In Alma 63:5 we find that "Hagoth, he being an exceedingly curious man, therefore he went forth and built him an exceedingly large ship, on the borders of the land Bountiful, by the land Desolation, and launched it forth into the west sea, by the narrow neck which led into the land northward."
John Sorenson notes that Hagoth was a major figure in promoting the northward migrations. The location of his home port is clear enough--exactly at the border between lands southward and northward that is right at the isthmus or narrow neck. On the "west-sea" or Pacific side of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec are large shallow lagoons that have often invited maritime activity. In the hills just inland of the isthmus grows fine timber, which was so desirable that the Spaniards cut it, floated it downriver to the Atlantic side, and shipped it to Cuba for building ships. The lagoons and the timber resources were located in precisely the spot on the Pacific side of the neck that chapter 63 of Alma calls for. . . .
There is concrete evidence that sea travel along the Pacific coast of not only Mexico but all the way to Ecuador in South America was an ancient, though probably not a regular, practice. The "ship" of Hagoth, if it was like craft known later on the Pacific coast, was either a very large dugout canoe with built-up sides or a log raft with sails. Whatever its form, it could hardly have been a complex planked vessel at all resembling European ships. There is no evidence so far that such ships were constructed or used in the New World until after the Spanish conquest, and it seems unlikely that so important a technological item would have left no evidence, even in art. Still, the large dugout canoe sighted by Columbus on one of his voyages off the coast of Yucatan was a very respectable size, capable of carrying scores of people for days at a time. And with so much cultural evidence of coastal voyaging between South America and Mesoamerica, we may yet find that the large sea-going rafts known off Ecuador or Peru, and which were able to reach the Galapagos Islands off South America, were also made and used off Mexico, although this has not yet been demonstrated. [John L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon, pp. 267-269]
Alma 63:5 Hagoth . . . built him an exceedingly large ship . . . and launched it forth into the west sea ([Illustration]): Hagoth built a very large ship and launched it into the west sea. [W. Cleon Skousen, Treasures from the Book of Mormon, Vol. 3, p. 3204]
Alma 63:5 Hagoth . . . built him an exceedingly large ship . . . and launched it forth into the west sea ([Illustration]): Hagoth, Builder of ships [Steven Lloyd Neal, Verse Markers, Book of Mormon, Vol. 1, p. 5]