Kon-Tiki Museum

Thor Heyerdahl was born on October 6, 1914 in Larvik in the south of Norway. His father was a brewer. Mother helda high position in the association of museums in the city. It was probably she who awakened in her son a love of science. Thor studied zoology and geography, and was also interested in anthropology. On Christmas Eve 1936, he married Liv Coucheron Torp. A day later, the young couple sailed to the islands of French Polynesia, wanting a escape from Western civilization. There, on the islands of Fatu Hiva and neighboring Hivoa, they made several scientific discoveries. It was then that Heyerdahl came up with the idea that the Polynesian islands had been inhabited centuries ago by people from South America, and not from Asia, as previously thought. This was supposed to be evidenced by the similarities of the colossal sculptures from Easter Island with those discovered on Lake Ticaca in Bolivia. Also, the dialect of the Polynesians resembled the language of the South American Indians. Thor’s wife, Liv, pointed out to him that on the island where they were staying, the waves always broke on the east shore, not the west, which proved the existence of sea currents running from east to west. All this in connection with the legends heard by the inhabitants of Fatu Hiva, that their ancestors would come from across the ocean on wooden boats. According to the story, the leader of the group settling Polynesia was Kon-Tiki, which meant Sun-Tiki. The similarity of the name with Lake Titicaca was supposed to suggest that it came from the Inca tribe.

Heyerdahl, after returning to his homeland, began to write a work about his discoveries.In 1946, he told experts anthropologists at The Explorers Club in New York about his thoughts and theories, contradicting previous scientific findings.His ideas were not well received, and one of the specialists, Herbert Spinden, ansvered to Thor: „ Sure, see how far you get yourself sailing from Peru to the South Pacific on a balsa raft! „ That one sentence made to the young scholar like a red rag to a bull.

To prove his point, Heyerdahl set about organizing an expedition to prove to the world that it was possible to sail from the coast of Peru to the islands of the Pacific Ocean.To do this, he had to build raft, assemble a crew, organize supplies for the journey.He received help from the US Department of War.They offered to supply Heyerdahl’s expedition with rations, sleeping bags, sun cream, underwater matches, radio stations and life-saving equipment.In return, he was asked to test these products and report back on them.

The crew, including Thor, consisted of six men and one parrot:

– Herman Watzinger – Heyerdahl’s deputy during the Kon-Tiki expedition.Thermodynamics engineer.He got into the team by coincidence.Having met Thor in New York and learning about his planned expedition, he asked about his willingness to participate in the project.He got the answer right away.

– Erik Hesselberg – Thor’s childhood friend.He was the only one of the crew to have sailing experience.He served in the merchant navy and was to become the navigator of the expedition.He was also an artist and it was he who painted the characteristic mask on the sail of the raft.

– Knut Haugland – war hero, participant in the famous sabotage action in Rjukan in 1943. Extremely brave and enterprising.His fame contributed to obtaining the necessary government funds for the expedition.

– Torstein Raaby – radio operator in the Norwegian resistance during World War II.Together with Haugland, he was responsible for radio communication on Kon-Tiki.

– Bengt Danielsson – Swedish anthropologist at Uppsala University.Like Watzinger, fascinated by Heyerdahl’s plans, he asked about joining the expedition.He was the only one of the six who knew Spanish, so he often acted as an translator.

Building a traditional wooden raft, such as the Indians might have used centuries ago to travel across the ocean, turned out to be quite a challenge.The knowledge of how such rafts were built has not been preserved in the memory of contemporaries.Therefore, it had to be based on illustrations immortalized by the Spanish conquistadors.Heyerdahl decided to use balsa wood for the construction, as it had a low density and was very light (twice as light as cork).Balsa is also very durable.Wooden logs were to be tied together with hemp ropes and additional materials were to be bamboo and banana leaves.The problem turned out to be the lack of balsa on the coast of Ecuador, from where it was decided to obtain this material.The recently ended war in the Pacific caused a great demand for construction material, so the wood necessary for the construction of the raft had to be transported from inland, the heart of the Amazon jungle.The raft was made of 9 thick logs, the longest of which was 14 meters long.The deck (9×4.5 meters) was made of bamboo covered with braid.The sail had dimensions of 4.6×5.5 meters.The raft was called Kon-Tiki.

Heyerdahl steadfastly overcame all obstacles and ignored criticism.He built his dream raft of balsa logs, hemp ropes and bamboo and launched it, heedless of warnings that the entire structure would fall apart when the ropes wore out, the wood would become waterlogged and sink, and the entire crew would perish in the Ocean’s waters.The expedition was considered a suicide.But for Thor the raft was ready and nothing else mattered.The journey could begin.

They departed from Callao, Peru on April 28, 1947.And although the construction of the raft aroused a lot of controversy among experts, the members of the expedition did not carry out any tests at sea.Neither of them knew how to steer such a raft.They took turns at the rudder on a regular basis, but in the end it turned out that for the most part they would have to rely on sea currents and east winds.Interestingly, the initiator of the whole enterprise, Thor Heyerdahl, setting off on this breakneck journey, could not even swim.Not only that, he is said to have had an aversion to water all his life, after falling into an ice hole in his childhood and being rescued only by luck.

After two weeks of sailing (or a leisurely drift), the raft was still intact.The predictions of experts did not come true.On the contrary, the friction of the wooden logs and their movements on the waves caused the ropes, instead of wearing out, to fit the shape of the vessel even more closely, strengthening the bonds.

From the records of the crew members, one can get the impression that the journey was rather idyllic.They didn’t get sick or starve.In addition to rations, they had fresh fish on the menu.If the stories are to be believed, the flying fish landed on the deck by themselves.Tanks below deck held supplies of fresh water.

However, it was not always so nice.One day Herman Watzinger fell into the sea, and as we mentioned earlier, the ability to steer the raft and thus get him back on board was very limited.Knut Haugland showed resourcefulness and saved his friend.

Another time, a giant whale shark appeared by the raft, giving the whole crew a great scare.

Heyerdahl recalls that there were also really stormy days, with seven-metre waves crashing over the deck.

After 97 days of travel, they finally saw land.It was Puka Puka Atoll, but due to the difficulty of steering they had to watch resignedly as the ground shifted before their eyes, too far to reach it.Four days later, however, they made landfall.The Kon-Tiki crashed into the reef of Raroia Atoll.After 101 days and 6,700 kilometers, they landed on the shore.The raft was destroyed, and the journey of six daredevils ended.They were found by the natives and soon all six returned to civilization.Thor Heyerdahl proved that the peoples of South America could actually get to the islands of the South Pacific.

Throughout the voyage, the crew documented life on the raft on film. The finished film received an Oscar Avard for Best Documentary in 1951.

In later years, Heyerdahl took part in other interesting projects.He conducted surveys in the Galápagos Islands, financed and led an archaeological expedition to Easter Island, where, under his leadership, many moai statues and the remains of stone houses of the type found in pre-Columbian South America were discovered.Experiments with sculpting, transporting and erecting statues were also carried out there.

In 1969, based on surviving records of original Egyptian boats, Heyerdahl and Lake Chad builders built a replica papyrus boat to demonstrate that the ancient Egyptians could reach the Americas across the Atlantic. The boat, named Ra, sank before reaching its destination. A year later, Heyerdahl and builders from Lake Titicaca built a second version, the Ra II, which sailed from Morocco to Barbados in less than two months.

In 1977, another expedition on the reed boat Tiger was to prove communication between the ancient Indus Valley civilization and Mesopotamia.After five months of sailing and 6,800 km, the Tiger boat was finally burned by Heyerdahl and the crew in Djibouti on April 3, 1978, in protest against the armed conflicts in the Middle East.

In the late 1950s and into the early 1990s, Heyerdahl was especially dedicated to working for world peace.He appealed to the highest authorities and the most powerful politicians in several countries.

During the Ra expedition, the crew witnessed the degree of pollution in the Atlantic Ocean.They encountered accumulations of oil on the surface of the ocean and reported their findings to the UN.The crew sent an appeal to the then UN Secretary-General, and oil pollution of the world’s seas and oceans generated much interest, contributing to the first UN Environment Conference held in Stockholm in 1972.

The Kon-Tiki Museum opened in 1950.The museum is not only a replica of the famous raft and the report from that expedition.You can find there also the boat Ra II and exhibits from other Heyerdahl expeditions.However, the whole is a kind of tribute to the traveler and researcher.Walking through the successive exhibition halls, watching the 1:1 scale model of Kon-Tiki and learning about the history of this and subsequent expeditions of Thor Heyerdahl, I could not stop admiring his achievements.

So if you are in Oslo on the Bygdøy peninsula, you already know what you must see.

“Borders? I have never seen one. But I have heard they exist in the minds of some people.”
Thor Heyerdahl

I used some pictures originally placed at Kon-Tiki Museum website ( https://www.kon-tiki.no/ ).