Kon-Tiki expedition dockyard facilities provided by the Peruvian authorities, they constructed the raft out of balsa logs and other native materials in an indigenous style as recorded in illustrations by Spanish conquistadores. The trip began on April 28, 1947. Heyerdahl and five companions sailed the raft for 101 days over 6,900 km (4,300 miles) across the Pacific Ocean before smashing into a reef at Raroia in the Tuamotus on August 7, 1947. The crew made successful landfall and all returned safely. Thor Heyerdahl's book about his experience became a bestseller. It was published in Norwegian in 1948 as "The Kon-Tiki Expedition: By
Thor Heyerdahl after him, as are HNoMS "Thor Heyerdahl", a Norwegian Nansen class frigate, along with "MS Thor Heyerdahl" (now renamed "MS Vana Tallinn") and "Thor Heyerdahl", a German three-masted sail training vessel originally owned by a participant of the Tigris expedition. Thor Heyerdahl Upper Secondary School in Larvik, the town of his birth, is also named after him. Heyerdahl's numerous awards and honours include the following: Thor Heyerdahl Thor Heyerdahl (; October 6, 1914 – April 18, 2002) was a Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer with a background in zoology, botany, and geography. He became notable for his "Kon-Tiki" expedition in 1947,