What the Bible says;
And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die.But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark–you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.”
If we do not go beyond what is written then Noah’s’ Ark was a container type ship 300 cubits long by 50 cubits wide by 30 cubits high. That is all, just a big wooden box, with three decks, a door and, a window, made of GPR wood, covered in and out with pitch. The Hebrew does have vowels so not translated the type of wood is GPR wood.
There are two sizes for the cubit 18″ cubit or the 24″ inch cubit.
That would make the ark either 450ft x 75ft x 45ft or 600ft x 100ft x 60ft
With 1 meter = 3.280 839 895 feet the Ark would be
137.16m x 22.86m x 13.71m or 182.88m x 30.48m x 18.29m
The ratio of length to width and height of Noah’s Ark is similar to all modern ships.
Which reminds me of some of the oar freighters I have seen on the great lakes.
One has to conclude that God knew how many animals He was saving so there was at right amount of space on the ark. Like every good planner God made room for Noah, food, water and room for some of each kind. Some of the cat kind, dog kind, deer kind, horse kind, lizard kind, bird kind, chickens, hawks, eagles, ducks, etc
With giraffes at 17-20 ft tall, Elephants 9-12ft at the shoulders, Moose 7-8 ft at the shoulder, horses at 6-7 ft, ostrich 8-9ft tall, large bears 4-5ft when walking on all fours. The size of the animals would determine the internal size and usage of the three decks just like all other cargo ships. A T-Rex is only 11ft at the hips or 15 to 20 feet tall so it too could fit. The Bible talks about the behemoth having legs like beams so if the Apatosaurus, which had 500 lbs legs was the behemoth then it would have stood about 10-15 feet at the hips and also fit through the door on the ark if the door was 22ft high and it kept it’s head down.
Since God said put the door in the second level. Then the second or center deck would have been the biggest since all animals entered there. With large animals being 18 or ft or more so the door height might have been 23ft. If the center deck was 30ft and the bottom 25ft then the top deck could be 12ft tall giving room for the thickness of each deck. The main point is each deck need not be the same size but be made so as to fit in all the people, animals and cargo.
The lower deck or deck three need just be big enough for supplies water, grains, etc.
Now since the Bible says God will some day make animals tame and the lion will eat grass like the ox, etc. Maybe all that was needed for animal food was various grasses grains, fruits, and vegetables. There probably was household or farming items too and ballast, but the Bible does not say so it is a hidden detail.
The top deck needed to only be big enough for humans, maybe 12 ft high to allow, birds, sheep other smaller creature a place to stay too, so as not to get squashed. Add some shelves to the walls a few dividers like cubicles; maybe a few birdcages hanging from the ceilings. Well you can draw your own pictures based on the Bible and the size and needs of animals, birds, lizards, etc. This top deck would be a good place to store hay and other food. I have included the sketches from an artist I know at the end. Some are typical artistic form while other sketches where based on the scaled down numbers we find in the Bible.
It stands to reason if God left some of the details out we don’t need to know them or it is obvious and we are left to figure them out. Of course this is based in the Bible. Knowing God’s mercy there was probably even extra room for people who repented but the Bible does not say numbers other than Noah and his wife, his three sons and their three wives.
Holy Bible KJ Version Blueletterbible.org
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/facts/Apatosaurus/
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/facts/Trex/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giraffe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Elephant_near_ndutu.jpg
“New Dinos” book by Shelly Tanaka and Alan Barnard
Attached sketches by Rachael Shores
