do so would require they leave late summer to early fall.  The prevailing winds along the southern Saudi Arabian peninsula alternate from blowing northeasterly in the spring and summer, to southwesterly in the fall and winter months. Were Lehi to cast off for the land of promise after gathering fruits and honey, the winds would naturally have been blowing from the northeast toward the southwest.  A sailing ship would have, of necessity, been blown by the wind south along the coast of Africa, rather than east toward India.  The natural Indian Ocean currents move in a counterclockwise rotation southward along the east African coast as well, making it the most logical direction for travel in a sailing ship. 
This route also allows periodic stops along the coast of Africa to acquire fresh water, food and a break from the monotony of weeks at sea. The Phoenicians actually planted crops for future expeditions along this route.  While rounding the tip of South Africa, about 115 miles from the Cape of Good Hope the good ship Phoenicia encountered a mighty storm that ripped the main sail in pieces amidst 6-7 meter high massive waves.  After repairs were made and the ship resupplied, they left South Africa March 22, 2010 headed north along the west coastline of Africa.  It was then that the route took a dramatic turn...to the northwest.  The ship was being continually blown northwest, carried by the ocean currents and surface winds that circulate counter clockwise in the southern Atlantic, often making nearly 100 miles a day!  They continued north over the equator where they then entered the clockwise rotation of the northern Atlantic which continued to cause the ship to veer further and further west until they found themselves only 300-400 miles off of the coast of Puerto Rico.  Had they not been so determined to fight against the currents and continue north, at the rate they were traveling, they could have made landfall in the America's in four days.  Instead they continued north, making their farthest westerly point on June 12th.  By this time they were about the same latitude as Florida and they began to gain the northeasterly currents that then swooped them back east toward the Azores in the mid-Atlantic.  From the Azores they sailed north in order to catch the southeasterly currents that eventually took them south to the straits of Gibraltar and finally across the Mediterranean Sea to their destination.  
The longest leg of their journey, from South Africa to their most westerly point near North America took 74 sailing days, less than three months at sea.  They did make two stops on this leg at St. Helena Island and Ascension Island, which may have been stops for Lehi's group as well, since they were being led by the Lord through the Liahona.  The ship, about 60-70 feet in length with a crew of between 9 and 18 could accommodate enough fresh water and food for such a journey.  There would have been no requirement to cross the mighty Pacific Ocean, the largest on the planet at its widest point against the known currents just so that they could land on the west coast of Central or South America somewhere as speculated by some LDS theorists.

Actual satellite tracking view of the route achieved by the expedition.





Some have claimed, incorrectly, that there is a scriptural requirement for a west coast landing.  However, nowhere in the Book of Mormon does it state that they sailed east in their ship or that they landed on the west coast of the promised land.  This assumption is unfortunately based on a false report that Joseph Smith claimed that Lehi "...landed on the continent of South America in Chile, thirty degrees South Latitude" and has been thoroughly refuted by Mesoamerican theorists themselves.  This account has been shown to have been written in the handwriting of Frederick G. Williams in the margins of the Bernhisel Manuscript.  It was a false report that was then promulgated time and again by faulty research, claiming that Joseph was its author.  That this claim, thought to be made by Joseph Smith, has been shown through historical documentation to have been falsely attributed, is further evidence for the need of solid historical documentation for all claims regarding the mind of the prophet.  More on this will be discussed in the upcoming book, Joseph Knew. 

2 comments:

  1. Latinos/Natives have no "African" roots, meaning heritage from Africa...We are related to so-called "Black" Americans/Negros but not because of Africa...If Latinos (Latinos = Native Americans) had African roots then where are all the Artifacts/History of Natives depicting Africa in their Heritage??? So-called "Black-Negros" have African "roots" because they fled into Africa during the Jewish-Roman war between 66-70 A.D. (read: African Origins of Major Wester Religions, & From Babylon to Timbuktu) The Hamites (Egyptians, Ethiopians, Libyans and Canaanites) where already occupying Africa. During the period from Pompey to Julius, it has been estimated that over 1,000,000 Black Jews fled into Africa, fleeing from Roman persecution and slavery. The slave markets were full of black Jew-ish slaves (Some still living in Africa). So where did they flee from? The Southern Kingdom of Israel!!! Eventually being sold into slavery & scattered through-out the earth, predominantly the Americas.(Deuteronomy 28:68)

    *Black Americans include: Negros/Jamaicans/Haitians*

    -Now in regards to Latinos (Native Americans), the language they spoke before being conquered was Hebrew. There has been found ancient stones with Hebrew or Phoenician (which is an extremely old dialect of Hebrew) among the Native Americans.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgnRN-GOLLI Now as Glenn mentioned in the video. How in the world did the Native Americans have the same mathematical system of the Egyptians. How did they know how to build pyramids? This is because the Indigenous of the Americas make up the (Northern kingdom) tribes of Israel.(Natives did not cross the Bearing Strait -___-) They were at one point enslaved by the Egyptians and built the pyramids for them. They retained that knowledge over the years and built them on this side of the world. But then, how in the world did they get here? There have been found stones in Brazil with once again Phoenician writing on them. One passage describing their journey around Africa and landing at the bottom of South America parallel to what Israelites have in their records.(2 Esdras 13 40-46). Who else wrote & spoke Ancient Hebrew/Phoenician and where once in the land of Israel? The "Black" Negros (Jews)!...Negro Blacks & Latino/Natives are of the same Nation!!!!!!! The Nation of Israel!!!

    Research and you will find these people are one Nation (Nation of Israel)

    (Southern Kingdom)
    Judah - So called African Americans / Negroes

    Levi - So called Haitians

    Benjamin - So called Jamaicans / Trinidadians / Guyanese

    (Northern Kingdom)
    Simeon - So called Dominicans

    Zebulon - Guatemalans / Panamanians

    Reuben - So called Seminole Indians / Aboriginal Australians

    Issachar - So called Mexicans

    Gad - So called North American Indians

    Asher - Columbians/ Brazilians / Argentines / Venezuelans

    Napthali - Hawaiians / Samoans / Tongans / Fijians

    Ephraim - So called Puerto Ricans

    Manasseth - So called Cubans

    ReplyDelete
  2. Philip Gurrieri is posting...

    What you say is correct...
    And to add to this >

    The America's is the result of the great biblical flood, a.k.a. 'Noah's Ark' when the Atlantic Ocean was born about 5,500 years ago and what is now known as the Netherlands started flooding, requiring 'Flood_Gates' to be built & maintained... And thus we have the origin of the "Giant's" followed by the species of the Anglo_Aryan's that today have become the global terrorist's of huemanity on Earth...

    Anglo Puritan Roman Empire-ism into SLAVERY in a world that never ever had such weird concepts...

    ReplyDelete