Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - Five Boys Trapped on A Deserted Island

Episode Date: February 2, 2025

This is the story of Mano, Peter Warner, and the Tonga Castaways who were stranded on Ata Island for 15 months

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There's no going back. Our directive is clear. Hang on! Tron Aries, now streaming on Disney Plus, rated PG-13. So this kid is about to get stranded. on a desert island with no way home. Now his name's Mano, and he's around 16 years old, and he goes to a strict Catholic boarding school

on an island in Tonga called Tonga Tapu. And this boarding school just sucks. And one day, he and five of his friends, they decide they're just gonna leave. I mean, they're all bored as hell. Their boarding school sucks, the cafeteria food is terrible, and they're just dying to get out and go on an adventure. So they get an idea.

get an idea. They want to check out Fiji, which is about 500 miles away from Tongatapu, and there's no way they could possibly make it there, but they're going to give it a shot. So they gather up some basic supplies, and they go out and they steal a boat from a local fisherman. Now, this local fisherman they steal from, the boys, they think he's kind of an asshole, but we'll get back to him. So anyway, Mano and his five friends, they push out to sea on this stolen boat and they coast away and they're having a good time and come night time they're all asleep and hours later in the middle of the night kaboom a huge storm hits and it wakes them all up so they get up and they raise the sail but the wind is so strong that bam the sail is whipped apart and then pow the

ship's rudder breaks and then hours later the storm finally passes and they're all alive but they're completely lost and the worst part They don't have any food. I mean, they're able to collect a little rainwater to drink, but otherwise, they got nothing. So these six boys, they just drift out at sea with basically nothing to live on for seven days. But then, on the eighth day, something crazy happens.

They spot a little bitty island off in the distance. And it's not much, but it's something. I mean, maybe there are people on it who can help. And luckily, for the boys, the current of the ocean eventually pushes their boat close enough, that they can jump in the water and swim the rest of the way. So they all end up swimming to the shore. And that is when they discover they just landed on an island

that is completely uninhabited. Their boat had drifted from the Tongatapu area about a hundred miles over to the island of Atta. And now, Atta is about a half mile big and it doesn't really have much on it. But at this point, Mano and the boys, they're all starving, and they're dehydrated. And so they'll make do.

And so they catch some seabirds and they drink their blood, and they eat some seabird eggs, and they try to start a fire, but they can't start a fire. I mean, they don't have the tools, and the wood on the island isn't really dry. So they keep up this life for a while, eating whatever they can find, doing whatever they can to survive. Now, luckily, there's enough rainfall on the island to keep them hydrated. But then, about a month in, they get an idea.

They put their heads together and they build a raft from vines and bits of wood that they're able to gather together. And they put that raft in the water because they're going to test it out and they're going to get the hell off this island. But then, boom. Sadly, the raft is too flimsy and it just falls apart in the ocean. And at this point, poor Mono, he's losing hope. He's like, damn, are we ever going to get home? But then, around this time, one day they're out walking around, exploring the island. and they suddenly find the remnants of a small settlement.

Because apparently a micro society of people had lived there a hundred years before. And sadly, at some point, they were all abducted by slave ships. But that's a whole other story. Regardless, the boys find the remains of one of their settlements, and they discover some loot, including some very old knives. Now, these knives are a huge discovery for them. Because after months of having nothing, they can finally cut open coconuts, These knives allow them to build shelter and essentially continue to survive.

Then, about three months in, they have another big breakthrough. They finally find a log dry enough, and they're able to create enough friction and get a fire going. And making fire is huge for them. I mean, come on, a fire, they haven't felt heat at night in months. They've been eating every animal they catch raw. So, the first thing they do after they build the fire is they throw a big ass feast. feast. They cook up a bunch of fish and birds and wild beans and it's like the best meal they ever had. It's Thanksgiving up in there. Things are looking up. But even so, all the while, poor

Mano, he's still wondering, are they ever going to get home? And about six months in, Mono and his friends, they're all locked into a survival routine. They fish, they catch wild chickens, they built a functional hut, they spend their free time sculpting wood statues and writing songs and exercising in their homemade gym they built. One of the boys even makes a ukulele out of driftwood, coconuts, and wire. It's incredible. Meanwhile, back on Tongatapu, the boys' families are all distraught. I mean, they've been missing for a really long time. So the families, they think they all died. And they're allegedly in mourning, and they're like having funerals, and they're just trying their best to grieve and move on. And about a year in, the boys,

they're still there. They're trying their best to survive, and poor Mano, he keeps thinking they'll probably be stuck on this island forever. Until, one day, this guy goes fishing. His name is Peter Warner. Peter Warner, he's an Australian and he's the captain of a fishing boat. And he and his small fishing crew, they're out one day, cruising around the Tongatapu area looking for good spots to fish. And on their way home, they just happened to pass by the little island of Atta. So Peter is looking at this island through his binoculars and he notices something weird. There are burn patches on the cliffs in areas that would normally be green. And Peter, he knows of Atta and he knows this island is uninhabited.

So what would cause a fire? And so he keeps looking and he looks closer and then he sees one of the boys. And the boy, he also sees Peter's boat. And then he gets all excited and he jumps off the cliff into the water and he starts swimming straight toward that boat. And then Peter sees the other four boys on the shore and they're all screaming their ass off trying to get his attention.

And Peter's like, what the fuck is all this? I mean, he thinks these kids are all somehow native to this island or something. But then the first boy reaches his boat and he starts speaking to him in English. And he tells him that they've been stranded on that island for over a year. And so Peter invites all the boys on board to his boat

and he redirects it to shuttle them all back home to Tonga Tapa. and finally after being stranded on a deserted island for 15 months. They're all home. But it's not over. Remember when they first left Tongatapu and they stole a boat from a fisherman they didn't like? Well, this fisherman, he is not happy to see them. I mean, they took his boat and after all this time, he's still salty about it. So he goes and he presses charges and bam, all six boys are around.

arrested and thrown in jail. However, Peter Warner, he's a crafty guy, and he knows these boys' story of survival is an incredible story. So he hits up the manager of a television network in Sydney called Channel 7, and he negotiates with Channel 7, and he sells part of the film rights to the boy's story to them so that they can make a documentary about it. Then he uses that money to pay off that grumpy-ass fisherman to compensate him for his stolen boat in exchange for the fishermen dropping the charges. Once the charges are dropped,

Mono and the boys are finally led out of jail. A few days later, the boys helped film a documentary for Channel 7 that Peter Warner had agreed to, where they all go back to the island and recreate some of the events that happened. And that's where I got all these pictures that I use in this video. The boys went back to the island and they recreated them for the documentary. And to this day, Mono and Peter are still friends. So that's nice. And here's a picture of Peter and all the boys together.