When their stolen whaling boat broke loose in a storm in 1965, the six Tongan boys were swept into eight days of thirst, delirium and drifting terror before smashing onto the cliffs of uninhabited ‘Ata. Dizzy, starved and barely conscious, they crawled ashore convinced they might die there. Instead, they chose discipline over despair. They learned to fish, raided seabird nests for eggs and blood, and, after months of failure, finally coaxed fire from the island.
Climbing to the plateau, they discovered relics of an old Tongan settlement: a machete, a clay pot, half-wild chickens. They built shelter, a gym, instruments, carvings, and a lookout, then drew up rosters for fire-keeping, prayer and tending banana palms. For 15 months, they argued, forgave, worked and survived as a tiny democracy until Australian sailor Peter Warner spotted their signal fire. Their ordeal, later chronicled by historian Rutger Bregman, stands as a quiet rebuke to Lord of the Flies: when everything collapsed, they chose each other.
