The Tongan castaways were a group of six Tongan teenage boys who shipwrecked on the uninhabited island of ʻAta in 1965 and lived there for 15 months until their rescue. The boys ran away from their boarding school on the island of Tongatapu, stealing a boat in their escape. After a storm wrecked the boat, they drifted to the abandoned, remote island of ʻAta and managed to keep themselves in good order for the duration under the circumstances. Long thought dead, they were discovered and rescued in September 1966 by Australian lobster fisher Peter Warner.
After spotting the unkempt, naked boys through binoculars, Water approached cautiously, as he had been told that serious criminals were sometimes marooned on remote islands. When the ship was close enough, one of the boys dived in and swam to the boat, explaining himself in English.
To verify their story, Warner radioed their names to Nukuʻalofa and after a 20-minute wait, was told, “You found them! These boys have been given up for dead. Funerals have been held. If it’s them, this is a miracle!”
Here is a contemporary account.
The Tongan castaways were a group of six Tongan teenage boys who shipwrecked on the uninhabited island of ʻAta in 1965 and lived there for 15 months until their rescue. https://t.co/wzfcRcD9EA
— Yosef Agus H. (@joseagush) September 27, 2024