SHOCKING: Noah’s Ark Has Been Found; Check It Out

A huge replica of Noah’s Ark has been stuck in Ipswich, England, for almost two years.

This is because of a bureaucratic nightmare on a global scale that is straight out of the Bible.

The Ipswich Star says that Britain’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency impounded the Dutch ship in November 2019, less than a month after it arrived in the U.K. because it was “not seaworthy.”

When it got there in 2019, it didn’t have a load line and antifouling certificate, which says that it doesn’t have any “coating, paint, surface, treatment, surface, or device” that hurts sea life.

Still, the ship, which is a museum with strange sculptures that tell Bible stories, stayed open to the public until March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic shut it down. It had been to several other European countries before without any problems.

But now, British officials are worried about its safety even more because of problems with its fire equipment, life jackets, and lifeboats. They won’t let it leave until these problems are fixed. So far, the owner, a Dutch TV producer named Aad Peters, has been fined more than $65,000. And the port is charging him a fine of $7,000 for everyday the ship stays.

But Peters says that the ship, which is built on a barge, has no engine, and must be towed wherever it goes, is a “non-certified floating object” that is not required to “comply with international regulation.” He says he’s ready to pull it back to the Netherlands if only the British government would let him.

Peters says that the ship never needed to be registered in the Netherlands, where it was made. After all, it’s not a real ship. But Peters has had trouble in the U.K., where maritime rules are much stricter than in the Netherlands because he is not registered.

If the ship had been registered in the Netherlands, the government could have let it sail home for one time. But because it isn’t classified in its home country, the U.K. has treated it like a commercial ship and made it follow its rules. The British and Dutch governments are upset about this standstill.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency of Britain said, “We are worried about this ship, and we can’t count on God’s help to get it to Holland safely.”

As things stand, a bunch of agencies is now involved in this bureaucratic mess. All hands are on deck, from Britain’s Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate to the Netherlands’ Water Management department.

The UK’s Department for Transport said, “We are aware of the situation and are talking to the right people in the UK and the Netherlands.” “Safety is still the most important thing.”

Peters bought the boat for $3.7 million in 2010 so that people from all walks of life would have something to talk about. It is one of two copies made by Johan Huibers, a Dutch carpenter, in 1960. It took him seven years, and he followed the Bible’s descriptions of the ship to the letter.

At first, the Dutch producer brought real animals on board. However, they “caused too many problems,” so the real animals were replaced with wooden figurines.

The ark was last in the news in 2015 when it ran right into a Norwegian Coast Guard patrol boat. The crash broke the ship’s hull, but no one was hurt.

Peters said after that trip that the ark can’t handle waves taller than six feet at sea because it’s not strong enough.

When asked if it could stand up to a flood like the one in the Bible, Peters said, “Unfortunately, no. I don’t like to use the word “miracle,” but how we got to Norway is a miracle.”

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