Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl and his crew arrived in Polynesia after 101 days at sea aboard the Kon-Tiki raft on today in historical past, August 7, 1947.
Hyderdahl, together with 5 crewmen (and one parrot), left Callao, Peru, aboard the Kon-Tiki, a balsawood raft, on April 28, 1947.
Heyerdahl was making an attempt to show that it was potential the Polynesian islands have been settled partly by folks indigenous to South America, stated the Kon-Tiki Museum’s web site.
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Impressed partly by the story of “Kon-Tiki Viracocha,” an Incan creation fantasy claiming that the deity Viracocha had left Peru on a raft, heading west, Heyerdahl was ridiculed when he offered his concepts to different anthropologists in 1946.
“They gave him the chilly shoulder,” the Kon-Tiki Museum SAID. Herbert Spinden, an anthropologist, even stated, “Positive, see how far you get your self crusing from Peru to the South Pacific on a balsa raft!”
Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl seen right here with a mannequin of the balsa raft, Kon-Tiki. The Kon-Tiki and its crew arrived in Polynesia on August 7, 1947, after 101 days at sea. (Categorical/Categorical/Getty Photos)
Up for the problem and assured in his principle, Heyerdahl started assembling a crew — and a raft.
Regardless of the dangers inherent with crossing the Pacific Ocean in a raft constructed out of balsa wooden, discovering a certified crew was “comparatively simple,” stated the museum.
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Heyerdahl was joined on the expedition by fellow Norwegians Knut Haugland, Erik Hesselberg, Torstein Raaby and Herman Watzinger, and Swede Bengt Danielsson.
“Thor’s standards in selecting crew members have been that all of them possess[ed] unwavering braveness in addition to one distinctive qualification, indispensable for the expedition,” stated the museum.
Solely Hesselberg, a childhood pal of Heyerdahl’s who served because the Kon-Tiki’s navigator, had any maritime expertise.
The Kon-Tiki raft, seen above, proved to be a superb seaworthy vessel, stated Heyerdahl in his log. (Keystone/Getty Photos)
The crew traveled collectively to Ecuador to get wooden to construct the raft, then to Peru to really construct it.
Whereas any historical indigenous Peruvian who would have made the journey to Polynesia would have finished so with out provides resembling sunscreen, radios and sleeping baggage, the Kon-Tiki was well-equipped for its voyage.
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Utilizing his private contacts with the American navy, Heyerdahl “was in a position to get hold of every little thing from sleeping baggage, discipline rations, suntan lotion and canned items, to navigational devices and radio tools,” stated the museum.
Regardless of naysayers who stated the try to float throughout the ocean in a primitive raft could be “pure suicide,” Heyerdahl and his crew cast on with their plan to see if his principle have been potential.
Heyerdahl documented his expedition within the ebook “Kon-Tiki,” which was additionally the title of an Academy Award-winning documentary on the journey. (LMPC by way of Getty Photos)
Though the crew made it to Polynesia, the journey was not all easy crusing.
Heyerdahl and the Kon-Tiki skilled “rogue waves” throughout the voyage — and the parrot didn’t survive the journey.
Heyerdahl documented his voyage within the best-selling ebook “Kon-Tiki” and within the 1950 documentary movie of the identical title.
The raft, together with objects from Heyerdahl’s numerous different expeditions, can now be considered at the moment on the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo, Norway.
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Heyerdahl documented his voyage within the best-selling ebook “Kon-Tiki” and within the 1950 documentary movie of the identical title.
That movie gained an Academy Award for Finest Documentary Characteristic for 1951.
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In 2012, “Kon-Tiki,” a dramatized retelling of the Kon-Tiki expedition starring Pål Sverre Hagen as Heyerdahl, was launched in theaters.
The movie was a industrial success in Norway and was nominated for the Academy Award for Finest Overseas Language Movie, stated IMDB.
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Heyerdahl died in 2002 at age 87.
In 2016, an try to recreate the Kon-Tiki expedition needed to be prematurely aborted and the crew rescued after unfavorable climate circumstances.
