Who says that?

Let’s just be glad that Joe didn’t say “tight like unto....”

I’d better not finish that sentence.

Google USS Turtle.

I believe Joseph copied his description of his submersible from this very real one.

I remember reading a description of it and immediately recognized that Joseph stole the idea. Two halves bound tightly together. Holes top and bottom. Windows. Light source was a glowing fungus.



.

Thanks for pointing to the Turtle. I had never heard of it.

It's times like this that I wish I had time to do historical research. The timing would have allowed Smith and others to include the concept of submersible boats in the BOM, but it would be great to know if the stories of the Turtle were published in papers that Smith was known to have read.

Of course an apologist would say that the inspiration flowed in the other direction and that the military was already starting to benefit from the release of ancient truths contained in the BOM. Of course this is a guess on my part.

Joseph spent some time as a youth in the sea port city of Salem.

Plenty of opportunities to hear about not only the Turtle but Capitain Kidd, Comorros, Moroni and buried treasure guarded by ghosts.

I had been out of the TSCC when I first read about the USS Turtle and it really tickled me. More Mormons should know about that and keep it in mind as they read about the Jaredite barges. But I guess they would just say that God inspired the builders of the Turtle the way he inspired the Jaredites since Mormon minds are also, tight like unto a dish.

strangite Wrote:
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> Who says that?


What are examples of untightened dishes?

Jaredites.....I hear it all the time where I live :)

When I was a missionary in the Caribbean I would refer to an attractive girl as a "Jaredite." When the other missionaries asked what I meant, I explained that she was "like unto a dish."

That caught on.

funny (?), I don't see much of a parallel.
a long-distance voyage is a lot different than one person sneaking around in a harbor.

from an engineering standpoint (I'm not), a vessel for a long trip with people who eat, sleep, poop & need navigation doesn't compare.

The design itself.

Two halves bound together.

An opening at the top and bottom of the craft. Joseph never really explains it. On the Turtle, the top opening of course is for entry and air. The bottom opening to take in water to submerge or pump out water to surface.

Windows. The Turtle had windows. Joseph mentions them.

Light source. The Turtle had foxfire a glow in the dark moss. Joseph used a glow in the dark stone.

The Turtle had a difficult time navigating the currents. Joseph had his vessels driven by the currents and wind.

Given the locations - would Ocean Currents really have pushed a vessel this way?

I know, winds as well but find it hard to see them really doing a lot to the ship which was mainly underwater.

It is possible, but I think unlikely.
The ship would have to follow the east coast of Africa nearly to the southern mot tip before heading east. It would then go south of Australia before heading north along the west coast of South America.

Getting north of the equator would be incredibly difficult based on currents alone, and if one weren’t careful, they would end up heading back out to the middle of the pacific.

Of course, JS had no way of knowing anything about the details of deep ocean currents. Any more than he did about where the native Americans came from.