Deborah Kogan Ray - The Impossible Voyage of Kon-Tiki

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VOYAGE

OF

KON-TIKI

April 25August 7, 1947

101 days

4,300 nautical miles

COLOMBIA

ECUADOR

PERU

Quito

Lima

Panama

Canal

Callao

Marquesas

Islands

Tahiti

Easter Island

Tuamotu

Islands

Equator

Fatu Hiva

Takume

Reef

Puka-Puka

S TART A PRIL 25

M

AY

J

UNE

J

ULY

J

ULY

R AN AGROUND

A UGUST 7

Humboldt Current

Lake

Titicaca

SOUTH

AMERICA

PACIFIC OCEAN

Key

Kon-Tiki voyage

currents

South Equatorial Current

Equatorial Counter Current

Angatau

FRENCH POLYNESIA

Raroia Reef

Deborah Kogan Ray

The

Impossible Voyage of

KON -TI KI

One day my theory was complete. I must go to

America and put it forward.

Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian anthropologist, 1946

I saw now that no one would accept

my theory.

Impossible! declared the famous professor, shaking his

head at Thor Heyerdahl.

It was not the first time the young Norwegian

anthropologist had received such a response to his research

project. He had arrived in New York City hopeful that

scholars would be open to his theory that ancient Incans

from South America had voyaged by raft to the islands of the

South Pacific. But despite the evidence he presented, his idea

was dismissed as speculation.

Are you willing to try a forty-

three-hundred-mile ocean trip on

a primitive wooden raft to prove

it can be done? asked the

professor, chuckling.

It is my intention to prove that the

journey is feasible.

Thor Heyerdahls theory had been formed on the Polynesian

island of Fatu Hiva, where he had lived for a year with the

native people. The islanders had shown him stone carvings

said to be of the mythic figure Tiki. According to legend,

Tiki brought their ancestors from a land across the sea.

The carvings resembled statues made by ancient

civilizations in South America. Could the two cultures be

related? Thor wondered. Could there be a connection

between the Polynesian Tiki and the Incan god Kon-Tiki

Viracocha? Was it possible that ancient seafarers had crossed

the Pacific Ocean to the South Sea Islands?

After ten years of his research being met with skepticism,

Thor realized what he would have to do.

He decided to build a copy of an Incan balsa-log raft

and reenact the voyage himself.

I believe it will work out; and I am

determined that it shall work out.

Thor spent months assembling the expedition. Impressed

by his zeal, members of New Yorks Explorers Club raised

funds, and the newly formed United Nations assisted with

international clearances to build the raft in Peru. In exchange

for equipment, Thor agreed to test survival gear for the US

Navy. His volunteer crew four Norwegians and a Swede

were seasoned outdoorsmen who looked forward to the

challenge of high-seas adventure.

However, many experienced seamen thought the plan was

reckless, certain the raft would break apart on the open sea.

Nautical engineers warned that the balsa wood would absorb

seawater and sink.

If either contention was right, the voyage would be doomed.

9

The quay was packed with people who

wanted to see the strange craft christened.

The raft was made of nine balsa logs lashed together with

hemp rope. A bamboo cabin behind the single mast would

provide the only shelter. The crew would bring minimal

equipment: a sextant to determine position, shortwave radios

to report their progress, and cameras to film the voyage.

Food supplies were limited because of weight

considerations. Like ancient seafarers, the men would be

dependent on the oceans bounty.

On April 28, 1947, the Kon-Tiki named after the Incan

god along with Thor Heyerdahl and his five-man crew,

was towed out of Callao harbor, near Lima, Peru, and set

adrift in the Humboldt Current.

1110

By late afternoon the trade wind was

already blowing at full strength. It quickly

stirred up the ocean into roaring seas.

Contrary to all warnings, the Kon-Tiki proved to be seaworthy,

and the current carried the raft farther and farther into the ocean.

They were now in the thrall of the powerful westward

trade wind.

There was no turning back.

After a week or so the sea grew calmer.

As the voyagers approached the Equator, a constant

procession of pilot fish and dolphins joined them. At night,

flying fish were attracted by light from the paraffin lamp and

shot onto the deck and into the bamboo cabin sometimes

landing in bed with the men.

The only provisions aboard the raft were coconuts and

dried sweet potatoes, but fresh food was always close at

hand. The men baited lines with small squid and crabs to lure

large tasty tuna and bonitos. They caught sharks by seizing

their tail fins and hauling them on deck.

We saw no sign either of a ship or

drifting remains to show that there were

other people in the world.

The Kon-Tiki existed as its own small world. Thor was

constantly occupied with photographing and recording

the voyages daily activities in the logbook. His boyhood

friend Erik Hesselberg was the only trained seaman aboard

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