The voyage of Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl across the Pacific Ocean is now considered a significant event in the study of the planet and the history of mankind. However, at one time, the journey not only brought many discoveries and forced the official science to reconsider its view of a number of things, it, in fact, became the first reality show, followed by the whole world for 101 days. And after the entry of books, documentaries and films about this expedition, it can rightfully be considered a real cultural phenomenon.
Come to your senses, you will all drown
It all started with the fact that Thor Heyerdahl put forward a bold hypothesis. In his opinion, the islands of Polynesia were inhabited by immigrants from America, and not from Asia, as science then believed. The scientific community scoffed at the Norwegian colleague. Nobody took his treatises and proofs seriously. And especially ardent skeptics decided to take Heyerdahl weak. Like, if you are so smart, build a raft and try to repeat the route that the same ancient Incas supposedly easily took. It was then that the world show started. When it became clear that the scientist had accepted the challenge and was preparing for an adventurous journey in full swing, these same skeptics, along with the rest of the scientific world and journalists, tried to dissuade him from this venture. “This will be suicide! Come to your senses, you will all drown! " - they repeated to the scientist. But he has already "bit the bit."
Thor Heyerdahl, circa 1980 Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
Lolita washed overboard
The preparation for the expedition was complicated by the fact that at first Heyerdahl could not find sponsors and recruit a team of 5 people. Viral marketing helped. Newspapers began to write about the scientist's idea - and sponsors were found. Together with the desperate scientist, 5 more people went on the expedition: navigator and artist Eric Hesselberg, cook Bengt Danielsson, two radio operators (Knut Haugland and Torstein Roby), as well as a technician, engineer and meteorologist Hermann Watzinger. The seventh member of the expedition was a South African parrot named Lolita. Lolita, however, was washed away during one of the storms. As soon as the raft of balsa logs was built (by the way, authentically, without a single nail), the travelers hit the road.
Promotional video:
The Kon-Tiki crew. From left to right: Knut Haugland, Bengt Danielsson, Thor Heirdahl, Erik Hesselberg, Torstein Robu and Hermann Watzinger. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
The show begins
In addition to scientific observations and experiments, the team broadcasted their adventure almost live. Almost every day, radio operators sent reports of meteorological observations, ocean currents and so on to the shore. In addition, one of the radio operators kept a detailed travel diary. Every little thing was recorded. Once, tired of writing, the first radio operator exclaimed in despair: "I am ready to swear that all this correspondence weighs ten kilograms!" The second radio operator only calmly corrected him: “Twelve. I have weighed. " And in order not to miss anything at all and squeeze the maximum out of their journey, the team members recorded everything on a movie camera. The book based on the recordings and the film based on the documentaries were to be the culmination of this show. In the meantime, the whole world was content with radiograms from Kon-Tiki. "Have they drowned already?" some asked with burning eyes."Not yet!" the others answered happily. People in different countries were placing bets, betting, eagerly awaiting the outcome.
Didn't you wait ?! And we sailed
On August 7, 1947, having covered several thousand kilometers, the raft approached the Raroia atoll, which is part of the Tuamotu archipelago. But no one was waiting for travelers there. Nobody at all: the island was uninhabited. For a week the team stomped on this piece of land, until a boat with local residents accidentally swam up to it.
When travelers got to the mainland to civilization, it became a world sensation. And the beginning of the triumph. Heyerdahl's book "The Kon-Tiki Expedition" was translated into 70 languages and sold over 50 million copies. The traveler's documentary "Kon-Tiki" was awarded an Oscar in 1952.
Subsequently, a feature film about the legendary journey appeared, also awarded many nominations and awards. And Thor Heyerdahl gained not only the recognition of the scientific world. He became a real world star. He made many more travels, wrote 20 books. Of course, he gained a lot of followers among his fans. Alas, not everyone managed to complete their expeditions as safely as Heyerdahl. Some have repeated the fate of Lolita's parrot.
Grave of Thor Heyerdahl in Kolla Mikeri. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org/ Nick Michael