The Ark was huge, about the same size as a cross-Channel ferry with three decks, but no bow or stern. It was designed as a floating refuge rather than a conventional ship – unlike the way it is depicted in children’s story-books. But was it seaworthy?

In 1994 a team from the Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering published a detailed study of its three most critical properties: how much it would pitch forwards and backwards, the extent to which it would yaw (spin laterally around itself) and its liability to capsize. They concluded that the Ark’s dimensions would have given it optimal stability. Naval architect David Collins calculated that it would have been more stable even than modern shipping, mainly because in modern ships the extra margin of stability is sacrificed for higher speed and greater manoeuvrability. Even in a 200-knot wind it would have been difficult to tip the Ark more than a few degrees.

Was there enough room for every kind of animal?

Genesis states that Noah took on board a male and a female of every kind of land animal – in some cases seven such pairs – and enough food for them all. Was the Ark big enough for them all?

The answer depends on how many kinds of animal existed in those days. Since animals diversified enormously after the Flood, the number of kinds would have been much smaller than the number of species now. To estimate that number, we need to trace the ‘evolutionary’ family trees of animals back to the ancestors at the base of those trees.

Our current estimate is that all mammals, living and extinct, can be grouped into some 120 original kinds. Similarly there may have been around 100 different kinds of bird and a similar number of reptiles and amphibians, including dinosaurs. We would also need to make allowance for numerous insects and other vertebrates. With younger animals being taken in preference to older ones and the average size of the vertebrates no bigger than a sheep, there would have been plenty of room for them, as well as for food and water tanks.

Doubtless there would also have been room for more than eight human beings if people had heeded the call to repent and come on board.