Coast Guard Ship Meets Noah's Ark

Imagine this: you're a Norwegian Coast Guard vessel, comfortably docked and minding your own business. But then, you suddenly notice a gigantic vessel pulling up alongside you.

The other ship appears to be of an ancient design, built mostly out of wood. It occurs to you that more than anything else, it reminds you of the Biblical description of Noah's Ark. The Ark draws closer, then closer still. Before you have time to do anything about it, you realize that it is way too close, and about to run right into you... and then it does.

Sound outlandish? I suppose so, but that was the scene last week when an enormous replica of Noah's Ark built by Dutch construction magnate Johan Huibers collided with a Coast Guard ship docked in Oslo harbor.

Media says the wooden replica, built by a Dutch carpenter Johan Huibers after he dreamed of a flood in his home town, was being towed into Oslo harbor when it somehow lost control and crashed into the moored patrol vessel Nornen.

Watching the video its hard to tell exactly what happened, but photos posted by Norwegian media show a big hole in the side of the Ark’s wooden hull.

The Ark is now owned by the Ark of Noah Foundation, which was planning on bringing the educational vessel across the Atlantic to Rio de Janeiro for the Olympic Games this summer. Media reports said there were no animals on board when the collision occurred.

Since modern ships are made of stronger materials like metal, the patrol vessel appears to have suffered little damage. Still, it's not every day that you just happen to literally run into Noah's Ark. Or, I suppose, Noah's Ark literally runs into you.

The collision is an inauspicious start to the Ark's planned voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to Brazil. The reality is that the squarish design of the craft is not particularly maneuverable, especially at that size, which I expect makes navigating harbors and steering clear of other ships somewhat challenging.

I suppose Noah never had to worry about that, because according to the Bible his was the only ship on the entire sea created by the great flood. So we know that there were no Coast Guard vessels around to get in his way.