European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 29, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse This photograph taken during the Kon Tiki s 1947 voyage across the Pacific is on display in the Kon Tiki museum in Oslo Kon Tiki memories of an amazing journeys amps photos by Gus Schuettler by Ron Jensen staff writer the Kon Tiki looks hardly worthy of sailing across a farm Pond let alone the Pacific Ocean. But a Crew of six men led by Thor Heyerdahl sailed the Balsa Wood raft from Peru to polynesia in 101 Days in 1947, proving that the Ocean was not an impassable Barrier for past civilizations. The raft now rests in the Kon Tiki museum in Oslo Norway so visitors can Marvel at the risk taken by a Man to prove his theory. Heyerdahl a norwegian believed that the islands of the South Pacific were within the reach of pre european mariners from South America. He saw a similarity in the statues that dotted the South sea islands and those found in the Jungles of Peru and pyramids in the two areas were built in the same stepping Stone fashion. He knew that the incas of Peru had told stories of White ancestors who vanished across the Ocean sons before. He also knew that when europeans found the South seas islands they were surprised to find White skinned people on the Shore to Greet them. It was a controversial theory at the time and one that could be proven in Only one Way Heyerdahl had to establish that the rafts known to have existed in Peru in the 12th Century were worthy of a 4,000-mile journey across the open sea. The Kon Tiki is the Craft that he used for that journey. It is amazingly Small. The longest log of its deck is 45 feet the shortest is 30 feet. It is less than 20 feet across with a Small Cabin of Bamboo that sheltered the six men and the Green Parrot that made the trip. The journey began on april 28 and ended on aug. 7. And what a journey it must have been. The Crew ate the flying fish that landed on the deck. During the night they would hear the fish bump into the Cabin Walls. One morning they found 26 of the fish laying about their tiny Craft. A Crew member found a sardine on his Pillow one morning. The same Man found a unique visitor in his sleeping bag one night. A Snake Mackerel Long thought to be extinct had splashed aboard with a wave. The Crew became the first to see such a creature alive. It was a journey of incredible delights which Heyerdahl pointed out poetically in his Book Kon Tiki published first in 1950. Quot it was As if the fresh Salt Tang in the air and All the Blue purity that surrounded us had washed and cleansed both body and soul Quot he wrote of life aboard the Kon Tiki. Quot to us on the raft the great problems of civilized Man appeared false and illusory a like perverted products of the human later he wrote of nighttime aboard the raft Quot time and evolution somehow ceased to exist All that was real and that mattered were the same today As they had always been and would always be. We were swallowed up in the absolute common measure of history a endless unbroken darkness under a swarm of the museum surrounds the raft with Black and White photographs from the voyage. Half naked bearded men Are shown having what seems to be the Best time of their lives. Also displayed is a piece of Bamboo on which Heyerdahl wrote with Ink from an octopus Quot this is written on Board the Kon Tiki May 18, 1947 to test the Quality of octopus there is one other ship on display Here. A ii was built of papyrus and floated with Heyerdahl and a Crew from Safi Morocco in May 1970 to Barbados in the Caribbean. That trip proved that the aborigines of Central America could have been influenced by the old world voyagers. A i the first of Heyerdahl s ships to attempt this journey was lost after 54 Days at sea when the ropes were damaged approximately one week before arrival in the Caribbean. The museum is open year round but opening and closing times differ with the seasons. The admission fee is 10 Kroner about $1.50. S stripes Magazine March 29, 1990
