Tonight, we have a story of solidarity, hope and, finally, survival in the face of adversity. It took place more than 50 years ago, but when it was rediscovered last year it caused a sensation. It is a story about a group of schoolchildren stranded on a remote and deserted island for more than 15 months. It may remind you of the famous novel – Lord of the Flies, by William Golding – but, as you will see, the outcome of this real-life story could not have been more different.
The story begins in 1965. Mano Totau and five of his friends were studying at a boarding school in Tonga, an island nation in the Pacific Ocean. Bored, rebellious and eager for adventure – they stole a traditional whaling boat – and recklessly left for Fiji.
Holly Williams: Did you have an engine?
Mano Totau: No, no engine.
Holly Williams: But Mano, Fiji is not about 500 miles from Tonga?
Mano Totau: A little less.
Holly Williams: Did you have a map or a compass?
Mano Totau: Well. (LAUGH)
It is possible that the teenagers were raised at sea, but they soon realized that they had made a terrible mistake. On the first night, a violent storm tore the sails off the mast and tore off the rudder of the boat.
For over a week, their damaged boat left without a target. Sione Fataua, 17, the oldest in the group, told us they were convinced they would die.
Sione Fataua: No food, no water. We were just moving in the wind. And after eight days I saw the island.
It was a volcanic island, rising from the sea. As the boat approached, a wave sent it crashing on the rocky shore, tearing it to pieces. Exhausted teenagers fought ashore.
Mano Totau: The only thing we do, catching each other and saying a prayer, “thank you, Lord.”
The schoolchildren later discovered that they were a hundred miles away from where they had left and that they had landed on the island of ‘Ata – on maps, nothing more than an uninhabited spot.
It was such a remarkable story that later an Australian television crew brought the teenagers back to ‘Ata to bring their experience back. In the film, Sione, Mano and their friends show how they survived.
The movie “The Castaways”: They managed to save an oar and a piece of wire and, with this, they set out to catch what they hoped would be their first meal in 8 days.
They demonstrate how they ate the fish they caught raw and quenched their thirst by attacking seabird nests – drinking their blood and raw eggs.
Holly Williams: Any food, anything to drink.
Mano Totau: Any food. No matter how terrible it is and how dirty it is, it is a very beautiful thing to have at that moment.
When they regained enough strength, Mano and Sione told us, they climbed the forested plateau of the island, where they found a clay pot, a machete and chickens, all left behind by a small Tongan community that lived on ‘ That was before she was snatched from her home by slave traders a century earlier.
But they told us that everything changed when they finally made a fire – and they started cooking hot meals.
Holly Williams: How did you keep her out?
Sione Fataua: I tell the boys that everyone has a duty to fire. You have to be careful of the fire and you have to say prayer for that night and get up in the morning, it still works.
The teenage fugitives showed a remarkable resource – building a palm-leaf hut, setting up a garden with bananas and beans, and setting up a list to keep track of passing ships. They even built a badminton court and a makeshift gym. They lived in harmony – they told us – most of the time.
Holly Williams: Come on, come on, Mano. You were teenage boys. You must have had arguments.
Mano Totau: I did it and I didn’t agree.
They cooled off by going to the opposite side of the island, says Mano, although sometimes things got out of hand.
Holly Williams: So if it was a fight, how did you stop it?
Mano Totau: You beat him or something and you say, “Shut up and cool down, sit down, listen.”
Holly Williams: There were probably times when you were depressed, when you thought you would never see your family again.
Sione Fataua: It was hard. And I was – pray to God and – and I promise, “If you can get me back, I’ll serve you for the rest of my life.”
For more than 50 years, the true story of Sione, Mano and their friends has been little known outside of Tonga … until Dutch historian and best-selling author Rutger Bregman came across him on the internet. He flew around the world to meet Mano and made the story the cornerstone of his new book, Mankind: A Hopeful History.
Rutger Bregman: And I just couldn’t understand how this hadn’t become, you know, one of the most famous stories of the 20th century. I simply could not understand, because it is extraordinary, six children on an island for 15 months. And how did they survive?
Like millions of others, Bregman had read fictitious the story of escaped schoolchildren, Lord of the Flies, which has been taught in high schools around the world for generations.
The novel – later turned into a movie – is a nightmare story of a group of British boys stranded on an uninhabited island. They split into two competing tribes and descend in violence – culminating in chaos and murder.
Rutger Bregman: This is really an old theory in Western culture that our civilization is just a thin layer, just a thin layer. And that when something bad happens – you say there is a natural disaster or you are shipwrecked on an island and you have the freedom to set up your own society – that people reveal who they really are. You know, people in the depths are just selfish.
Holly Williams: And you say that the basic idea behind the novel, Lord of the Flies, is wrong? Are you saying this will never happen?
Rutger Bregman: Well, if tens of millions of children around the globe still have to read The Lord of the Flies in school today, I think it’s worth learning about this time in the history of the world when real children were shipwrecked on a real island. that this is a very different story.
A story of cooperation, hope and finally salvation. In September 1966, after 15 long months, Australian lobster fisherman Peter Warner was sailing near ‘Ata when he saw a burned patch. As he approached, he was shocked to see a human figure.
Peter Warner: And this first figure swims towards us doing the Australian crawl, as I call it. And then five more bodies jumped off the rock and into the water and followed him.
They got on board and told the crew how they ran away from the boarding school and ended up shipwrecked. Peter broadcast by radio to Nuku’alofa, the capital of Tonga, to see their story.
Peter Warner: And the operator said very tearfully: “It’s true. These boys were students at this college. They were killed. Funerals took place. And now you have found them. ” So it was a very emotional time for all of us.
Holly Williams: So you knew you were going home.
Mano Totau: Yes
Holly Williams: How did you feel?
Mano Totau: It’s like walking through the door to heaven.
But the sky should wait – when they got back to port, they were arrested immediately.
Holly Williams: So Peter Warner saved you and took you back to Nukuʻalofa where everyone thought you were dead. And then you were arrested?
Sione Fataua: Yes. We are under arrest for stealing the boat. (LAUGH)
Peter Warner told us that he paid the owner of the stolen boat and eventually sailed with the runaway schools back to their home island, accompanied by the Australian television crew who flew to film their story. They captured the teenagers’ reunion with their families.
The movie “The Castaways”: Our boys are back …
Sione Fataua: My mother, she swam before I got out of the boat. I’m the first to go to the beach and give me a hug.
The movie “The Castaways”: There has never been such joy …
Peter Warner: The whole population of this small island was on the beach, hugging the boys. The parents were crying. Then the party began. Six days of celebration.
The story has never been forgotten in these islands, but when a British newspaper published a chapter in Rutger Bregman’s book in May, the story of Tongan teenagers went viral – 7 million people read it in a few days. Hollywood studios have entered a bidding war for the rights of the film.
Holly Williams: Why have so many people around the world been surprised and captivated by your story?
Rutger Bregman: Maybe we should have heard him? Maybe especially right now, in the middle of a pandemic? Did people look for a story that gave them hope for a different way of living together, that a different society is possible. That it is not just about violence and selfishness and greed in human nature, but that we can build on something different. Maybe that’s why.
It has been 55 years since the shipwrecked schoolchildren were rescued. They never had any doubt how or why they survived.
Sione Fataua: I think the culture we come from. We are close. Really close family. We share everything. We are poor, but we love each other.
The teenagers had no interest in returning to class, at first they worked for Peter Warner, who set up a fishing business in Tonga. As promised, Sione later became a minister – he is now the head of the Tongan Church in America. Mano trained as a cook and moved to Australia. For half a century, he and Peter Warner have been best friends – whenever they can, sailing – forever back in the Pacific Ocean, where their friendship began.
Holly Williams: Why do you get along so well, you know, all these years after the rescue?
Mano Totau: I think we feel strongly in ourselves that we have something to help each other.
Peter Warner: Yes, and also …
Mano Totau: Teach each other.
Peter Warner: And we also have common beliefs that led you through that process on the island, you know, love, compassion and …
Mano Totau: Yes.
Peter Warner: Justice, unity.
Mano Totau: We both believe in the same thing.
The teenagers composed a song when they were on the island of ‘Ata – Siosionoa – they didn’t see anything every day. It takes Mano back to a time when they wanted to go home and before he could ever imagine that the story could have lessons for all of us.
Produced by Michael H. Gavshon. Associate producer, Nadim Roberts. Broadcasting partner, Annabelle Hanflig. Edited by Daniel J. Glucksman.