What Happens When 6 Guys Are Trapped on a Desert Island for 15 Months (9 Photos)

The true story of a group of teenagers who descend into savagery on a piece of land in the middle of the ocean. The outcome will surprise you.





Ten years after the publication of William Golding's Lord of the Flies, six teenagers were stranded on a desert island. Just like in the book, there were no adults with them, and their survival depended entirely on their decisions.

Lord of the Flies is a novel by William Golding in which a group of boys find themselves stranded on a desert island after a plane crash. In the absence of adults and civilization, they gradually lose their humanity, moving from attempts to establish order to savagery and violence. The book is an allegory of human nature and social order, highlighting the dark side of the human soul in the absence of norms and structure.

So what happened when a similar situation happened in real life? Comfortingly for humanity, things turned out completely differently.

Six guys went on an adventure



On June 18, 1965, six Tongan boys between the ages of 15 and 18 decided to go on an adventure. They wanted to escape their strict Catholic school, St Andrew's, in the Tongan capital, Nuku'alofa, and seek a better life.

The friends were: Sione, Kolo, David, Steven, Luke and Mano. In an interview many years later, Mano explained that the group was "bored" and came up with a cool idea: sailing to New Zealand. But things went south pretty quickly.

The guys were not at all prepared for the trip. They, of course, didn't have their own boat, so they stole it from a local fisherman they didn't like. Their supplies consisted of several coconuts, two bags of bananas and a small gas burner. Unfortunately, they forgot to take important things like a compass or map.

At sunset the guys left the harbor. They walked eight kilometers north of the island, did a little fishing and fell asleep. When they dozed off it was quiet and calm, but at night a storm came. The anchor came loose and the strong winds broke the sail and rudder.

Now they were free to swim in the open ocean without food or water. For the next eight days, their flimsy little boat drifted in an unknown direction. They tried to fish, but without success. Using coconuts as vessels, they managed to collect some rainwater, which they divided equally among everyone in the morning and evening.

When the boat drifted in a southwestern direction, it began to collapse, and the guys were forced to actively bail out the water. On the eighth day, having traveled about 300 kilometers, they noticed land - it was Ata Island.

It was decided to leave the boat and swim to the island. It took 36 hours! Six young men used planks from a disintegrating boat to cover the long distance.

The main tests are just beginning





Ata Island. Photo by: Arne Mueseler

Mano swam to shore first, but was too weak from hunger and thirst to get up. He began to encourage the others to get to the shore as quickly as possible. For the first three months they lived in a cave cut out of the rock. The teenagers caught seabirds, drank their blood, ate their meat and found eggs in nests on the island.

This was still not enough, so the guys began to explore the island. One day they came across the ruins of the village of Kolomaile in the crater of a volcano. The village was abandoned about a century ago, but friends found wild chickens, wild taro (an edible plant) and bananas in the area. Rainwater was collected from tree trunks.

After they provided themselves with the bare necessities for survival, the guys began to create a comfortable life. They split into teams of two and made schedules for gardening, kitchen, and even security work. Stephen lit a fire, which was maintained throughout. Kolo managed to make a simple guitar out of coconuts, wood and wire.



In case of disagreement, unlike the events in Lord of the Flies, the guys took a break, separating themselves from each other for several hours until they calmed down.

But sometimes troubles still happened. One day Stephen fell off a cliff and broke his leg. His friends went down the dangerous slope and brought him back up. They managed to bring the bone to a relatively normal position and it quickly grew together, thanks to the young body.

Later the guys are priestsThey tried to build a raft and sail away from the island, but it fell apart on the reef. It turned out that this was luck, since the guys thought they were on the island of Samoa and planned to head south. If they had succeeded, they would have been even further from salvation.

Every time they saw ships, they lit signal fires, but four ships passed by without noticing the people on the island. On September 11, 15 months after they were abandoned, a new boat appeared at sea.

The rescue



Peter Warner was the son of one of the richest men in Australia. His father wanted to make him the heir to the family business, but Peter had other plans. At 17, he ran away in search of adventure after finding a ship. After five years of traveling the world, the guy returned home to an angry father and work. However, Peter still kept the boat and often went to sea.

It was during one of these trips that he came to Ata Island. Through binoculars, Peter noticed strange burnt areas on the green rocks. Spontaneous fires are rare in the tropics, and he became interested.

On the shore he saw a young guy with shoulder-length hair. Several more young men appeared without clothes and they began to scream loudly. The first one plunged into the water and swam to Warner's boat.



Warner later recalled that when the guy swam to his ship, he said in perfect English:

"My name is Steven. There are six of us and we've been here about 15 months."

The remaining five people soon also swam and climbed on board.

Peter Warner thought their story was incredible, so he immediately called Nuku'alofa and said that he had found six guys on Ata Island. The radio operator exclaimed:

“You found them! No one believed that this was possible. Their relatives buried them. If these are really the same guys, then it’s a miracle!”

By the time Captain Warner found the six teenagers, their camp had already been completely set up. They had food, fire, music, a small sports area and even a badminton court. This was quite different from William Golding's harsh predictions about the savagery of people in his famous book.

Returned to civilization and... were arrested



Upon returning to Nuku'alofa, the boys were examined by a local doctor who was impressed with their overall health. He was also amazed at how well they had treated Stephen's broken leg, which was now completely healthy.

But then the police arrested them. The fisherman who owned the boat was still fuming over the theft. Upon learning of their return, he immediately filed a lawsuit.

But even here Warner came to the rescue. Knowing that the guys' story would definitely be a hit, he sold the story to a TV channel in Sydney. The channel paid him £150, which Warner used to pay the angry fisherman. The charges were overturned and the survivors were released.

A happy ending



When Warner returned all six to their home island of Haafeva, the entire nation of 900 people came out to meet them. The savior of young people was proclaimed a national hero.

King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV invited the Australian to an audience. He thanked Warner for saving his subjects and granted him the exclusive right to fish for lobsters in the island's waters.

Warner returned to Sydney and quit his job. He had some savings, so he bought himself a brand new fishing boat. The sea and a thirst for adventure were calling him, and he knew six strong guys who shared his views on life. The Australian contacted them and offered them a job on his new boat. He promised them adventures in the vast expanses of the ocean. Only this time with a compass and map.

They all agreed.