William Golding wrote Lord of the Flies in 1954 after being inspired by another book
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Almost 10 years later, in a situation very similar to Lord of the Flies, six Tongan boys were on a boat when a storm destroyed it and sent them drifting to a deserted island
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The group worked together to survive for 15 months before they were eventually rescued
Lord of the Flies, written byWilliam Golding, has remained a classic novel since its debut in 1954.
The fiction book follows a group of young British boys who are the only survivors of a plane crash on an isolated island. Soon, a small, older group of boys — Ralph, Piggy, Jack, Simon and Roger — attempt to lead the group.
However, the island dynamics eventually descend into chaos, with the boys turning on each other and desperately trying to survive and govern the younger children.
Around a decade after the book was published, a remarkably similar disaster occurred involving a group of six Tongan teenagers who crashed onto a deserted island and survived for 15 months until their rescue.
Unlike the book, the Tongan teenagers agreed to coexist with each other as respectfully as possible and worked together to stay alive. After surviving for 15 months, the boys were eventually rescued by Australian fishermanCaptain Peter Warnerin 1966.
Thefirst series based onLord of the Flieshit Netflix on May 4.
Here's everything to know about the real-lifeLord of the Flies.
WasLord of the Fliesbased on a true story?
Golding published his first novel,Lord of the Flies, in 1954, but it was not based on a true story. Although his novel was purely fiction, Golding took inspiration from other stories and firsthand experiences he had as a former member of the military.
Golding specifically referenced the 1857 novelThe Coral Islandby R.M. Ballantyne that told the story of three boys who survived on a deserted island after their ship wrecked.
However, Golding — who was also a philosophy teacher — didn't totally buy into the idea of the three boys cohesively working together and living cordially under the circumstances, perBBC.
"Wouldn't it be a good idea if I wrote a book about children on an island, children who behave in the way children really would behave?" he wondered while thinking ofThe Coral Islandand how his book would be different, according toYale University.
How did a group of Tongan boys get similarly stranded?
Eleven years afterLord of the Flieswas published, a group of six boys from Tonga found themselves in a near-identical situation.
In June 1965, the six Tongan teenagers — ranging in ages from 13 to 18 — were attending St. Andrew's Anglican boarding school on the island of Tongatapu when they "borrowed" a boat in an attempt to sail to New Zealand.
However, a storm took out their vessel on the first night, and the boys survived for eight days "with no food, no rain to drink," until their boat drifted to shore, survivor Sione 'Ulufonua Fataua told PEOPLE in 2020.
The six boys — Tevita Siola'a, Kolo Fekitoa, Mano Totau, Luke Veikoso, Fatai Latu and Sione — eventually found themselves on the remote, deserted island of 'Ata in the South Pacific.
"We were thankful God gave us the island to survive," Sione recalled.
What did the Tongan boys do after they crashed?
As soon as the group arrived on the island, they made a pact to live together just as they had been raised in their families.
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"We all come from close and poor families where, whatever you get, you share," Sione explained to PEOPLE. "If anybody had something they didn't like, they talked about it and we say 'Sorry' and then pray and everything's okay. If someone got really mad — like, if I planned something and they didn't do it — you disappear for a few hours, look at the ocean and clear it out of your mind."
Together, the teenagers agreed to a strict set of rules revolving around food, hunting, gardening and tending to a permanent fire (that stayed ablaze for over a year). The six of them divided into three teams of two to work each day, hunting and gathering everything they needed to survive.
Their luck also turned around when they climbed a 700-ft. cliff and discovered ruins from people who had lived there a century ago, who left behind pools of fresh water, bananas and chickens.
“We tried to live happy. We were good friends, and we shared everything,” Sione recalled.
In addition to ensuring they had all their daily necessities, the boys also prioritized praying twice a day, kept their spirits high with music from a homemade guitar and enjoyed playing makeshift sports, perTheGuardian.
"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," Captain Warner wrote in his 2016 memoir,Ocean of Light: 30 Years in Tonga and the Pacific.
How were the Tongan boys rescued?
On Sept. 11, 1966, Australian sailor and fisherman Warner was driving a fishing boat back to Australia when he passed 'Ata and noticed that parts of the grass were burnt.
Around the same time, he heard someone yelling and eventually saw boys running and swimming toward him and begging for help. Warner radioed out, inquiring if any boys had been reported missing.
“Twenty minutes later, the operator came back and, through tears, said, ‘It's a miracle! These boys were given up for dead. Funerals were held, and now you've found them,' " Warner recalled.
The Captain rescued the boys and brought them home for medical attention.
Where are the Tongan survivors now?
Despite their harrowing efforts of survival, the boys spent a week in jail for stealing the boat from their school. However, Warner paid for them to get released, while also leveraging a TV deal with a local channel in Sydney.
The boys were released from custody and finally returned home to their families. While they finished school, Warner bought a new boat — which he named 'Ata — and hired all of them to be his crew members. Warner remained close to several of the boys, who called him a "father figure," up until his death in April 2021.
Veikoso pursued a career in boxing and eventually moved to the U.S. After the death of his wife, he moved in with Sione in Oakland, Calif., in 2018. He died in May 2022, per anobituary. Latu (also known as Stephen) and Fekitoa have also both died.
As of 2020, Sione was the head pastor for the Church of Tonga and its 16 U.S. congregations.
"I always say that God kept me alive, so I'll work for Him for the rest of my life," Sione told PEOPLE in 2020. "Luke and I sit around drinking kava and singing that song from the island."
Sione and Luke kept in touch with Mano and Tevita, who both live in New Zealand. The four of them have pursued movie deals to share their story.
“If people today had the mindset of the ‘6 Tongan Castaways'— if we all help each other, not be greedy, care for each other — we can all survive what is happening in the world," Sione shared.
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