Evening star., 1947-07-03
By Thor HeyerdohI
North American Newspaper Alliance


AT SEA. June Is (By Wireless)-
Delayed Occasionally, on MOON
light nights, we get in our rubber
dinghy and two or three of us will
drift off to look at the raft from a
distance.
AS it floats along with a thatched
jungle hut arising from the sea,
and a huge square sail with a
bearded giant painted on it, the
raft looks like something from a
fairy tale and not a reality. Then
the ocean rises up and the sea will
be wide and lonely with no sight Of
the raft at all. We always hurry
back then, and once aboard the raft
again we feel that it is the only
safe, solid place in the whole world.
Inside the cozy shack, this feeling
of security is particularly strong
Sharks may be seen from ones
sleeping bag, and jumping fish
dash right in, yet the green leaves
and banana fronds above yellow
bamboo walls have the most amaz-
ing psychological effect on all of
us. We feel as If we are crawling
from the sea way inland, to a typi-
cal jungle dwelling that has no
connection with an ocean voyage.
Since there are no whitewashed
walls, no berths and no portfolios,
there is no feeling of being on a
boat.
Crew Becomes Adjusted.
But even the ocean seems friendly
now. We have outgroWn our orig
inal uneasiness and it seems hard
to remember now that we slept with
great deal of fear the first few
nights, thinking that every twist,
groan and gurgle inside the raft
meant that it was coming apart. 1t
is fortunate that we have grown
used to the raft and the sea, for,
at this point, six weeks out from
Peru, we are farther from land
than we will be at any point in the
trip-unless, of course we miss our
landfall in the Marquesas and just
keep on going.
We wake up in the early morning
and from our sleeping bags see the
parrot in the mast, a glorious sun
rise, the blue ocean and flying fish.
On deck, the cook is busy collecting
flying fish and boiling our morning
cocoa on an Army stove. It's just
three steps from bed to an ocean
bath. Then we are wide awake and
consume breakfast with great
appetite on the edge of our raft.
During the daytime the raft
usually keeps on course with its
stern to the sea, the steering oar
lashed and the crew variously oc-
cupied. Herman Watzinger, second
in command, is likely to be found
on deck with tools or instruments
testing new types of emergency and
rescue equipment for the United
States War Department. He also
sends meteorological observations by
radio twice a day to the United
States Weather Bureau.
Six Transmitters Used.
Knut Haugland and Torstein
Raaby are usually found with ear
phones on, turning knobs and
switches on their waterproof radios
and batteries in corner of the
hut. They also balance atop the
mast, trying new types of directive
antennae or repairing old ones
bitten off by the parrot. With six
transmitters they contact all parts
of the United States, Canada,
Panama, Peru, Australia, New Zea-
land and Hawaii.
Torstein sits on the edge of the
raft fishing for Ell Dorados and once
caught a record 240 pounds in 20
minutes. All the men throw hand
harpoons at the tunas.
When evening comes, we sit
around on deck. One of the men
has a guitar, and while he plays the
rest of us sing along or sit quietly
and read. When it gets cool, we go
inside and crawl into our sleeping
bags, leaving one man at the steer
ing oar in the stearn. He is lashed
on so that he can't get lost if he falls
overheard during the night.