Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific by Raft

The raft was built in the Peruvian navy's dockyard at Callao, the port of Lima: nine balsa trunks up to 14 metres long, lashed together with hemp rope, with a cabin, a sail and pine centreboards. On the afternoon of 28 April 1947 Kon-Tiki — named after an Andean god — left port with Heyerdahl and five crewmen, five Norwegians and a Swede. To keep clear of coastal shipping, the navy tug Guardian Rios towed her about 80 kilometres out and cast her loose into the Humboldt Current, which carried her west.

Location precision: The navy dockyard isn't pinpointed; the pin marks Callao.

For three months the raft drifted west with the current and the trade wind. The crew lived on 200 coconuts, sweet potatoes and fish — flying fish landed on deck at night — while two former resistance radio operators kept in touch with amateur stations, once reaching Oslo. On 30 July, after 93 days at sea, they sighted their first land: the atoll of Puka-Puka. On 4 August, the 97th day, they passed Angatau, where islanders paddled out, but the reef was too dangerous to cross.

Location precision: The crew saw the atoll from a distance; the pin marks Puka-Puka.

On 7 August 1947, the 101st day, the raft struck the reef of Raroia atoll and was washed up onto an uninhabited islet. The six men got ashore unhurt and spent several days alone, until men from a village across the lagoon, alerted by flotsam, arrived in canoes. The crew were feted with dances and feasts. One of them, the Swede Bengt Danielsson, later came back to live on Raroia.

Location precision: The raft landed on a small islet on the atoll's reef; the pin marks Raroia atoll.

The French schooner Tamara came to fetch the crew from Raroia and took them to Tahiti, with the salvaged raft in tow. In total they had covered about 6,980 kilometres in 101 days, averaging 1.5 knots. Heyerdahl's book about the voyage became a worldwide bestseller after its English edition in 1950, and the film made from the crew's footage won the Academy Award for best documentary. The raft itself was taken home to Norway and became the centre of a museum.

Location precision: The pin marks Papeete, Tahiti's port.

Visitor guidance: The original raft is on display in the Kon-Tiki Museum at Bygdøy in Oslo.