Kon-Tiki expedition was able to cross the Pacific Ocean on the balsa raft from Peru to Polynesia. A French seafarer, Éric de Bisschop, committed himself in a project he had had for some years: he built a Polynesian raft in order to cross the eastern Pacific Ocean from Tahiti to Chile (contrary to Thor Heyerdahl's crossing); the "Tahiti-Nui" left Papeete with a crew of five on November 8, 1956. When near the Juan Fernández Islands (Chile) in May 1957, the raft was in a very poor state and they asked for a towing, but it was damaged during the operation and had
Herman Watzinger which was cancelled because of World War II, and applied for a job in the U.S and sought a visa to the U.S. He met Thor Heyerdahl in New York City, where he was asked to participate in the construction of the Kon-Tiki raft and become a member of the expedition. On board the raft, where he was second in command, he was responsible for meteorological and hydrographic measurements. After the Kon-Tiki expedition, he returned to Lima in 1970, where he worked as head of fisheries, projects and advisor in freezing techniques for WR Grace & Co and Atlas. Watzinger