By now the story is old news. Sea of Galilee reaches all time low ebb. First century fishing boat found in the mud near Nof Ginnosar (a kibbutz). Boat carefully extracted from the mud using space age foam. Boat cleaned, and then immersed in a liquid wax bath to hold the thing together. Problem, how to then remove the wax from the surface. Solution— wax eating goldfish! Only problem is, they become wax goldfish! ‘Look Mommy what is that dead gold thing next to the boat…. tell me it’s not Nemo!!’ Actually it was St Peter’s fish who helped the chemical process (see below), but what would Peter say about his fish nibbling away on his boat??? Anyway, it got cleaned up and has its very own Jesus boat museum by the sea. So here are some pictures to show you the final outcome….
Here’s the picture of the extraction from the mud, and then a shot of the foam casing…
Here is a model of what the boat would have looked like originally (and Jesus it would have held 13 persons). And below that are some artifacts found with the boat— lamps, and nails which were holding the boat together.
Here’s a description of the chemical process…
Here are three shots of the boat as it is today.
One of the most interesting features of this boat is that it was made out of twelve or so different kinds of wood….. and here is a chart which shows you this. Obviously this boat was not bought at Bass Pro shop….
And here is a sample picture of two of the trees from which the wood came— Aleppo pine and Hawthorn.
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