In June 1965, six Tongan teenagers โ Luke Veikoso, Tevita Fatai Latu (โStephenโ), Sione Fataua, Tevita Siolaสปa (โDavidโ), Kolo Fekitoa, and Sione Filipe Totau (โManoโ), ages about 13 to 19 โ ran away from St. Andrewโs boarding school in Nukuสปalofa. They stole a roughly 24-foot boat, hoping for an adventure toward Fiji or New Zealand.
They anchored for the night north of Tongatapu. A storm snapped the anchor line and wrecked the sail and rudder. They drifted about eight days, roughly 200 miles, before reaching สปAta, an uninhabited volcanic island at the southern end of the Tonga group. They abandoned the boat and swam ashore.
They lived there for about 15 months. They kept a fire going, collected rainwater, grew food from old gardens left by earlier inhabitants, hunted seabirds and wild chickens, and set up a duty roster so they would not turn on each other. One boy broke a leg; the others set it and it healed. They also sang, prayed, and made simple instruments.
On 11 September 1966, Australian fisherman Peter Warner, aboard the Just David, noticed burned patches on the cliffs and found them. Authorities in Nukuสปalofa confirmed the boys had been given up for dead and that funerals had already been held.
They were arrested when they returned because the boatโs owner pressed charges. Warner paid for the boat (using money from selling the story rights), they were released, and he later hired them as crew. The episode is documented in contemporary reporting, Warnerโs account, interviews with the survivors, and the Wikipedia summary of the case. It later became widely known again through Rutger Bregmanโs Humankind as a real-life counterpoint to Lord of the Flies.