Page 45 - Insights Into The Scriptures - The Jaredites
P. 45
Figure 23: North Pacific Gyre
If the Jaredites launched in tight-like-a-dish barges into the China
Sea, the current would have taken them up along the Arctic region and then
down along the American coastline. While studying this current, I found
some maps with approximate current speeds. (There are different speeds at
different intervals of the currents.) Using the listed rates of these currents,
along with the distance of each, I estimated the length of time it would take
to traverse each current segment. When I added all these times together, it
was just about one year for an ocean current to travel from the China Sea to
the region around the Canadian-U.S. border. Ether tells us how long they
were on the ocean.
Ether 6:11 And thus they were driven forth, three hundred and forty and
four days upon the water.
This is shorter than my calculation. Of course, if they followed this
route, we cannot be sure where they landed. It could be farther north or
south, but Ether also says:
Ether 6:8 And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow
towards the promised land while they were upon the waters; and thus they
were driven forth before the wind.
39