August 7, 1947: The Kon-Tiki Expedition

Heyerdahl with a model of the Kon-Tiki

August 7, 1947: The raft Kon-Tiki arrives on a reef in the Tuamotus, in French-controlled Polynesia. This backs up the theory of its captain that ancient peoples from there and South America could reach each other's lands without modern technology, and meet and interact with each other.

Thor Heyerdahl was born on October 6, 1914 in Larvik, Norway. With his backgrounds in biology, zoology, botany and geography, he could have been one of the inspirations for the character of Indiana Jones.

He had the raft Kon-Tiki, named for a god of the Incas in what is now Peru, built to prove a theory that, using only the materials and technologies available to them at the time, people from South America could have reached Polynesia during pre-Columbian times. (In other words, before Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 1492.) There had been suggestion of this, based on the genetics of the respective peoples.

There were 5 others with Heyerdahl on the raft: Erik Hesselberg, navigator; Bengt Danielsson, steward, in charge of supplies and daily rations; Knut Haugland, radio operator; Torstein Raaby, also a radio operator, because there had to be at least one awake and available to operate at all times; and Herman Watzinger, engineer and meteorologist, the latter skill making him a key figure on the voyage.

The team built the raft out of balsa logs and other native materials, in a dockyard in Peru, on South America's Pacific Coast. They headed out on April 28, 1947, covering 4,300 miles in 101 days, before arriving at the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotus. That island remains under French control. (Presumably, Heyerdahl met with the French authorities, and let them know of his plans beforehand, and got permission to travel to those islands.)

Heyerdahl narrated a 1950 documentary film about the expedition, and it won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, despite requiring translation: For all his skills, Heyerdahl did not speak English.

Heyerdahl died in 2002. The last survivor of the voyage was Haugland, who lived until 2009. The original Kon-Tiki raft is on display at the Kon-Tiki Museum in the Norwegian capital of Oslo.

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August 7, 1947 was a Thursday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-2 at the Polo Grounds.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers lost to the Boston Braves, 3-1 at Braves Field in Boston. Jackie Robinson went 0-for-4.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Senators, 12-2 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Ted Williams went 2-for-4 with a home run.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 9-2 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Krby Higbe pitched a 7-hit shutout for the Pirates. Hank Greenberg went 0-3 with a walk. Ralph Kiner 1/for-3.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the St. Louis Browns, 8-4 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

* The Cleveland Indians and the Detroit Tigers were rained out at Briggs Stadium (later renamed Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on September 20. The Tigers won the opener, 3-2. Eddie Mayo singled Jimmy Outlaw home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Fred Hutchinson of Detroit and Bob Feller of Cleveland both went the distance. The 2nd game went 10 innings, and was tied 5-5, when rain came again, and the game was called.

* And the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Athletics were not scheduled.