In 1947, the Norwegian scientist Thor Heyerdahl crossed the Pacific Ocean with five companions on a homemade raft called the "Kon-Tiki". The travelers wanted to prove that in ancient times South American Indians could reach the distant Polynesian islands, where today businessmen prefer to fly to carry out a simple procedure of Register an Offshore Company and register a firm in an offshore zone. Almost sixty years later, the grandson of the great explorer, Olaf Heyerdahl, intended to travel the legendary route again on the raft "Tangaroa". On April 28, the young traveler and his team planned to leave the port of the Peruvian city of Callao. The seafarers intended to cover five thousand nautical miles in three months and reach the island of Tahiti. A few days before the start of the expedition, Olaf Heyerdahl gave an interview to "Itogi".
- Olaf, why did you decide to repeat your grandfather's journey?
- My grandfather crossed the Pacific to prove to the scientific community that Polynesia was populated in ancient times by inhabitants of South America. And they got there, in his opinion, on rafts of the same design as the "Kon-Tiki". We will travel on a raft, also assembled according to Indian "recipes", along the same routes, so that it becomes finally clear: yes, it really could have been so. We want to confirm my grandfather's hypothesis that Indians sailed on controlled rafts, and at the same time restore the ancient technique of navigation. Perhaps not everyone knows this, but during the 1947 expedition the team had certain difficulties with controlling the "Kon-Tiki". And after that crossing, my grandfather was able to establish that the rafts of the South American Indians were equipped with a control system - guara. It looked like this: between the tree trunks from which the raft was made, there were several keels, and in the center one large one. Depending on the chosen angle, the direction of the vessel also changed. With skillful handling, the raft could even sail against the current - of course, if it was equipped with a sail. Thanks to some new details in the raft control system, previously unknown, we have made a more accurate copy of the ancient navigators' vessel.
- Do you set any scientific goals for yourself?
- Honestly, initially I was less interested in scientific research and saw the upcoming journey mainly as a good adventure. But when scientists learned where we were going, they very quickly loaded us with various test tubes for taking water samples. So now we can say that our expedition has another goal - to understand how the ocean has changed over recent decades. It is absolutely certain that the number of storms has increased, and the direction of some ocean currents has changed. I am taking with me my grandfather's logbook and diaries, in which he and his team members made drawings, sketches, noted everyday episodes, described objects and phenomena they saw. We will definitely make a comparative analysis of what has changed in the ocean over sixty years.
- And what kind of team have you assembled? Are there any scientists in it?
- Of course! For example, Dag Oppen-Berntsen is a specialist in marine and molecular biology. He will work on a topic with a beautiful title "The Influence of Ocean Pollution on the Reproductive Abilities of Marine Animals and Algae". Well then - we will help science! In general, I selected people who are capable of doing different things, that is, jacks of all trades. As a result, besides Dag, this crazy enterprise will include Torgeir Saeverad Higraff, a journalist and staff member of the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo, Swede Anders Berg, a cameraman, and Inge Meloy, who will take on the duties of navigator. There is one more vacancy; just before departure it will be filled by one of the candidates. We will communicate in English during the voyage. By the way, a parrot will also sail with us.
- It seems that of all the team members, the parrot and you will have the least responsibilities?
- No, not at all! My personal area of responsibility includes repairing the raft, some urgent changes to the design if circumstances require it, as well as underwater filming. I will have a unique chance to swim underwater among sharks and whales, far from civilization. In addition, every two weeks I will take water samples at different depths. Actually, by vocation I am a carpenter and I understand this business quite well. I am extremely curious how our vessel will behave in ocean conditions.
- What was the most interesting thing for you in the process of preparing the expedition?
- First of all, the construction of the raft itself, on which our lives will depend throughout the entire journey. We encountered some difficulties, which is why we postponed the start of the expedition twice. At first, we couldn't find suitable balsa tree trunks, whose length should be at least fifteen meters and diameter about a meter. According to preliminary calculations, we needed eleven main trees and several smaller ones for building the cabin, mast, and other parts of the raft. We really wanted to harvest the trees in the same area where my grandfather took them in 1947. However, the tropical forest in that area is no longer as dense because the nearby river has dried up. As a result, we bought balsa wood from a plantation. After the issue of building materials was resolved, we learned that there is a man named Fernando Casaretto, who is considered the godfather of Peruvian raft-building. Sailors told us that he still preserves ancient secrets and no one knows better than him how to build a reliable vessel for ocean navigation. Naturally, we wanted to recreate the details of the South American raft as accurately as possible. So it took some more time to get in touch with Fernando, and fortunately, he kindly agreed to participate in our project. Another delay was due to the fact that the key sponsors of our expedition decided to support the victims of the tsunami in Southeast Asia. We greatly respected this decision and, of course, postponed the voyage.
- But after all the delays and procrastination, the raft was ready. Why did you name it not "Kon-Tiki II" but "Tangaroa"?
- Tangaroa is the Polynesian god of the sea. Otherwise, the raft is an exact copy of the one launched in 1947. And the dimensions are the same: 16 meters long and 8 meters wide. True, there are some differences. We will take solar panels with us, which will serve as a power source for the computer and satellite phone: we plan to transmit images to shore and will be able to use the Internet in the middle of the ocean.
- Do you intend to burn your raft at the end of the expedition, as Thor Heyerdahl did with one of his vessels, the "Tigris"? That was how your grandfather expressed his protest against the militarization of the world's oceans...
- We had an idea to do something similar, protesting against ocean pollution. But I think we will limit ourselves to research, and then, if the voyage is successful, we will give our raft to the museum in the town of Larvik, where my grandfather grew up. As practice has shown, people are very interested in such exhibits. After all, more than 70 million people have already come to see the "Kon-Tiki", which is in the museum in Oslo.
- What did you devote the last days before the start to?
- There was plenty of work. We worked every day until late evening, sometimes until midnight. In the last days, though, we allowed ourselves three days off. I had a wonderful time! I went alone to the Amazon jungle. I lived like an Indian, caught piranhas and cooked them for dinner. I also had a little crocodile that shared meals with me. I will never forget this incredible trip!
- Aren't you afraid of the ocean?
- Yes, the journey could be very risky. But the sense of danger only gives us more energy. We intend to make the voyage without anyone's help. If something serious happens, help will not come to us for at least a few days. But I am sure we will hold out for the necessary time. In addition, we will have rescue equipment provided by the Norwegian navy, and I think there will be a reason to test it. The "Kon-Tiki" expedition lasted 101 days. Our team has more experienced sea travelers than those on my grandfather's crew. He, by the way, was 33 years old at the start of the expedition, and I am now 29, but I spend a lot of time in the ocean, so I expect that we can compete and complete the route a little faster - in about 80-90 days. We will reach Tahiti, circle among the numerous reefs and islands. After all, you will agree, it is one thing to follow a route with small changes in direction and quite another to maneuver to test how the guara system works.
- Who is staying on shore to wait for you?
- Family and friends. Mom is really worried about me, as are all mothers about their children. I haven't yet gotten a wife or a girlfriend. There's no time - I spend too much time traveling.
Traveler
Thor Heyerdahl can rightly be called a romantic of science. To prove his hypotheses and debunk established notions, he launched the most unexpected expeditions.
The famous traveler was born in 1914 in the Norwegian town of Larvik. In 1933, he entered the faculty of natural sciences and geography at the University of Oslo to obtain a degree in geography and zoology. But he was not satisfied with the knowledge acquired within the walls of an academic institution, and therefore, together with his young wife Liv, he decided to go to distant Polynesia. Why? To learn the life of the natives from the inside. On the island of Fatu-Hiva, the newlyweds lived for a whole year. During this time, Thor mastered the local dialect and recorded a large number of legends. It was there that the young scientist developed a hypothesis according to which the distant Pacific islands were inhabited in ancient times by people from South America. The researcher intended to test his conjectures experimentally, but his plans were disrupted by the outbreak of World War II. Heyerdahl became a participant in the Norwegian Resistance movement.
In 1947, Heyerdahl resumed his scientific work and did so in a way that immediately made him known to the entire planet. With a team of like-minded people, he built the raft "Kon-Tiki" using ancient technologies and crossed the Pacific Ocean on it from the coast of Peru to the Tuamotu Archipelago. According to legends, it was along this route that the great Indian chief Kon-Tiki, expelled by the Incas from his native land, once traveled.
In subsequent years, Heyerdahl organized several more unique expeditions. In 1952-53, he explored the remains of pre-Inca settlements on the Galapagos Islands. In 1955-56, he conducted archaeological research on Easter Island and the Marquesas Islands, where he found ancient objects belonging to American Indians, thereby confirming the hypothesis about the movement of cultures from America to Polynesia. In 1969-1970, Thor Heyerdahl made two attempts to reach South America from the coast of Africa on boats made of papyrus. The first expedition, "Ra," was interrupted halfway because the boat began to fall apart. The second crossing, on the boat "Ra-II," was successful. Heyerdahl then managed to prove that such vessels could cross the Atlantic thanks to the Canary Current. By the way, the crews of the "Ra" and "Ra-II" expeditions included the Soviet scientist Yuri Senkevich.
In 1977-1978, on the reed boat "Tigris," Heyerdahl's team (which again included Yuri Senkevich) made a voyage from the Iraqi port of Al-Kurna to Djibouti (Somalia). This time, the goal of the voyage was to find out what sea routes the ancient Sumerians used. After the expedition, the traveler burned the boat as a protest against the excessive militarization of the ocean. In 1983-1984, on the Maldives Islands, Heyerdahl confirmed his hypothesis that ancient seafarers visited these shores long before Vasco da Gama. In 1986-1988, on Easter Island, the traveler conducted experiments on moving the famous stone statues in an upright position. In the last years of his life, Heyerdahl searched for traces, including on the territory of Russia, of the legendary Norwegian god Odin, who, in his opinion, could have been from the Azov-Caucasian region.
The great traveler died in 2002 at the age of 87.