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As Peter told me this part of the story, his eyes became watery. 'A very tearful operator came on the radio, and said: "You found them! These boys have been given up for dead. Funerals have been held. If it's them, this is a miracle!"' /21
In the months that followed I tried to reconstruct what happened on the island of 'Ata. Peter put me in contact with his best friend, Mano Totau, one of the 'boys' in this story. He was 15 at the time. (Photo's by John Carnemolla and Maartje ter Horst). /22pic.twitter.com/PlvlSqBwyc
The real Lord of the Flies, Mano told me, began in June 1965. Mano and his friends - Sione, Stephen, Kolo, David and Luke - were pupils at St Andrew's, a strict catholic boarding school in Nuku'alofa. They hated school and were bored witless. /23
So they decided to go on an adventure. They 'borrowed' a boat from Mr Taniela Uhiela, a fisherman they all disliked. They didn't pack many supplies, and even forgot a compass. David was the only one who knew how to steer a boat. /24
That night, the boys made a grave error. They fell asleep. A few hours later they were awoken by a storm. The sail was torn to shreds, the rudder broke. 'We drifted for eight days,' Mano told me. 'Without food. Without water.'
Then, on the eight day: land! The island of 'Ata: a hulking mass of rock, jutting up more a thousand feet out of the ocean.pic.twitter.com/FYzbjwxKeX
(Photo's by Alvaro Cerezo, a rugged Spanish adventurer who organises shipwreck expeditions for rich fok with unusual needs. He tried 'Ata, but when a historian/journalist asked him about it later, he said: 'Never. The island is far too tough.' http://readingthemaps.blogspot.com/2016/11/in-remote-waters.html …) /27
The teenagers had a different experience. Captain Peter Warner gave me his memoir, in which he wrote... /28
'By the time we arrived, the boys had set up a small commune with food garden, hollowed-out tree trunks to store rainwater, a gymnasium with curious weights, a badminton court, chicken pens and a permanent fire, all from handiwork, an old knife blade and much determination.' /29
In pretty much every way, the Real Lord of the Flies is the opposite of the fictional Lord of the Flies. The kids worked together in teams of two, got a fire started and never let it go out, and stayed friends this whole time.
Sure, sometimes, there were fights, but then one of them would go to one side of the island, the other to the other side, they would cool their temper, and say sorry. 'That's how we stayed friends,' Mano told me.
After months of research, I also managed to find the original 1966 re-enactment documentary, that was made after the boys were rescued (with the boys themselves). Here are some pictures (by John Carnemolla):pic.twitter.com/evMwCwl8Bn
There were huge celebrations when the boys came back to Nuku'alofa in Tonga. Captain Peter Warner was proclaimed a national hero, and he got permission from the king to trap lobster in Tongan waters.
Peter resigned from his father company and commissioned a new ship. He hired the 6 boys as his crew, and called the new boat the ATA, named after the uninhabited island. I really really love this picture:pic.twitter.com/cSP3Gx5OhS
The 'boys' would work with Peter for decades, and today Peter and Mano still go out sailing now and then, even though Peter's almost 90 now. Peter gave me his memoirs, written for his children and grandchildren. This is on the first page:pic.twitter.com/h2M4LIEtJB
Now obviously, this is just one story, not a scientific experiment. But if millions of teenagers around the globe still have to read the fictional Lord of the Flies, then let's also tell about the one time real kids were really shipwrecked on an island.
Because the Real Lord of the Flies is a story of human friendship and resilience, a story about how much we can accomplish if we work together. [Photo's of Peter and Mano by Maartje ter Horst]pic.twitter.com/E6obpQmxS0
I've got a much longer version of the tale in my new book HUMANKIND, which is available for pre-order now. https://www.rutgerbregman.com/books And there's more to come! [The end]pic.twitter.com/IKUxArBlLK
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