chapter four

Chapter four opens with some satire. Thor was watching the boat while the others were out running errands and the tugboat came to carry the Kon Tiki out to sea. Thor could not speak spanish so the tugboat crew went ahead and started to tug the boat away without any of the crew on it! The boat takes them 50 miles off of the coast then sends them on their way. The crew sets up a schedule where two men steer while the others rest and just keep going through that cycle. The high seas caused some problems but the men managed to keep the ship in tact. The crew was worried that the balsa logs were absorbing too much water and eventually the raft would be under water.

chapter 3 PART 2

Quickly a man named Bengt Danielsson joined the expedition for his interest in the theory. Heyerdahl was certain that the six of them would be able to survive together on the boat. "No two of these men had met before, and they were all of entirely different types." The construction of the balsa raft took place in at a naval shipyard. The consturction itself did not take very long. They made sure that put it together so all those on board would feel some type of freedom while on the raft.

Many scientists and politicians came to see the raft that was supossedly going to carry six men across the pacific. Everyone had an argument  against it succeeding. All the men tried to stay confident in their chances of survival.They filled the boat with food, lots of water, equipment and other provisions. Each man had his own living quarters. "On April 27, 1947, the Norweigan flag was hoisted." They had named the boat Kon-Tiki and had a ceremony for everyone to see them off.

Chapter 3

Once they arrive in South America, they find out it will be impossible to find balsa logs for there had just been a major rain season. The mud would be impossible to cross through to where they wanted to go. In Ecuador they learn many things about the native people. One anecdote from Jorge about his friend being killed showed the brutality of the native people. Having no patience, they ask the military to assist them in getting balsa logs. "His orders were to drive us to Queveo mud or no mud."

They drive deep into the Andes mountains and jungles. On the way they see the poor living conditions that the natives live in. "If a tin box or a scrap of paper was flung down by the roadside, it was picked up at once as a useful household article." After a long trip they find the plantation with plenty of balsa logs for their taking. Heyerdahl next goes to the President of Peru for a place and crew to build this mighty raft. The President agrees to help him out.

Chapter 2!!!!!!!

Chapter 2 continues in a flashback where Heyerdahl is being rejected for his written manuscript about his theory. The man does not believe they would be able to sail across the Pacific on a raft. Jokingly the man said, "well you can try a trip from Peru to the Pacific islands on a balsa-wood raft." That night he tells a friend he his willing to do just that to prove his theory. With no one reading his manuscript he decides a voyage from Peru is the only option.

Heyerdahl,with money problems, begins staying at the Norwegian Sailors' Home. There he meets Herman Watzinger, who agrees to be his partner on this trip. At the Explorers Club in New York City, they meet Peter Freuchen, a famous Greenland traveler who wishes to go too and also gather new equipment for their voyage. With money now behind them, Heyerdahl's mood is optimistic. They convinced the Army to supply them with food and small mechanics saying that "courage and enterprise count" as a reason to help them. With plenty of new equipment and more money they fly down to South America to prepare the raft.

Kon Tiki Chapter 1

The novel begins with the author and narrator, Thor Heyerdahl, on a raft in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. He finds himself wondering why he is in this position. Then he takes the audience through a series of flashbacks showing how he came to be on the raft.

Heyerdahl is a zoologist that was once stationed on a small in the Pacific called Marquesas. Here was where he first heard of "the great Polynesian chief-god Tiki, son of the sun." He gave up his job to star studying the history of primitive peoples and the mysteries of the South seas. He then goes through a series of theories of who the Polynesian people are and where did they come from. He then finds similarites in the Polynesian and the natives of the Inca Empire. With more research he came upon an Incan god who was also sometimes called Kon-Tiki and was driven out westward into the Pacific. This fact about Kon-Tiki begins Heyerdahls theory and later putting him on the raft in the Pacific.