Amaleki records that the people of Zarahemla "came across the great waters, into the land where Mosiah discovered them" (Omni 1:16). What were these "great waters"? Assuming a Mesoamerican setting, reason tends to favor the Atlantic Ocean. According to an article by George F. Carter, the Atlantic Ocean is small when compared to the Pacific. The winds and currents from the Strait of Gibraltar drive directly to America with great steadiness. Any mariner venturing out to sea beyond the ancient Pillars of Hercules and not having any mishap would arrive in America in a very short time. If he were making a deliberate voyage, then he would arrive even more quickly. We know that by the early Bronze Age, say about 3,000 B.C., there was a lively trade with Britain to obtain Cornish tin and Irish gold, among other things. We also know that some of this shipping went by sea around Spain. It may have been about this time that the Madeiras and the Canaries were occupied, though perhaps earlier. But certainly by that time there was sufficient shipping exposed to the perils of the sea that contact with America was certain to occur, even if only by drift voyages.
The usual criticism of this view is that a drifter would have been unable to get back. But that is a mere assumption. Who can really say that after landing on a Caribbean island, mariners could not repair their ship and return? If they attempted a return and the Gulf Stream swept them northward and they caught the westerlies, they could return rather easily. . . . One of the Latin scholars called my attention to a book on the centenary of the discovery of Pompeii. In it was a chapter by a botanist who identified the plants in the mural art at Pompeii. One of the things that he noted was the pineapple. He was fully aware that it is an American plant and, of course, that it cannot be grown in the vicinity of Naples. I noted this, and the usual furor erupted. When the smoke cleared, it was admitted that the pineapples were indeed portrayed at Pompeii, a city which was buried at the end of the first century AD. [George F. Carter, "Before Columbus," in The Book of Mormon: The Keystone Scripture, pp. 176-177]
Omni 1:16 They journeyed . . . across the great waters ([Illustration]): Did Phoenicians Bring Mulec to the New World? (1) Phoenician-type ceramic head found in a mound at Tres Zapotes. (2) Stela from Campeche Mexico, now in the National Museum. Note the Star of David with waves on the ear spool, and the ship-like headdress. (3) A Ceramic head found in Guerrero state, Mexico. (4) Phoenician-type head carved in slate, found in southeast Veracruz. (5) Statue of Phoenician god Melkarth from Palestine. (6) The famous Stone of Paraiba found in Brazil. [Glenn A. Scott, Voices from the Dust, p. 121]