Kon Tiki
- Thread starter Wansworth
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veshengro
Well-known member
In school in the 1950's we had to write a competition essay on 'Heroes'. Everyone wrote about Davy Crockett because there was a BBC TV serial programme about him running at the time. I had just read Thor Heyerdahl's book so he was my subject. Got a book prize dated 1955 that I've just unearthed for the photo 
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Wansworth
Well-known member
Well done!In school in the 1950's we had to write a competition essay on 'Heroes'. Everyone wrote about Davy Crockett because there was a BBC TV serial programme about him running at the time. I had just read Thor Heyerdahl's book so he was my subject. Got a book prize dated 1955 that I've just unearthed for the photo
Wansworth
Well-known member
…….and your teacher had aBA
Sandy
Well-known member
I thought for a moment you had found your dream boat.
justanothersailboat
Well-known member
But are the side decks wide enough?
Wansworth
Well-known member
Enough of your jesting!
mjcoon
Well-known member
Did you have to collect your prize anomalously (sick) too?In school in the 1950's we had to write a competition essay on 'Heroes'. Everyone wrote about Davy Crockett because there was a BBC TV serial programme about him running at the time. I had just read Thor Heyerdahl's book so he was my subject. Got a book prize dated 1955 that I've just unearthed for the photo
I think I just built a model of the raft, which would have reflected my craft rather than literary skills...
veshengro
Well-known member
No, I wasn't shy in those days, just went up onto the school stage and collected the book..
capnsensible
Well-known member
I read the book when I was about 11 and found it inspirational.
capnsensible
Well-known member
I thought of that book a couple of times when I took a yacht from Panama (started in Antigua) to Tahiti.
How's that for name dropping?
It was, though a dream come true.
How's that for name dropping?
It was, though a dream come true.
johnalison
Well-known member
A great voyage, but completely wrong in its conclusions. So far as I know, it is well established that the Pacific was populated from the west, though I believe that artefacts, or maybe introductions from the Americas have been found. It is a few years since I read it r saw something abut this so I don’t remember the details and will have to rely on the forum experts to supply them or contradict me.
Wansworth
Well-known member
Show offI thought of that book a couple of times when I took a yacht from Panama (started in Antigua) to Tahiti.
How's that for name dropping?
It was, though a dream come true.
capnsensible
Well-known member
AntarcticPilot
Well-known member
Yes, DNA evidence shows that Polynesia was primarily populated through Australasia and Micronesia; I gather there are strong DNA links with the native (non-Chinese) population of Taiwan). There is some evidence of intermittent contact with South America (sweet potatoes, for example, and evidence of pre-Columbian chickens in South America), but the population came from the West. Sadly Heyerdahl (who I also read as a schoolboy) was wrong. It seems likely that contact with South America was by Polynesians (who were quite happy with long voyages of exploration).
I'm afraid it shows that the basic flaw in the voyages of the likes of Heyerdahl and Severin is that possibility doesn't imply that it actually happened! Also, there's a big difference between setting off knowing there's something to aim for and setting off when, as far as your worldview goes, you could sail over the edge! Almost all the "experimental" voyages have that basic flaw - a real ancient crew wouldn't have gone happily sailing off into the unknown; they would have been frantically trying to get back where they came from! Even Columbus had to counter that one - not that his crew thought they would sail over the edge, but because they knew that the chances of making a landfall before provisions ran out were slim.
johnalison
Well-known member
I can’t claim to know much about the area, though there was a fine show called Oceania at the RA a few years ago. There is also an interesting book by Paul Theroux called ‘The Happy Isles of Oceania’ which is well worth reading, the title being ironic of course. It is a good while since I read it but I remember his dislike of American missionaries and suspicion of the Chinese, who were only just starting to expand at the time of writing. My chief memory of the book was his account of finding himself on some island during festival time where, as well as drinking a list of the local hooch, it was the tradition on a certain day or week for young women to chase men in bands and have their wicked way with them, which event he narrowly escaped apparently.
Marsali_1
Member
"...it was the tradition on a certain day or week for young women to chase men in bands and have their wicked way with them..."
Did it matter which instrument the men played or were the drummers chased as much as the brass?
Did it matter which instrument the men played or were the drummers chased as much as the brass?
mjcoon
Well-known member
Maybe they were wedding bands?
veshengro
Well-known member
" it was the tradition on a certain day or week for young women to chase men in bands and have their wicked way with them, which event he narrowly escaped apparently."
Now JA, I want you to sit down and think very carefully, try to remember which Island and which day of the week this occurred. Meanwhile I'll just check a couple of the American Airlines, who I think fly routes out that way.
Now JA, I want you to sit down and think very carefully, try to remember which Island and which day of the week this occurred. Meanwhile I'll just check a couple of the American Airlines, who I think fly routes out that way.
Frank Holden
Well-known member
I would skip the US airlines which -to put not too fine a point on it - are pretty crap and fly Air Tahiti Nui.
I recall a book by Robertson/Robinson - 'Towards the Great South Sea' - about a voyage from Tahiti to Valdivia in the 50's. They called at an island somewhere south of Tahiti - Rapa by memory - where all the menfolk had gone to Tahiti to work. The two Tahitians in his crew were ****** within an inch of their lives.
Be careful what you wish for.
I recall a book by Robertson/Robinson - 'Towards the Great South Sea' - about a voyage from Tahiti to Valdivia in the 50's. They called at an island somewhere south of Tahiti - Rapa by memory - where all the menfolk had gone to Tahiti to work. The two Tahitians in his crew were ****** within an inch of their lives.
Be careful what you wish for.
