A theory in bright wrapping but without proof in practice is nothing but an empty sound – so believed the great Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl. «I take pleasure in flicking the noses of dry academics and arrogant braggarts. But the motives of overcoming one’s own weakness and passivity, the motives of asserting the human personality through achieving what seems unachievable, are close and clear to me…», he once admitted to journalists.
From childhood he was terrified of water
From childhood, Thor Heyerdahl’s favorite place in the small Norwegian town of Larvik was the anthropological museum where his mother worked. His father left the family early, and even much later he never developed a warm relationship with his growing son. Thor became passionately fascinated by science and devoured works on anthropology, trying to understand how, in the distant past, entire peoples could migrate from one corner of the planet to another.
At that time, from the point of view of an ordinary layman, this was the height of recklessness. People crossed oceans on flimsy little vessels that, like feathers, soared over enormous waves, plunged into the depths, and were saved from inevitable death by some miracle. Then again, these travelers were probably not always so lucky. Alas, the ocean knows how to keep its age-old, grim secrets.
It should be noted that Thor was terrified of water. He had nearly drowned twice in a river and for some time, even while walking along the bank, he experienced constant fear. His studies at the capital’s university in the faculty of natural sciences and geography would somewhat dispel these unpleasant memories. Then came army service: during the Second World War, Thor Heyerdahl found himself on British territory.
And never, under any hardships or deprivations, did he forget his cherished dream. Heyerdahl passionately wanted to prove to the entire scientific world that Polynesia had been settled by people from South America. His hypothesis ran counter to the existing opinion of many renowned researchers. They were convinced that Polynesia had first been settled by the peoples of Asia.
A honeymoon on an island with cannibals
At the age of 22, Thor married his fellow student, an equally avid dreamer about travel, 20-year-old Liv Coucheron-Torp. The next day the newlyweds set off for the island of Fatu Hiva in the Pacific Ocean. It could only be reached by a fishing schooner that ran just once a year. On the island they were met by unfriendly natives – only a few years earlier cannibalism had been banned here. But the surviving old-timer cannibals cast carnivorous glances at the young blonde Liv. One of them even said, whether in jest or in earnest, that he would gladly take a bite out of her!
Thor and Liv spent nine months on the island. They lived in a hut that they built themselves. They caught fish and gathered fruit. But life on the island was far from paradise. The couple had brought with them only a pot and a machete – and no medicine or hygiene supplies. Liv’s health suffered especially badly – her legs were covered with bleeding, non-healing sores. After returning home, the young woman was treated for a long time. A few months later, Thor and Liv had sons – Thor and Bjorn.
Liv helped her husband prepare for his famous «Kon-Tiki» expedition, but could not endure the public attention of the press and filed for divorce. Throughout her life the woman suffered greatly from the consequences of the honeymoon on the wild island. Liv died at 52 of melanoma – her relatives believed she had developed the skin cancer while under the scorching sun of Fatu Hiva.
Across the Pacific on a small raft
.jpg)
Thor Heyerdahl began preparing for the most important event of his life thoroughly and meticulously. The raft «Kon-Tiki» – as the Norwegian would name it – was to be no different from the one on which the ancient South Americans had set out on their perilous voyages. And every historical detail was taken into account in its construction.
In Ecuador several balsa trees were felled. Thor and five crew members built an ancient raft out of nine logs lashed together with manila rope. On April 28, 1947, Heyerdahl’s team set off on a long voyage from Callao in Peru. Three months later, «Kon-Tiki» washed ashore at the Raroia atoll in Polynesia.
Before this expedition began, many people, including scientists, mocked Thor Heyerdahl’s undertaking. They believed that crossing the Pacific Ocean, always famed for its treacherous temper, on a primitive raft was impossible. And some even tried to talk Heyerdahl out of the voyage. But the Norwegian had a truly iron and prickly character – and was not afraid to challenge fate.
He proved it to the whole world
Several barrels of fresh water, army rations in cardboard boxes sprinkled with sand, equipment and tools were loaded onto «Kon-Tiki». The voyage proceeded on schedule. Later Thor Heyerdahl would say that he had been very lucky with his companions, who turned out to be jacks-of-all-trades. And more than once they rescued «Kon-Tiki» when it found itself in trouble. True, the voyage was not without strange and frightening adventures.
«Three enormous glowing phantoms slowly circled beneath us. These were some kind of incredible monsters, one of them measuring six to eight meters in length. Rushing out of the hut onto the deck, all six of us watched the dance of the phantoms. And it went on for hours» – this is exactly how Thor Heyerdahl described this incident in his book «The Kon-Tiki Expedition», which became a bestseller.
Expedition after expedition
In 1951, a documentary film made by the famous explorer’s team won an «Oscar». The first expedition of the indefatigable Norwegian brought him world fame. But Thor did not stop at what he had achieved. Aboard the sailing boat «Ra II», built of papyrus, and then aboard the reed vessel «Tigris» made of Iraqi reed, he set off in the footsteps of ancient peoples who had once boldly ventured across the raging ocean to new lands in small boats.
The famous explorer and writer departed this life on April 18, 2002, at the age of 87. The cause of death was a brain tumor. Thor passed into the other world surrounded by his third wife Jacqueline, his three daughters, two sons, and grandchildren.
The story of George Bass, the famous ship’s surgeon who vanished on the ocean’s expanses
