In 1883, a Turkish commission surveying Ararat for possible avalanche
conditions found part of the ark protruding twenty or thirty feet from the
foot of a glacier, according to the British newspaper Prophetic
Messenger.
Source:
LaHaye, Tim and John Morris, 1976. The Ark on Ararat, Nashville: Thomas
Nelson Inc. and Creation Life Publishers, pp. 56-58.
Response:
The story has several inconsistencies (Bailey 1989, 85):
The report mentions the expedition going through a dense forest and
wading waist-deep through a stream, contrary to many other detailed
descriptions of the mountain.
The visitors recognized the wood as gopherwood, despite the fact
that the wood was ancient and apparently painted, and despite the
fact that nobody knows what gopherwood is.
The original news release cited by the Prophetic Messenger has
never been found.
The story is probably fictional.
References:
Bailey, Lloyd, 1989. Noah: The Person and the Story in History and
Tradition. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press.
