According to Day: “Parts of the panel would suggest the shipwreck of St. Paul at Malta. The central crowned figure rising from the waves can be claimed as Neptune in spite of the absence of a trident. Just above are his two sea-horses”.
Since he tries to connect symbols to certain degrees, he might have given a suggestion in what sort of degree that shipwreck takes place. A lost degree? In his lengthy information about the three arches at the bottom (which I might have better left together) he does refer to “Ark Mariner” and “Red Cross (of Babylon)” degrees. The laws of Moses and the brazen snake would be references to the old Covenant and the lamb (and book/Bible?) to the new.
Cooper has a wholly different interpretation. He sees the resurrection of Christ in this panel and in the ‘sea horses’ God the Father and the Holy Ghost. They surround -and thus conquer- the ‘brazen serpent’ representing evil.
Jackson writes about the three archs that they: “may allude to the 3 arched bridge in early K.T. ritual. Noah’s Ark, the Ten Commandments, serpent on a cross and figures in adulation can also be seen.”
It seems that the ark also was part of the third degree (together with the rainbow) as it can be seen on a third degree “Masters Carpet” from the 1920 as can be found on the Phoenix Masonry website (scroll all the way down).
Symbols on this panel:
