Thor Heyerdahl's Papyrus Boat
Did you know papyrus is not paper? Papyrus is different from paper because papyrus is a laminated material made from thinly cut strips from the stalk of Cyprus Papyrus plant. It was believed to be first used about 4000 B.C., and became Egypt's major exports.
Thor Heyerdahl was born in 1914, in Larvik, Norway. He was a nature lover. He was first interested in zoology, because of his mother. He continued his research on ancient navigation but turned his attention to ancient reed-boats made of papyrus. He rebuilt a papyrus boat modeled after ancient Egypt. He believed the scientists underestimated ancient vessels. They believed it could not have crossed the Atlantic Ocean because the boat became waterlogged after two weeks on open water.
In 1969, he bought 12 tons of papyrus and worked with experts to construct an ancient style vessel. The result was a 15 meter boat which was launched at old Phoenicians port off Safi, Morocco. It sailed 5000km (2700 miles) on the Atlantic Ocean in 56 days until storms.
Ten months later, he tried the same voyage with a smaller vessel, 12 meters instead of 15. It sailed 100km or 3270 miles in 57 days, from Safi to Barbados.
