1970: A Diverse Crew — Traveling Aboard a Papyrus Boat — Sets Sail for an Unconventional Transatlantic Voyage

May 17, 1970

Norwegian maritime adventurer Thor Heyerdahl set sail from Morocco in a boat made out of papyrus for a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. The 55-year-old Heyerdahl had achieved fame in 1947 when he sailed 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) in a raft known as the “Kon-Tiki” from Peru to French Polynesia to show that ancient people could have made similarly long voyages and established contacts with far-flung cultures. 

In departing Morocco’s port city of Safi in a 36-foot (11-meter)-long papyrus boat called “Ra II,” Heyerdahl sought to again demonstrate the possibility that widely separated ancient civilizations could have been in contact each other — in this case, that Egyptians were able to sail to the New World centuries before Christopher Columbus and others did so.

Heyerdahl’s vessel set sail a year after his first papyrus boat, the original “Ra,” failed in its planned trek from Morocco to Barbados. That boat broke apart about 600 miles (965.6 kilometers) short of Barbados, with Heyerdahl and his crew abandoning the vessel after sharks started surrounding it. (“Ra,” incidentally, was the name of the Egyptian sun god; both of Heyerdahl’s boats were modeled on vessels as shown on ancient tomb carvings.) 

Ra II proved to be more successful than its predecessor, with Heyerdahl navigating the craft towards the Canary Islands so that he and his crew could catch the currents there to travel across the Atlantic. The seven members of Heyerdahl’s crew were a diverse lot — an American radio operator; a Soviet doctor, an Egyptian skin diver; a Mexican anthropologist; an Italian cook; a Japanese photographer; and a Moroccan cook. This boat also carried 24 chickens, a duck, a monkey, and 148 jars of food. Nearly two months after leaving Morocco, Ra II completed its 3,200-mile (5,150-kilometer)-long voyage by landing in Barbados. 

Ra II can now be viewed at at the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo, Norway. The small-scale model of this boat featured in the accompanying photo is likewise on display at the museum.

Photo Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimg944/ (licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en)

For more information on the transatlantic voyage of Ra II, please check out https://www.nytimes.com/1970/07/13/archives/ra-ii-reaches-barbados-after-crossing-the-atlantic.html