The Norwegian explorer and anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl was referred to as Magellan's heir, for his ocean voyages throughout his life. The extraordinary voyage of South Americans to prove that they once crossed the Pacific on primitive rafts and settled in Polynesia was among the important events in world history.
In just a few moments, the calm ocean surrounding Kon-Tiki had turned into a crazy ocean. The foams are rising, the wind is getting stronger, and bigger and bigger waves come and rise Kon-Tiki five or six meters high. The logs from which the raft is made play with a creak, and the ropes connecting the logs are stretched to the degree of rupture.
Thor Heyerdahl is wrapped in one of the ropes. Unbelievable but true. The 32-year-old head of this transoceanic expedition can't swim properly. The nearest beach is already too far to reach.
Suddenly, in the roar of the wind, a distress call is heard. A man in the crew must have slipped. Next to the raft is a head and arms protruding from the sea. The casualty tries to hold on to the raft but to no avail. Heyerdahl shouts out orders, but no one can hear his voice over the roar of the waves. Someone throws a lifejacket into the sea, and the wind blows it back onto the deck. Heyerdahl untied the inflatable boat attached to the deck.
Thor Heyerdahl ( 6 October 1914 – 18 April 2002) was a Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer with a background in biology with specialization in zoology, botany and geography.
But a momentary gust of wind inflates Kon-Tiki's sail, dragging the raft forward at increasing speed. The casualty seems to have almost disappeared among the waves. The crew cannot overturn this primitive raft, and it is impossible to advance against the wind.
At that moment, a man from the crew of six dives headfirst into the water. With one arm, he strides forward, with the other arm he presses a lifejacket to his chest, while the vest is tied to the raft with a rope. Finally, the two men in the sea meet about 20 meters from the raft, hold on to the lifejacket, and wave. The crew pulls them both onto the deck. They are in a hurry because sharks can attack those in the water.
In the evening, the intensity of the wind increases even more.
Men tie the boxes tightly so that they are not blown off the deck by the wind and waves. Moving over seven-meter-high waves, now Kon-Tiki. When a wave comes, first the stern and then the middle of the raft are lifted into the air, when it is the bow, the stern ends of the logs are buried in the water. It happens that the helmsman is often in the water up to his stomach.
On the deck, the men try to cling to the wooden parts covered with slippery moss. Slowly the action of the storm and waves begins to loosen the ropes that were supposed to hold the raft together, and which were entangled in the deep grooves cut into the logs. Finally, the rudder breaks and a sudden gust of wind shatters the sail.
On July 21, 1947, the crew had been over the Pacific for over seven weeks. On a raft built in accordance with the ancient tradition, Thor Heyerdahl and five members of his crew struggle to traverse the 7,000-kilometer sea route between Peru and Polynesia's Tuamotu Archipelago. The purpose of the journey is to solve one of the greatest riddles of migrations in human history, to find out where the Polynesians originated.
There is no place more distant from all the continents of the earth than these small South Sea islands. It is an archipelago of well over 1,000 landmasses scattered across an aquatic world about five times the size of Europe.
Humans have lived on these remote islands for millennia. In the 1940s, most scholars guessed that these people came from Asia. But they are not in a position to explain how they might have reached Polynesia.
EXPERIENCED SEASONERS ARE NOT ESPECIALLY TAKEN ON THIS JOURNEY
Heyerdahl believes that the first settlers of the islands conquered it around 500 AD, arriving on rafts from South America. His thesis is so audacious that there is no support. He tries to prove this with an experiment, which in the eyes of many is a suicide attempt. Because no one would believe that the crew could even reach the open sea with Kon-Tiki (the name comes from a sun god of the Native Americans). The platform of the raft consists of nine balsa wood logs, which are connected to each other with ropes made of sisal plant and rigid with transverse planks. There is not even a vertical surface on the deck to protect one from the waves. The only shelter is a hut made of bamboo canes. Experienced sailors warn Heyerdahl: "The logs gradually absorb water and then sink," they say.
The history of the Kon-Tiki experiment begins 10 years ago with a strange discovery in Fatu Hiva, one of the Polynesian Islands. The young Norwegian zoologist and geographer Thor Heyerdahl, on a mission from the University of Oslo, will investigate how animals and plants spread from island to island under the influence of wind and currents.
As a child, Thor Heyerdahl read the reports of polar explorer Roald Amundsen; He dreams of exploring Brazil and Africa. Even in his early youth, he took a tent and a sled with him and wandered around the deserted areas of Norway for weeks. He climbed glaciers and spent the night in igloos. What is fear, he never knows.
One day, the researcher came across rough stone statues in the rainforest of the island adjacent to Fatu Khiva. These are beings with distorted faces and disproportionately large eyes. They resemble the reliefs he saw in Peru during his trips to South America. Was there a cultural exchange between Peru and Polynesia?
Then he sees that the wind and the clouds are always coming from the direction of South America towards the Pacific Islands. This is what determines the settlement of animals and plants on the islands, such as birds, insects, or plant seeds being carried westward by the wind. Heyerdahl concludes that life spread to the islands here from the east.
HEYERDAHL RETURNED TO NORWAY IN 1938
With a systematic study, he began to search for signs of contact between the South American and Polynesian tribes in the early ages. Gradually, he encounters surprising commonalities. For example, slings of similar construction were used as war tools on both sides. Only in these two cultures, a tea made by boiling the kava plant is used as a ceremonial drink, the only intoxicating drink known to primitive tribes on both sides. Also, according to estimates, only these two civilizations cultivated sweet potatoes and sesame agriculturally and used chili peppers as a spice in their food.
Heyerdahl finally stumbles upon a trace of Tiki, the Polynesian sun son, whom a native of Fatu Hiva tells the story of. It is called “Viracocha, the sun god of the Incas” In a book on South American mythology, it probably used to be called Kon-Tiki, i.e. Sun-Tiki. Legend has it that this god once sailed westward, towards Polynesia. Are Tiki and Kon-Tiki the same god?
Heyerdahl finished writing his book in 1946. Peru's ancient people once reached Polynesia by the Humboldt current and the Passat winds. But almost no one cares about his thesis. There is no publishing house that wants to publish his work. Scientists counter that the South American Indians would never have reached Polynesia. One of them sarcastically suggested to Heyerdahl: "If you want, try to sail from Peru to the South Sea islands on a balsa wood raft."
Heyerdahl perceives this not as a bad joke, but as a serious option.
A raft ride with thousands of years of technology is an unpredictable risk. But it is also a new way to bring evidence in science. Until that time, no archaeologist had ever tested a thesis so dramatically in terms of its applicability. Heyerdahl has to dare this experiment if he wants his opinions to be respected.
In the summer of 1946, he met Norwegian engineer Hermann Watzinger at the "Explorers Club", an explorer's club founded by world-renowned researchers in New York. He wants to join this journey right away. There is even someone who offers financial support for the trip.
Heyerdahl embarks on a months-long planning effort, reading legends and examining what the first European explorers to South America wrote about the maritime transport they encountered at the time. Then he forms a team. He does not particularly want to recruit experienced sailors: he does not want anyone in the future to object that the men in his crew knew better navigation than the Peruvians of the time. In addition to Watzinger, he invites painter Erik Hesselberg and radio operators Knut Haugland and Torstein Raaby on this life-or-death expedition; they are all Norwegian. Later, the Swedish ethnologist Bengt Danielsson joins them.
THEY FEED ON THE LIQUID IN THE LYMPH OF THE FISH
Heyerdahl collects letters of recommendation from military attachés and United Nations diplomats. These will ensure his admission before the President of Peru. He turns to the US military and explains that this journey will be a test for new types of hardware elements. So he gets waterproof sleeping bags, matches that burn when wet, the latest style of stoves, sunscreens, powerful food, and 648 cans of pineapple and 'shark dust'. Even a pinch of this powder is allegedly enough to abduct sharks.
In the spring of 1947, the men began the construction of Kon-Tiki near Lima, Peru. Together with 20 seamen, they cut down balsa trees and dig deep grooves on them to hold the ropes. They place the longest log of 14 meters in the middle. On both sides of it, logs that get shorter and shorter are arranged symmetrically, thus revealing the nose of the raft, which looks like a blunt plow. Finally, they wrap 300 ropes of sisal in the grooves of the logs and tighten and knot them.
Five solid pine logs, each two meters long, are placed between the logs. These will act as a footboard and prevent the raft from being caught in the wind and drifting against the current. Thick planks are tied at right angles to the top of the logs, they are covered with a solid cage made of bamboo poles, and bamboo leaves are laid on the cage. This 'shaky deck' is where they sleep, roam, and lie down. Again, they put a hut of 2.5 by 4 meters in size. Radio stations will be protected here; They also cover the roof with banana leaves. The crew erects a comfortable nine-metre pole in front of the hut. The pole, which consists of two poles tightly connected to each other, has a single serenity.
Heyerdahl becomes more and more aware that the expedition is life-threatening. The radio device is perishable, and the lifeboat is neither seaworthy nor capable of carrying six people at once.
It is also very doubtful that a ship will be found to save the crew if the worst comes.
But Heyerdahl pushes these doubts aside. If the raft is built in full accordance with the plans of the ancients, they will make the journey. “If the current isn't going in the direction you predicted, God help you,” one of his crew says.
This wobbly vessel set sail on April 28, 1947. A crowd gathered at the pier. Spectators look at this platform, which is 14 meters long and whose deck height is not even half a meter above sea level, with distrustful eyes. Its cargo is 1041 liters of spring water in 56 bins, bananas, sweet potatoes, sesame, and 200 coconuts. Between the deck are parcels that the men have sealed with a sticky material made of tar and sand, watertight. They contain enough rusks to last four months; Heyerdahl calculated that there were at least 97 days' routes to the Tuamotu Archipelago.
At about 4:30 p.m., a tugboat pulls Kon-Tiki 90 kilometers off so that the journey can begin outside the ship's routes. Finally, when the rope is pulled, the helmsman gives the raft its proper direction to the current. The men unfurl the sail bearing the sign of the sun god. A strong Passat wind soon inflates the sail.
PROGRESS LIKE PIECES OF WOOD DRAGGING BY THE SEA
Colorful tropical fish gather under them. While the men sleep, they feel as if they are riding on the back of a huge screaming animal on the waves, Heyerdahl notes. But no matter how much the logs rub against each other, the ropes do not wear out. The sea has inflated the outer layers of the balsa wood so that the ropes are nestled in a cork nest, while the alita keeps the wood intact. The deck is so low above the water that a squid – the size of a cat – climbs up at night. Or a wave comes and throws a strange fish into one of its sleeping bags: this is an example of a gempylus serpent, a species that no researcher has seen live before. “Perhaps one had to go on a raft in the sea to discover such strange fish,” Heyerdahl thinks.
They fish bonito, yellowfin, and tuna with a hook and fry them on the stove next to the hut. Norwegians have no trouble replenishing their dwindling rations. It often happens that sharks roam around the raft. The men grab them with a hook, grab them by the tail fins, and pull them onto the deck.
They stretch sailcloths to collect rainwater.
The crew also tries to open the fish's stomach and drink the fluid from the lymph nodes. It has a musty odor but is low in salt, so it is drinkable. Men detect the helm when the sea is calm. In the bamboo hut, radio operators solder pieces of tin around the edges of the dry batteries to protect them from the thin rain. They make casing stitches on the ropes and patch the sail. Heyerdahl collects plankton, writes his logbook, and takes his camera to film the expedition from an inflatable boat attached to the raft.
Then, on July 21, the 85th day of their journey, the storm erupts. One of the crew falls into the sea and is rescued at the last moment. The bad week cries out for five days and is loaded onto the raft with its wind and waves. The men survived for only one reason: they had strictly followed those thousand-year-old plans when they built the raft. If they had used wire rope, these would have chopped up a raft in a storm, but the sisal ropes still sit nicely in their nests. If they used dried balsa wood, the logs would absorb sea water and swell and the raft would sink. But the sap found in freshly cut trees apparently has a waterproof effect.
HEYERDAHL WAS EXCITED OF VICTORY – BUT HE WAS SO WRONG!
Nine days later, on July 30, seabirds suddenly started flying around the raft. With the first light of morning, a thin blue shadow appears on the horizon. This is Pukapuka, the tip island of the Tuamotu Archipelago at the easternmost tip of Polynesia, as they deduced from nautical charts and measurements. But the wind and currents drag the raft away from the island.
A few days later, they approach land for the second time. This is Fangatau, one of the islands under French colonial rule, 6853 kilometers from Peru. They see a lagoon, huts covered with palm leaves, and then men in catamaran canoes rushing towards them. But Fangatau is surrounded by seemingly impenetrable coral reefs.
On August 7, they reach the Raroia atoll of the Tuamotu Archipelago. This time the raft runs straight over the island. They see giant waves breaking on the coral reef hundreds of meters away. However, the cook does not hesitate to prepare his meal calmly. It will be "the last meal before the big tournament," as Heyerdahl wrote in a hurry log.
Then it immediately closes and removes this valuable document. At 9:50 a.m. one of the radio operators sent the latest news to a radio amateur living on Rarotonga Island, which he had contacted the day before, and asked that the Norwegian Embassy in Washington be notified if the crew did not report back within 36 hours. Finally, he says:
“Okay, 45 meters left. Come on, let's. Goodbye.”
As the raft approaches the coral reef, the men cling to the sail ropes. The waves break and pass over them. “Look, the raft is holding up! It's holding up!” exclaims one of them. But then, as an eight-meter high wave breaks, Kon-Tiki is under him.
The force of the wave breaks the mast and smashes the rudder. The cross-tied planks scatter. The deck falls apart, the hut is crushed. The crew lies on the ground between the ropes and the ruins; but those nine thick balsa logs withstood the impact, still bound together.
A little later, the waves crashing into the reef sit on the stone roof of this coral garden. But even the sharp edges of the coral reef do little damage to the hull: although the corals ripped underground, seven-centimeter-thick flakes from the logs, they were able to cut only four of the 300 ropes. Other sisal ropes are firmly in their sockets.
Six men jump from the wreckage into the lagoon and walk through the water to a small island in the middle of the atoll. After 7010 kilometers and 101 days at sea, they set foot on land.
None of them was seriously injured, and they survived the incident with quite a few injuries. Even the radio device still works. The men send word that they have landed. And they plant a coconut they brought from Peru.
THIS IS A DELETED ISLAND
They bring their chests from Kon-Tiki, build the hut on the raft again, this time on land, and eat crabs, coconuts, and fish to fill their stomachs. Then, six days later, one morning, catamaran canoes appear on the horizon. Norwegians wave, and locals approach the beach.
One of them speaks a little French. He invites guests to his village, located on one of the islands on the other side of the lagoon. The chief meets the team there. He also speaks French. He says that Kon-Tiki is a 'pae-pae' (Polynesian raft). While the Polynesians examine the balsa logs and express their admiration, the chieftain recounts that his ancestors once sailed with pae-pae. However, they find Kon-Tiki's sisal ropes quite ridiculous. Claiming that they cannot withstand seawater and sun for long, they proudly display their own ropes made from coconut fibers. They say it lasts for five years.
Meanwhile, news of the crew's successful disembarkation travels the world. A schooner is sent to bring the crew and the raft to Tahiti. Ceremonies are held here for the six men and they are given new names: the names of Tahitian chieftains.
HEYERDAHL
With Kon-Tiki, he laid the foundation of experimental archeology. With this new method, it seems, he refutes the criticisms against his thesis and proves that the oldest natives of South America traveled and settled on the Polynesian Islands on rafts. He has found the last puzzle piece needed to validate his settlement thesis.
Heyerdahl was accepted as an honorary member of dozens of geographical institutions and became one of the most important post-World War II naturalists. His film documenting this adventurous journey won an Oscar in 1951. The trip report is translated into 70 languages and prints almost 100 million copies. About 40 crews try to replicate this sailing expedition with a Peruvian Indian raft. But still, many scholars do not give up their doubts. In their eyes, Heyerdahl is nothing more than a daring Viking, and a raft ride 'an enjoyable adventure.
Then, new findings begin to emerge that weaken Heyerdahl's thesis.
In the mid-1950s, archaeologists began to prove, based on excavation finds, that the Polynesians could not have originated in South America. Remains of an early culture have been discovered on many of the islands, with sherds of pottery decorated with perforated patterns. Those who made these came from the West, from southern China, and settled in Taiwan about 4000 years ago.
Starting from there – this much is now certain – they settled in the Philippines, Indonesia, and New Guinea, then were sent to the islands in the Western Pacific and landed on the Archipelago of Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa around 2000 BC. It was here that, over a period of 500 to 1,000 years, Polynesia's oldest tribe was formed: a complete people with farmers, nobles, and a complex cult of the gods.
Then some of these settlers fled the islands, probably because of hunger or because they were excluded. They reached the Tuamotu and Marquesas Archipelago around 300 BC. The sculptures that Heyerdahl found on these islands in 1937 – it is known today – are not of South American origin. Heyerdahl did not measure them meticulously and misinterpreted them.
Again, from eastern Polynesia between 500 and 1500 AD, there are those who go to the far-flung islands: Easter Island, Hawaii, and New Zealand. Genetic tests now show that tall, light-skinned Polynesians originated in Asia, not America. In addition, linguists find that more than 200 languages in the Pacific region share 5,000 common core concepts, but they do not share any common with South American languages.
Heyerdahl underestimated the maritime abilities of the Asian settlers and considered it impossible for them could sail even against the wind and prevailing currents. Since 1973, Hawaiian scientists have begun to replicate the boats used by the Polynesians to explore this multi-island country more than 1,000 years ago. They travel long distances across a vast water world in an old-style catamaran. Moreover, they can also travel against the wind.
Shortly thereafter, climate researchers proved that an event that temporarily changes current conditions every few years now holds true back then: the climate effect called El Niño. In this case, the sea currents close to the equator almost reverse, and the waters rise from Central Asia to Polynesia and South America. Those ancient immigrants may have moved eastward from time to time, leaving themselves with the current.
Thor Heyerdahl accepts the results of his research coolly. He heads to new regions of the world and begins to investigate the seaworthiness of the boats of other ancient cultures; He sails from Morocco to the Caribbean island of Barbados in a papyrus boat, and south on the Tigris in a thatched boat.
He died in Italy in April 2002. The life of the raft he made will be longer. You can see this Tuesday at the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo today.