Last Kon-Tiki crew member dies at age 92 - General Tiki

LS Lake Surfer Tiki Socialite Milwaukee, WI Joined: Oct 21, 2002 Posts: 3417	LS Lake Surfer Posted posted on Sun, Dec 27, 2009 1:19 AM Sat Dec 26, 12:16 pm ET OSLO – A museum official says Knut Magne Haugland, the last of six crew members who crossed the Pacific Ocean on board the balsa wood raft Kon-Tiki, has died. He was 92. Kon-Tiki Museum Director Maja Bauge said Saturday that the former Norwegian resistance fighter and explorer died of natural causes in an Oslo hospital on Friday. Haugland, decorated by the British in World War II for helping prevent the German nuclear program from getting heavy water to make weapons, joined Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl's expedition in 1947 as a radio operator. The Kon-Tiki team sailed the raft with basic equipment 4,900 miles (8,000 kilometers) from Peru to Polynesia in 101 days to prove Heyerdahl's theory that ancient mariners may have migrated across ocean stretches. FILE - This is a Sept. 29, 1947 file photo of the Kon-Tiki expedition crew waves from the homemade balsa wood and bamboo raft upon arrival in San Francisco, Ca., from the South Pacific. From left are, Thor Heyerdahl, leader of expedition; Bengt Danielson; Erik Hesselberg; Torstein Raaby; Herman Watzinger, second in command and designer of the raft; and Knut Magne Haugland. A museum official says Knut Magne Haugland, the last of six crew members who crossed the Pacific Ocean on board the balsa wood raft Kon-Tiki, has died. He was 92. Kon-Tiki Museum Director Maja Bauge said Saturday Dec. 26, 2009 that the former Norwegian resistance fighter and explorer died of natural causes in an Oslo hospital on Friday. (AP Photo, File)

Sat Dec 26, 12:16 pm ET
OSLO – A museum official says Knut Magne Haugland, the last of six crew members who crossed the Pacific Ocean on board the balsa wood raft Kon-Tiki, has died. He was 92.
Kon-Tiki Museum Director Maja Bauge said Saturday that the former Norwegian resistance fighter and explorer died of natural causes in an Oslo hospital on Friday.
Haugland, decorated by the British in World War II for helping prevent the German nuclear program from getting heavy water to make weapons, joined Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl's expedition in 1947 as a radio operator.
The Kon-Tiki team sailed the raft with basic equipment 4,900 miles (8,000 kilometers) from Peru to Polynesia in 101 days to prove Heyerdahl's theory that ancient mariners may have migrated across ocean stretches.

FILE - This is a Sept. 29, 1947 file photo of the Kon-Tiki expedition crew waves from the homemade balsa wood and bamboo raft upon arrival in San Francisco, Ca., from the South Pacific. From left are, Thor Heyerdahl, leader of expedition; Bengt Danielson; Erik Hesselberg; Torstein Raaby; Herman Watzinger, second in command and designer of the raft; and Knut Magne Haugland. A museum official says Knut Magne Haugland, the last of six crew members who crossed the Pacific Ocean on board the balsa wood raft Kon-Tiki, has died. He was 92. Kon-Tiki Museum Director Maja Bauge said Saturday Dec. 26, 2009 that the former Norwegian resistance fighter and explorer died of natural causes in an Oslo hospital on Friday. (AP Photo, File)

Post #500948 by Lake Surfer on Sun, Dec 27, 2009 1:19 AM