July 24, 2021 • 40 mins
Today we're going back to 1965 to meet 6 boys from Tonga who survived life on a deserted island. They didn't just survive either; they raised wild chickens, planted crops, wrote songs, and a comfortable island life for themselves--for 15 months.
Plus, we'll find out the ill-fated end of the first man to fly around the earth.
Sources:
- https://www.vice.com/en/article/4adky9/shipwrecked-on-uninhabited-desert-island
- https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/may/09/the-real-lord-of-the-flies-what-happened-when-six-boys-were-shipwrecked-for-15-months
- https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018746636/the-true-story-of-six-tongan-teenage-castaways-in-1965
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Pearl (00:00):
Well, let's just get into it.
I don't have a ton to talk abouttoday, but I feel like this
might go on longer cause it'skind of an epic story.
the one that I
AJ (00:08):
know I'm curious
Pearl (00:09):
the one that I have today.
Okay.
AJ (00:11):
Well, hello everybody.
Pearl (00:12):
to the stories we forgot.
AJ (00:15):
That's my lovely wife, Pearl.
Pearl (00:17):
That's my hilarious husband, AIJ Hurst.
And we are your armchair.
experts bringing you the bestand brightest of history from
our mouth, to your ears.
are welcome.
Yeah.
Welcome back to our podcastWe're looking forward to
getting, getting into the storywith you today.
And yeah, we've, we haven't hada ton going on this week has
(00:39):
been kind of a just good classicsummer week.
AJ (00:42):
Yeah.
It's a good time at the pool
Pearl (00:44):
we've just been at the pool every evening we can.
And just, I mean, we taught thekids to swim, with the youngest
two.
The older two already knew howto swim, but because last year
and not going to a pool at all.
They weren't swimmers beforethat, but they were more
comfortable in the water.
(01:05):
You know, we were starting tomove in that direction.
AJ (01:07):
was some progress,
Pearl (01:08):
But they were definitely still using floaties but then
this year we just, we just wentall in on swimming and didn't do
any floaties and just kind of,yeah, I just kind of taught them
really fast and
AJ (01:23):
goggles and diving
Pearl (01:25):
He really is goggles and diving toys.
I mean, the thing is I do notenjoy God diving or getting
water up my nose.
But I will a hundred percentjust be like, no, if you want to
be in the pool, you gotta learnhow to dive.
So
AJ (01:37):
to get it just
Pearl (01:37):
yeah, there's just something about learning how to
propel themselves underwater.
That just gives them the skillsand competence.
They need to actually swim.
And so, I mean, it's, it wasabout the middle of July.
So I would say, You know, fiveweeks start to finish between
not swimming at all and jumpingoff the diving board in the deep
end.
AJ (01:57):
Yeah
Pearl (01:57):
I felt a little smug about that
AJ (01:59):
I gauge it more by five weeks from no swimming to mom.
And dad's sitting in a loungechair on the side of the pool.
Pearl (02:06):
I mean, that's that's kind of where it's at sitting in
a lounge chair while the kidswere all swimming in a 10 foot
pool is just and you know,there's lifeguards, we're not
abandoning them, but it's, it's,it's a great feeling.
That's all I'm gonna say.
It's a great feeling.
AJ (02:19):
totally safe.
Pearl (02:19):
Yeah.
So here we are.
Season two, episode three of thepod AIJ.
What do you have for us today?
Do you have any the stay inhistory?
AJ (02:29):
season two, episode three and we're on day 23, 3.
Season two episode three.
Pearl (02:38):
Oh, today's July 23rd.
Oh, that gonna D gonna deletethat.
AJ (02:43):
Yeah.
I figured you would sorry todayon wait.
No, this thing
Pearl (02:49):
up your own history
AJ (02:50):
just messed up my own, my own intro this day in history,
history, history,
Pearl (02:57):
we gotta
AJ (02:57):
Well, I'm just going to mention this briefly.
Continuing on my theme of riotsfrom last week to day, July
23rd, 1967 was the day that theDetroit riots began.
Pearl (03:14):
right.
AJ (03:14):
This was among,
Pearl (03:15):
don't think I learned about this in a history
AJ (03:17):
well, you know, I was thinking.
Our kids were our, sorry.
Our parents were little kids in
Pearl (03:24):
in
AJ (03:25):
so they probably barely remember these Detroit riots.
If they remember them at all.
We were little kids when the LAriots happened in 92.
So we don't remember them
Pearl (03:39):
about the same, about the same age.
AJ (03:41):
the same age.
And then from, you know, 67, itwas a hundred years from that
those New York draft day riotsthat I was talking about last
Pearl (03:51):
year.
AJ (03:52):
but those are kind of the three big riots that I was
seeing mentioned in history thatwere extremely deadly and
destructive.
The 1967 Detroit riots racialtensions were high.
I mean, 67.
Racial tensions were pretty highthroughout the country.
There was a lot of the Detroitpolice departments, vice squad.
(04:14):
They often rated illegaldrinking establishments in the
city's poor neighborhoods.
They did this again and thencrowds came out, turned into
massive riots, building startedbeing burned.
It continued for a week untilthe national guard came in.
By the time it ended after fivedays, about 43, people were dead
(04:36):
many more seriously injured in1400 buildings had been burned
or ransacked.
So it was pretty significantriots.
And I just feel like, you know,there's.
These things continue and repeatthrough history.
And, you know, if you don't knowyour history, you're destined to
repeat it.
So I think it's just importantto kind of look back and
(05:00):
remember them, both for thereasons that they happened.
And also, maybe I think, I thinkfor us maybe to be thankful
that, you know, there were a lotof protests and all going on
last year, things got prettyheated, but they never turned
into what happened in Detroit,
Pearl (05:21):
LA
AJ (05:22):
New York.
So it's also something to bethankful for, I guess, as you
look back on it, that
Pearl (05:28):
right.
We've had some really bad.
dark seasons in our country.
AJ (05:33):
Yeah, Yeah.
So just to point that out, ifyou want to look into it more,
feel free to, to Google it.
My second one I have is a littlehappier it's.
American aviator Wiley post.
This would be July 2nd, 22nd,1933.
He returns to New York havingflown solo around the world.
Pearl (05:57):
I just read about Wiley post.
Yeah.
AJ (06:01):
Around the world in seven days, 18 hours and 49 minutes.
He was the first aviator toaccomplish the feat.
Pearl (06:08):
And what year was it?
19,
AJ (06:09):
19 33.
He flew, I left.
I love some of the description.
His plane.
Two years earlier, he had wonfame when he successfully flew
around the Northern part of theearth.
For his solo around the worldflight, he flew 15,596 miles for
both flights.
He used the Winnie Mae LockheedVega mano plane that was
(06:33):
equipped with a Sperry,automatic pilot and a direction
radio for post solo journey.
I don't know exactly what allthat means, but it sounds very
1930s, early aviation tech.
Now there is a sad ending tothis story because in 1935, he
was attempting to fly across thenorth pole to the USSR with will
Rogers.
When both men were killed
Pearl (06:54):
across the north
AJ (06:56):
Yeah.
They were killed in a crash nearpoint, Barrow, Alaska.
They said he was, he was a verywrecking
Pearl (07:03):
across.
the north pole.
AJ (07:06):
I guess I'm not sure exactly what the route would be.
I didn't look it up, but yeah,
Pearl (07:11):
I didn't know that about will Rogers.
AJ (07:14):
I remember hearing that will Rogers died in a plane crash.
I didn't know it was
Pearl (07:18):
was this plane crash
AJ (07:20):
a world renowned solo.
Pearl (07:24):
Yeah.
So I don't think Amelia Earhartattempted her around the world
until 1937.
So it was in that same kind oftimeframe
AJ (07:34):
lot happening in that
Pearl (07:36):
so much.
Yeah.
AJ (07:38):
was just rapidly advancing and people were really pushing
the boundaries of what theycould do.
It didn't always end well as isthe case of Wiley post and
Amelia Earhart
Pearl (07:48):
and will, Rogers
AJ (07:49):
and will, well, he wasn't really a pilot, but yeah.
Yeah.
An amazing accomplishmentthough, 1933, flying around the
world and under eight days, Theysaid, I'd like, I need to look
up a picture of him.
They said he was veryrecognizable because he wore an
eye patch over one eye modernday.
Pearl (08:06):
That's fine.
An eye patch over one eye.
And he was a pilot that didn'teven occur to me first.
I'm pretty sure he would not beallowed to fly right now.
AJ (08:16):
That's probably true.
Pearl (08:19):
I mean,
AJ (08:19):
Hey, he made it work
Pearl (08:21):
well.
the funny thing is, is that he,he
AJ (08:24):
then he crashed.
Pearl (08:24):
Well, I mean, did the not saying that it didn't play a
role.
Oh man.
Great story.
this is not at all a politicalpodcast and I'm not going to
politicize it.
But one of the things that I'vebeen thinking about with this
podcast is just the duty thatyou and I have, but more so the
(08:45):
duty that we have collectivelyAs humans to actively educate
ourselves and our children withaccurate history, accurate and
thorough history retellings.
And that's partly, you know, itmade me think of it because
there's just so much happeningin history curriculum in
schools, across the countrywhere they're taking true
(09:08):
stories and real historicalfigures and real events out of
the curriculum.
And it's frustrating to me, youknow, I think Texas is talking
about taking, for example,Martin Luther king out of their
required history curriculum andthe crazy thing about that.
it.
yeah, It's super weird.
The, the crazy thing about thatis it points to a defensive.
(09:31):
On the behalf of ourforefathers, You know, and well,
it just wanting to take outstories that, th that cover
wrongs that America has beencomplicit in in this sense of
defensiveness for the past.
And we don't need to defend thepast.
We need to, We need to openlyexamine the past and identify
(09:55):
the ways that its shapes arepresent.
And there's, there's justnothing to be gained over this
defensiveness over our past, ourpast as individuals, but our
past as Americans and our past,as a country.
AJ (10:12):
Well I think ultimately so much of history is not, not as
clear cut as you would like itto be because it's real life.
Right.
Pearl (10:22):
Not,
AJ (10:23):
It's not old timey movies.
It's not musicals where there'svery clear sides and clear, bad
guy.
Clear, good guy.
Pearl (10:32):
Well, it's just like getting a straight story out of,
out of our kids.
You know, there's, if you askour four kids what happened,
there's going to be fourdifferent stories.
But to only listen to one ofthose stories you know, if we
only listen to violet story,because she's the oldest and
disregarded the boys' stories,that would be a really unfair
(10:53):
perspective on the entiresituation.
AJ (10:56):
A real miscarriage of justice.
Pearl (10:58):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I just feel like there's somuch defensiveness around
American history.
right now.
AJ (11:04):
Yeah.
And I mean, people have peoplehave always been trying to
rewrite history since.
So it's a tricky, it can be atricky subject, but I do think
that it's one of those ones thatyou're, you're only going to
hurt yourself.
If you try to silence pieceshistory, or edit it to make it
(11:30):
more palatable.
All right.
Because again, once you set thatprecedent of it being okay for
you to edit it, when you havethe power to do so down the
road, someone else may edit itin a way that you don't like,
and it's better to just set thestandard of we're going to just
(11:53):
look at history factually andsee both sides rather than
trying to silence one side orthe other, it may work well for
you at one point, but it won'twork well for you at all
Pearl (12:05):
Well sure oppression anywhere is oppression
everywhere.
So I don't want really, I don'treally want to go into that too.
In-depth, it's pretty easy for,you know, if you're interested
in finding out more about thisto just do a quick Google
search, it's kind of all overthe news right now, but
AJ (12:19):
yeah, I mean, we are coming into a period or have been in a
period where information is somuch more readily available that
everyday person can at leaststart to get a better idea of
what's
Pearl (12:30):
Well, yeah, except, except that I feel like it just
kind of points, to our, our ownresponsibility to recognize that
if your child is in school,they're probably not getting a
very, accurate education or anaccurate historical retelling.
If you grew up in the eighties,like we did, you definitely
didn't get an accuratehistorical retelling.
(12:50):
I don't think anyone at anypoint in American history.
has had A truly accurateretelling, but taking out more
of what we've, what has been acommonly accepted part of
curriculum is just, it makes youknow, it, it makes our worldview
even smaller and more shallow.
So anyways we're not going totalk about, that anymore.
(13:10):
you can Google And figure outyour own politics.
That's your job, not mine.
So today we're going to talkabout, so this is kind of a
funny story.
I was looking up, I was lookingup stories for the pod and I
came across this one and just todo a quick YouTube search Cause
you know, lots of times when youfind an interesting story, you
(13:33):
can kind of, find interestingstuff to back it up or
additional information onYouTube.
And the story is about.
Six Tongan teenage boys and fromthe country, from the island of
Tonga.
In 1965,
AJ (13:49):
can you give any point of reference for where Tonga is?
Pearl (13:53):
Yeah.
So I think it's like a littletriangle point from like New
Zealand, Fiji Tonga.
I think the three of them arekind of like in a triangle.
So you know, Australia all theway down.
there.
AJ (14:06):
Yeah.
Way out there
Pearl (14:07):
Basically net right next to the island where Mulana was
filmed.
AJ (14:11):
Oh, no, I know.
I mean, not really, but sure.
Okay.
Pearl (14:16):
so, so these, these six boys they are in a Catholic.
School, they go to a Catholic, Idon't know if it was a boarding
school because they were stillwith their family.
I don't think it was, yeah, itwasn't a boarding school.
So sick, these six boys aregoing to a Catholic school.
And
AJ (14:34):
what are their general ages?
Pearl (14:35):
Their ages, I believe range from like 13 to 16.
someone there.
And they were just cantankerousteenage boys and they just, kind
AJ (14:45):
as they all are
Pearl (14:46):
just wanted some adventure and they were just
bored out of their minds andthey just wanted to do something
fun.
AJ (14:54):
And they're on a little tiny island
Pearl (14:56):
doing school.
So, they had this idea and theythought, Hey, let's let's go see
the world.
discover the world.
And they knew that Fiji wasclosest to them.
So.
We'll go to Fiji.
We could go to New Zealand if wewanted to.
I mean, the world's, our oyster,all we need to do is just travel
there on a boat.
(15:17):
So,
AJ (15:18):
once we have a boat, we're good to go.
They
Pearl (15:20):
got together all their supplies and they had the boat
picked out the boat that theywere going to steal was actually
going to steal a boat.
It was, it actually belonged toa man that the boys didn't like,
I think it was one of the boys,uncles or something.
Th They didn't like him.
And so they was going to still,his boat is kind of like a act
of petty revenge whatever theirhistory was with
AJ (15:40):
Plus they get a boat.
So
Pearl (15:41):
Plus they get a boat and one of the boys, his father had
the same boat, so he knew how tooperate it.
So they got they got all theirsupplies together, but then some
family member got wind of it andthere was off, they couldn't do
it.
And so shortly after that, andthey still really, really wanted
to do this.
Now, now they had a real.
(16:02):
Now that they had the thoughtand the plan in motion, it was
just too tempting.
So the six boys and, and I thinkthat the way that I've heard
this story as a firsthandaccount from one of the, one of
the boys who's obviously now aman.
His name was Mano Totau and heone of one of his friends came
(16:22):
up to him and said, Hey, we'regood.
travel, on a boat.
You want to come with us?
he was like, sure.
yeah, let's, let's do this.
It sounds like fun
AJ (16:30):
beats
Pearl (16:30):
can kind of, kind of The, the level of processing that
most teenage boys.
AJ (16:35):
Yeah.
Pearl (16:35):
You know, me.
So they, they realized that theonly way they could do this trip
is if they just did it without.
preparing because they weregoing to get caught, like if
they went home and got all thesupplies and did all this stuff
a hundred percent.
they're going to get caught.
AJ (16:50):
Yeah.
Pearl (16:51):
So one
AJ (16:52):
I mean, there's, there's a bit of logic
Pearl (16:54):
Yeah.
So shortly afterwards theywaited, they went out to the
beach and they watched the guypull the boat up to the normal
spot that he did.
And they waited until the beachcleared out a little bit.
Nobody was watching and the sixjust got onto the boat and made
their way out of the Harbor andthey, they just keep going.
(17:17):
They think on the boat, theyhave no water, obviously you a
very small amount of food
AJ (17:23):
there on the ocean.
What do they need water
Pearl (17:24):
Yeah.
They're going to Fiji.
They'll Get water Fiji.
Very small amount of food in avery small gas burning stove,
you know, like those little campstove.
kind of things.
AJ (17:34):
Is this like a sailboat?
Pearl (17:36):
I think so.
I think It uses this.
I don't, I don't know if therewas a motor.
kind of don't think so.
AJ (17:44):
thinking maybe it's a sailboat, so they don't have to
worry about
Pearl (17:46):
I think it's a sale.
Yeah.
AJ (17:48):
And I'm sorry, what time period?
Pearl (17:50):
Oh, this is 1965 or actually this is 1960.
This might actually be 1960.
Three of this happens.
I think this must be 1963.
So, so they S they say out ofthe Harbor.
The lights begin to fade fromthe island that they're leaving,
and then the wind picks up andit turns into an actual storm.
(18:15):
And they're they're obviouslythey are obviously not
experienced sailors, so theydon't know how to react to a
storm and they don't take thesailing.
And so the sale rep.
Oh, yeah, it was a sailboat.
Oh, like, as I'm saying this,I'm thinking
AJ (18:34):
wasn't going to say anything, but
Pearl (18:36):
oh yeah, Sail must be a sailboat, The sale shreds, the
wind.
Just tears it up.
AJ (18:42):
Yeah.
I mean, I'd have,
Pearl (18:43):
and it, it, And it also broke off the rudder.
I mean, we're talking like anextreme storm.
So
AJ (18:49):
now you're in trouble.
Pearl (18:50):
The boat now has no rudder and it's an insane storm
and the sails ripped and then ahuge wave comes out and it
knocks a Mano Totau off theboat, into the water and the
boys try setting anchor so thathe can get back to the boat.
because, you know, if you're inan ocean in the open ocean in a
(19:13):
bad storm, there's like amountain of water.
And then the mountain goes downand you're on the mountain of
water.
I mean, it's just.
It's nothing I've personallyexperienced.
Cause I would never do that, but
AJ (19:24):
real bad
Pearl (19:24):
Sounds real bad.
It sounds Awful.
And so he, you know, he sweptoff the boat and the other boys
on the boat are doing everythingthey can and it takes him three
or four hours to get back to theboat.
And By the time he finallytouches the boat and they drag
him on, he is just too exhaustedto move.
So the storm dies down.
AJ (19:43):
He's lucky survived.
Pearl (19:44):
The boys can't see the shore anymore.
The lights are gone.
It's there, they're out at sea.
They have no rudder, no sail andno drinking water.
So, and they have no idea wherethey are.
They think they must be thereway out there.
And so they end up
AJ (20:02):
guessing at
Pearl (20:03):
pure guessing.
They end up drifting for eightdays.
And while they're drifting, theonly water that they have is
water that they're boiling onthe stove using the stove to
boil the condensation, to getwater which was a little stroke
of genius there.
I don't think that's why theybrought the stove.
(20:23):
But yeah, that's the only waterthey had.
They had no food or whatever,small amount of food they
brought with them.
And
AJ (20:31):
eight days is a
Pearl (20:32):
eight days is so long so long.
Yeah.
AJ (20:36):
Is like extremely high.
Pearl (20:38):
So somewhere on the eighth day, they spot this
little volcanic island off inthe distance.
And I don't know if they knewthe story of the island when
they saw it.
The island it was a Volcanicisland.
It rises.
I think I want to say more thana thousand feet out of the
ocean, it's basically just likestraight up crazy volcanic
(21:00):
cliffs.
And at the very top is wooded.
So the island is called theisland of ATA.
And I think at that time it wasconsidered uninhabitable.
So they float up to the arts,you know, still considered
uninhabitable.
They float up to the island.
They finally get to the islandshore at when it's dark and mano
(21:23):
gets off, gets out of the boatand he swims to shore because
obviously there's a bunch ofrocks up against the shore.
They can't bring the boat in allthe way.
AJ (21:30):
Okay.
Pearl (21:31):
He gets up to the shore and when he finally stands on
solid ground the island is justspinning and dipping every which
way, because this is his firsttime standing on solid ground
in, eight days.
And he's also incrediblydehydrated and starving.
So, the other boys she'sspinning and dipping.
(21:53):
Yeah.
He realized that.
so the other boys jumped off theboat and they swim in and then
they all just lay on the beach,crying and praying and thanking
God for there
AJ (22:07):
to be on solid
Pearl (22:08):
to be on solid ground and be alive.
So, oh, and one of the thingsthat happened on the boat is, in
all this boiling water, one ofthe boys the wave was hit by the
boat was hit by a wave.
And one of the boys got reallysevere.
burnt.
on his leg and he's got likethird degree burns all over his
(22:28):
thigh or something.
So they get, they get on thisisland.
They have no food, no water.
And so they're, they're prettydesperate.
And the next morning, the firstthing they hear is seabirds.
And there was a bunch ofseabirds making nests in the
cliffs around the island.
And so the boys start catchingseabirds off the nest.
Cause you know, the birds are ontheir nest, guarding them.
(22:50):
So they're a little bit easierto catch
AJ (22:52):
really nice.
Pearl (22:53):
they're just yeah, catching the birds and actually
using their blood to hydraterehydrate themselves because
that was the only fluid thatthey had access to at this point
eating the birds rock cause theyhave no fire and eating the
eggs.
Okay.
So, So I've, I've read andlistened to several different
accounts of how their stay was.
(23:13):
But from what I can gather, theythey arrive on the island.
They're just surviving off ofraw fish and seabirds and pretty
quickly they make it up to thetop of the.
island.
And at the top of the island isa volcanic basin and it's
basically just like a lushparadise.
AJ (23:30):
Oh
Pearl (23:31):
So there's coconuts up there and there's also there's
trees up there.
And one of the, some of theboys, you know, having growing
up in Tonga with Tonkingrandparents knew some life
saving techniques for gettingwater out of trees and also ways
to catch rainwater and whererainwater would go.
So they, they found a way tohydrate themselves.
(23:53):
They're eating the coconuts andthen they also noticed that all
over the island are chickens,just like regular, regular
chickens, just all over theplace.
And so at first they wereexcited because they were like,
oh, well there must be peoplehere.
if there's chickens on thisisland.
AJ (24:11):
so?
Pearl (24:11):
But as it turns out in 1863, so just over, well,
probably exactly a hundred yearsbefore there had been an
Australian whaling that had comepast the island and the ship put
a banker and went on the islandand they captured all of the
(24:32):
people living on the island, allthe Tongans, living on the
island, they would have beenconsidered Tongans because it
was a Tongan they captured themall and sent them off and sold
them off into slavery.
So, the only ones who would havebeen left would have been the
very old, you know, people thatwould have survived, a sea
crossing.
AJ (24:51):
Right.
Pearl (24:52):
So the boys, you know, put these pieces together bit by
bit.
They find Pottery leftover bits.
I think they find a knife blade.
Obviously the chickens, and thenthey find the bones of an old
man.
And they, they realized whatmust've happened, yet being one
of the last inhabitants of theisland or the last inhabitant of
(25:13):
the island.
And so they, also have found theisland graveyard at this point.
And so they take him to thegraveyard and buried his bones.
So they there's, they're supersad.
They miss their families.
Some of them have girlfriendsback home.
They just they're reallydespondent about their
situation, but they're preparingfor a long-term stay.
(25:37):
So, they do make at least oneattempt to leave the island and
they craft a boat.
But without.
Having the right tools.
And the right knowledge,
AJ (25:51):
Did they just abandon their boat that
Pearl (25:52):
No, I think they used it, parts of it for other things,
AJ (25:54):
Oh yeah probably
Pearl (25:55):
Without having the right tool And it, was pretty broken
up by the time, you know,without having the right tools
and knowledge, the boat thatthey did make was like a fruit
floating raft ended up justkinda like they couldn't get it
to leave the island.
Yeah.
you know, the waves are justkeep pushing it back.
So I think after a month or soof that, they just,
AJ (26:11):
oh, I I've seen Tom Hanks struggle
Pearl (26:13):
Yeah.
Yeah.
We, we know, we know all aboutCastaway.
They, They unfortunately didn'twell, fortunately they didn't
did not need a volleyballbecause they had each other,
AJ (26:23):
well, that's
Pearl (26:24):
you know, there was, There was no Wilson in this
story.
There was a Steve, one of theboys named So, yeah, they're
just, they're just reallyindustrious they're all
Christians Going to a Catholicschool, you know?
And so they quickly set up aroutine and a schedule and a way
to mark the days on a calendarthey end with the evening
(26:45):
prayers or start with morningprayers and end with evenings
singing around the fire.
It takes them about three monthsto figure out how to get a
Firestone.
AJ (26:54):
Ooh,
Pearl (26:54):
it's a really long time.
AJ (26:56):
a long
Pearl (26:56):
a long time to only eat a long time.
to only run off food.
AJ (27:00):
Luckily it's probably pretty warm there.
They're not
Pearl (27:03):
right, right, right, right, right.
They finally get the firestarted and they do not let that
fire go out until they leave theisland.
So there was someone onFirewatch 24 7 so they can,
AJ (27:12):
lumber
Pearl (27:14):
yeah.
Yeah.
So they get the fire, you know,they get a fire started there up
there.
They've got chickens, so theystart catching the wild
chickens.
At night, they figured out that,you know, the best way to catch
the wild chickens was to waituntil nightfall and then just
chase them around.
If you've ever chased chickensat night, it's hilarious.
It's truly a once in a lifetimeexperience because
AJ (27:34):
We actually have
Pearl (27:35):
oh, so many times they they don't see really well in
the dark, but they can see justbarely, but definitely worse
than we can.
So you're just chasing themaround.
They're just bobbing theirheads, like a dinosaur it's,
hilarious.
So the boys catch the chickens,they make pens for the chickens
so that they can have access tothem for food and for aches they
(27:56):
start, they find a bunch ofpreviously cultivated crops, on
the island and start torecultivate them, They grow wild
or they grow beans.
I think they've got cava or Yucafor, you know, for the tubers.
Yeah.
And yeah, I mean, they're,they're not there.
(28:18):
There's thriving.
They're not doing poorly.
on the island.
One boy actually breaks a leg.
But because they were still soplugged into Tongan culture, one
of the boys had heard, you know,about this old method for
healing legs involving a bananaleaf splint.
So they splinted his leg upreally well and it healed
(28:38):
perfectly, Which is kind ofimpressive.
AJ (28:42):
Yeah.
Pearl (28:43):
To have you know, leg break and heal really well.
But yeah, they just kind ofcredited their faith in God and
their their faith in God andtheir dedication to community.
And of course their Tonganupbringing to their survival.
You know, they, they had a rulethat there was no fighting was
(29:04):
allowed on the island.
AJ (29:05):
I was wondering about that just
Pearl (29:07):
if, if, if it got to, yeah, I forgot to tents.
There was just an mandatorytimeout and they would both just
walk off in opposite directionsand take a breather.
And then
AJ (29:18):
and I'm sure 99% of the time they realized it wasn't worth
fighting over.
So
Pearl (29:22):
Probably, I mean, yeah.
AJ (29:24):
probably that's
Pearl (29:25):
Yeah.
They, you know, they did reallywell.
And so this has been going onfor we're now at 15 months,
they've been doing this for 15months.
AJ (29:36):
15 months
Pearl (29:37):
months.
They've been, they've beenraising chickens.
They built a house, obviously.
They each have a bed and they'vegot a fire in the middle of the
house and they are eating plentyof food.
Getting plenty of water.
They actually made themselves alittle homemade gym so that they
could stay fit homemade gym andalso kind of like a, a game of
(29:58):
shuttlecock.
So they could just like aBatman.
Badminton
AJ (30:03):
That's fun.
Pearl (30:04):
Yeah.
AJ (30:05):
I mean, yeah.
You'd have to do
Pearl (30:07):
two things to keep yourselves sane.
One of the boys Went down to theship and got back.
I think there was some wire onthe ship for part of the ship, I
dunno, whatever, whatever shipsuse wire for.
And he built a little, he made alittle ukulele out of it.
AJ (30:22):
Oh, that's fun.
Pearl (30:23):
They would play it at night to sing their songs that
they would go to bed with.
So somewhere about this 15 monthmark, they have, you know, they,
one person is always on shipwatch.
One person is always at thehighest point of the island
watching for ships And they seeseveral cruise ships come into
(30:45):
view and they're just freakingout because these massive ships,
this is so exciting.
They go up to the top.
He starts screaming.
Everyone comes running and theylight a big fire and they're
just yelling and waving.
And there's a fire.
And,
AJ (31:05):
but how in the world are you
Pearl (31:06):
the boat, The boat stops and starts to come closer to the
island, the cruise ship, Andthey're just ecstatic.
But then after a short while theboat continues, to the ship
continues on its way anddisappears off into the sunset.
And They don't say anything.
No one says anything.
They just walk away go back tothe, go back to their camp.
(31:31):
And when they left, they leftthe fire.
burning.
And so the fire actually burntout, a decent portion and
patches of the shrubbery on thehillside.
And so it's leaving these big,black
AJ (31:46):
oh, the big, the fire, they lit as a signal
Pearl (31:50):
the signal fire.
Leaves a big burnt-out sectionon the hillside.
And the very next day, a lobsterfishermen is passing by the
island, looking for new placesto find lobsters.
And he sees all this burnt outall these burnt out patches on
this island, which is really oddbecause fires don't typically
(32:14):
start in uninhabited islands inthe south Pacific, too wet.
And You you know what I mean?
So he thinks it's reallypeculiar and he comes closer to
get a look, Get a good look.
And when he comes closer, thecrew starts telling him that
they're hearing the voices ofhumans and of course the island
(32:37):
is covered in seabirds.
So now it's just birds, So nothumans.
And then he looks, they look upto the top and they see they see
some naked, long-haired boysjumping up and down and
screaming and
AJ (32:54):
boys had spotted them.
Pearl (32:55):
The boys have spotted them.
The boys quickly get down.
And they're not sure as arethese guys cannibals, you know,
they're naked long haired menscreaming our boys screaming on
an island and they they make itto the boat.
So the first boy finally reachesthe boat.
He swim swims out to the boatand they're not sure what's
(33:17):
going on here.
I think There's like, four guyson this boat waiting for him and
he swims up and he says inperfect English.
My name is, Steven.
Hey, my name is Steven.
AJ (33:30):
Steve.
Pearl (33:31):
There's six of us.
We reckon we've been here for 15months.
And so you'll let some on theboat
AJ (33:37):
they're like, okay,
Pearl (33:40):
He wants some on the boat.
AJ (33:41):
better not be a trick.
You're trying to eat our
Pearl (33:44):
But cannibals don't speak perfect English.
I'm So confused.
So he lets them on the boat.
and They radio back to Tonga orthey, guess, okay.
I guess they would be redoing.
I don't know.
I don't know what technologythey had.
So
AJ (33:57):
well, it wasn't signal fires,
Pearl (33:59):
wasn't signal fires and the radio back and they asked
someone to, you know, check thestory and So they use a two-way
radio to you know, alertauthorities in the T the tongue
island that the boys had comefrom.
And about 20 minutes later, theyget someone killed.
Someone comes on the radio andthey're like, or they say you
(34:20):
found them?
These boys have been given upfor dead funerals have been
held.
If it's them, this is a miracle.
And so of course, you know, theboys are elated.
This long, this long wait isover.
AJ (34:33):
I mean, no matter how well they were doing on the island,
you'd
Pearl (34:36):
right.
They were S they were so, sohappy.
AJ (34:39):
Eat something other than eggs,
Pearl (34:41):
But as soon as they sort of, you know, the guy, and they
have no idea where they are.
They think we were, we were outthere for eight days, who knows
how far away from home we are,It turns out they were just
going in circles for eight days.
So they were pretty close toTonga.
So, the lobster boat takes themback to Tonga.
And unfortunately, as soon asthey get to Tonga, the police
(35:03):
come on the boat and arrest themfor stealing They initial boat
because the man who had the boatstolen was very angry and wanted
to press charges for the stolenboat.
AJ (35:13):
Welcome home.
Pearl (35:14):
But I think the, the man who saved them paid the bail,
they just had to admit it.
I don't know.
they, they admitted to and thebail was paid.
And then there was three days ofmassive celebration.
First they had like familycelebrations and then they had a
church celebration and then theyhad a country celebration.
(35:36):
The king of Tonga actuallyawarded the lobster fishermen,
the rights to get lobster out ofthe Tonkin waters.
And
AJ (35:44):
Oh, that's cool.
Pearl (35:45):
it was just it was kind of a fun story So, so what
happened if I'm piecing these,these, this together correctly,
the lobster men sold the rightsto the story.
And the, you know, there's alittle bit of debate there.
Like it wasn't his story tosell.
But I don't think there was anyhard feelings between him and
the boys.
But he.
(36:06):
He sold the rights to the story.
And so shortly afterwards in1960 silly erectus rescued in
1965 and in 1966 a documentarycrew, oh, this is what it was in
order for the boys to not haveto, to be able to get out of
jail.
They had to agree to do thisdocumentary and then he would
pay for it.
AJ (36:27):
Oh
Pearl (36:29):
yeah.
So uh, the boys did thisdocumentary and it's like a 20
minute documentary on YouTube.
It's called the castaways andthey it shows them on the
island.
It shows the the houses, thehouse that they made and just
the different things that theydid, what they had to do to
(36:49):
survive.
out on the island.
And
AJ (36:52):
interesting to see.
Pearl (36:53):
Yeah.
I mean, full disclosure, thereis a teensy bit of nakedness.
in this Unexpected nudity.
Let's put it that way.
So, definitely I woulddefinitely recommend watching
this with children, but there isa point when they're and it's
pretty obvious they're going outto the boat just fast forward
through that part.
Once, once they give
AJ (37:12):
watch it before you watch it
Pearl (37:14):
me free, watch it, it's, it's a great, it's a great show.
Because it's just so it's themreenacting their experience.
and how they survive for 15months.
And, And I think that itactually has real footage of
them returning home.
So you see relatives and familymembers meeting the boys again
and you know, these boys weredead for 15 months.
(37:36):
And just how incredible thoseyeah, just how incredible all of
those moments were.
AJ (37:41):
Do you think that it was exploitative of the boys'
experience having to do thisforced into doing this
documentary?
Almost?
Pearl (37:51):
I don't know.
I think, I think it's possible.
I think definitely Tongan.
I feel like the story was toldthrough a colonial lens
AJ (38:01):
Yeah,
Pearl (38:02):
and not through a native lens and the story is about
Tongans.
So it would be really cool to,you know, the only book that's
been written about has beenwritten by a white man.
And then the only film has beendone by, you know, I think
Australian filmmakers it wouldbe neat to see this redone by
Tongans for Tongans and forPacific Islanders.
(38:24):
But I think fortunately for allof us, we have this, you know,
hidden gem of history, that weget to reference this
incredible, true story ofsurvival and friendship against
all the odds.
And just
AJ (38:40):
ranks up there with some of the incredible stories of
survival.
I
Pearl (38:44):
Yeah.
yeah, just the boys leaningheavily into just.
Little tidbits.
They'd picked up from theirculture here and they're like,
oh, my grandpa said, these treeswill hold water for us.
Or I learned how to weave Palmleaves so I can make us a hut
or, you know, someone knowinghow to start a fire.
(39:07):
and,
AJ (39:08):
Or at least eventually figuring it out.
Pearl (39:10):
figuring it out.
Yeah.
I mean, they were also reallyweak when they first got on the
island.
So
AJ (39:16):
eight days
Pearl (39:17):
it took a while for them to bounce back to the point
where they could actually startto thrive on the island, but
yeah.
It's an incredible story.
And yeah, the boys weremesmerized.
They thought it was fantastic.
are
AJ (39:32):
were.
Yeah,
Pearl (39:33):
yeah.
So, yeah, that's, that's thestory for the week.
Six boys from Tonga and How theywere shipwrecked survived the
shipwreck.
AJ (39:45):
Well, thanks.
That was a fun story.
Pearl (39:47):
Thanks.
Well, we are off to the rest ofher day the rest of our week.
We're going to go pay a visit tosome relatives in the good
country of Maryland thisweekend.
I'm just going to call it Maryland.
AJ (40:01):
land Welcome to Mary land.
Pearl (40:04):
Yeah.
don't forget to send us yourstories.
We've got some Pretty greatstories, submissions last time,
last season.
So I'm looking forward tohearing some more of those
stories.
AJ (40:14):
We definitely need more stories.
Where should they submit astory?
Pearl (40:18):
You can submit a story commenting on, you can send it
straight through our Facebookpage.
The stories we forgot onFacebook or our website, the
stories you forgot.com.
I mean, basically any platformyou can find us comment, send a
message, whatever you want todo, and you don't even need to
tell us the story, even if youjust want to send us a link to
(40:38):
it.
And we'll look it up ourselves.
AJ (40:40):
We can Google.
Pearl (40:41):
Have a great week, feel free to if you like the podcast,
go ahead and follow or subscribeon whatever platform you
normally listen.
And we'll see you back here nextweek,
AJ (40:56):
and don't forget to share it with your mom.
Pearl (40:58):
Bye.
Well, let's just get into it.
I don't have a ton to talk abouttoday, but I feel like this
might go on longer cause it'skind of an epic story.
the one that I
AJ (00:08):
know I'm curious
Pearl (00:09):
the one that I have today.
Okay.
AJ (00:11):
Well, hello everybody.
Pearl (00:12):
to the stories we forgot.
AJ (00:15):
That's my lovely wife, Pearl.
Pearl (00:17):
That's my hilarious husband, AIJ Hurst.
And we are your armchair.
experts bringing you the bestand brightest of history from
our mouth, to your ears.
are welcome.
Yeah.
Welcome back to our podcastWe're looking forward to
getting, getting into the storywith you today.
And yeah, we've, we haven't hada ton going on this week has
(00:39):
been kind of a just good classicsummer week.
AJ (00:42):
Yeah.
It's a good time at the pool
Pearl (00:44):
we've just been at the pool every evening we can.
And just, I mean, we taught thekids to swim, with the youngest
two.
The older two already knew howto swim, but because last year
and not going to a pool at all.
They weren't swimmers beforethat, but they were more
comfortable in the water.
(01:05):
You know, we were starting tomove in that direction.
AJ (01:07):
was some progress,
Pearl (01:08):
But they were definitely still using floaties but then
this year we just, we just wentall in on swimming and didn't do
any floaties and just kind of,yeah, I just kind of taught them
really fast and
AJ (01:23):
goggles and diving
Pearl (01:25):
He really is goggles and diving toys.
I mean, the thing is I do notenjoy God diving or getting
water up my nose.
But I will a hundred percentjust be like, no, if you want to
be in the pool, you gotta learnhow to dive.
So
AJ (01:37):
to get it just
Pearl (01:37):
yeah, there's just something about learning how to
propel themselves underwater.
That just gives them the skillsand competence.
They need to actually swim.
And so, I mean, it's, it wasabout the middle of July.
So I would say, You know, fiveweeks start to finish between
not swimming at all and jumpingoff the diving board in the deep
end.
AJ (01:57):
Yeah
Pearl (01:57):
I felt a little smug about that
AJ (01:59):
I gauge it more by five weeks from no swimming to mom.
And dad's sitting in a loungechair on the side of the pool.
Pearl (02:06):
I mean, that's that's kind of where it's at sitting in
a lounge chair while the kidswere all swimming in a 10 foot
pool is just and you know,there's lifeguards, we're not
abandoning them, but it's, it's,it's a great feeling.
That's all I'm gonna say.
It's a great feeling.
AJ (02:19):
totally safe.
Pearl (02:19):
Yeah.
So here we are.
Season two, episode three of thepod AIJ.
What do you have for us today?
Do you have any the stay inhistory?
AJ (02:29):
season two, episode three and we're on day 23, 3.
Season two episode three.
Pearl (02:38):
Oh, today's July 23rd.
Oh, that gonna D gonna deletethat.
AJ (02:43):
Yeah.
I figured you would sorry todayon wait.
No, this thing
Pearl (02:49):
up your own history
AJ (02:50):
just messed up my own, my own intro this day in history,
history, history,
Pearl (02:57):
we gotta
AJ (02:57):
Well, I'm just going to mention this briefly.
Continuing on my theme of riotsfrom last week to day, July
23rd, 1967 was the day that theDetroit riots began.
Pearl (03:14):
right.
AJ (03:14):
This was among,
Pearl (03:15):
don't think I learned about this in a history
AJ (03:17):
well, you know, I was thinking.
Our kids were our, sorry.
Our parents were little kids in
Pearl (03:24):
in
AJ (03:25):
so they probably barely remember these Detroit riots.
If they remember them at all.
We were little kids when the LAriots happened in 92.
So we don't remember them
Pearl (03:39):
about the same, about the same age.
AJ (03:41):
the same age.
And then from, you know, 67, itwas a hundred years from that
those New York draft day riotsthat I was talking about last
Pearl (03:51):
year.
AJ (03:52):
but those are kind of the three big riots that I was
seeing mentioned in history thatwere extremely deadly and
destructive.
The 1967 Detroit riots racialtensions were high.
I mean, 67.
Racial tensions were pretty highthroughout the country.
There was a lot of the Detroitpolice departments, vice squad.
(04:14):
They often rated illegaldrinking establishments in the
city's poor neighborhoods.
They did this again and thencrowds came out, turned into
massive riots, building startedbeing burned.
It continued for a week untilthe national guard came in.
By the time it ended after fivedays, about 43, people were dead
(04:36):
many more seriously injured in1400 buildings had been burned
or ransacked.
So it was pretty significantriots.
And I just feel like, you know,there's.
These things continue and repeatthrough history.
And, you know, if you don't knowyour history, you're destined to
repeat it.
So I think it's just importantto kind of look back and
(05:00):
remember them, both for thereasons that they happened.
And also, maybe I think, I thinkfor us maybe to be thankful
that, you know, there were a lotof protests and all going on
last year, things got prettyheated, but they never turned
into what happened in Detroit,
Pearl (05:21):
LA
AJ (05:22):
New York.
So it's also something to bethankful for, I guess, as you
look back on it, that
Pearl (05:28):
right.
We've had some really bad.
dark seasons in our country.
AJ (05:33):
Yeah, Yeah.
So just to point that out, ifyou want to look into it more,
feel free to, to Google it.
My second one I have is a littlehappier it's.
American aviator Wiley post.
This would be July 2nd, 22nd,1933.
He returns to New York havingflown solo around the world.
Pearl (05:57):
I just read about Wiley post.
Yeah.
AJ (06:01):
Around the world in seven days, 18 hours and 49 minutes.
He was the first aviator toaccomplish the feat.
Pearl (06:08):
And what year was it?
19,
AJ (06:09):
19 33.
He flew, I left.
I love some of the description.
His plane.
Two years earlier, he had wonfame when he successfully flew
around the Northern part of theearth.
For his solo around the worldflight, he flew 15,596 miles for
both flights.
He used the Winnie Mae LockheedVega mano plane that was
(06:33):
equipped with a Sperry,automatic pilot and a direction
radio for post solo journey.
I don't know exactly what allthat means, but it sounds very
1930s, early aviation tech.
Now there is a sad ending tothis story because in 1935, he
was attempting to fly across thenorth pole to the USSR with will
Rogers.
When both men were killed
Pearl (06:54):
across the north
AJ (06:56):
Yeah.
They were killed in a crash nearpoint, Barrow, Alaska.
They said he was, he was a verywrecking
Pearl (07:03):
across.
the north pole.
AJ (07:06):
I guess I'm not sure exactly what the route would be.
I didn't look it up, but yeah,
Pearl (07:11):
I didn't know that about will Rogers.
AJ (07:14):
I remember hearing that will Rogers died in a plane crash.
I didn't know it was
Pearl (07:18):
was this plane crash
AJ (07:20):
a world renowned solo.
Pearl (07:24):
Yeah.
So I don't think Amelia Earhartattempted her around the world
until 1937.
So it was in that same kind oftimeframe
AJ (07:34):
lot happening in that
Pearl (07:36):
so much.
Yeah.
AJ (07:38):
was just rapidly advancing and people were really pushing
the boundaries of what theycould do.
It didn't always end well as isthe case of Wiley post and
Amelia Earhart
Pearl (07:48):
and will, Rogers
AJ (07:49):
and will, well, he wasn't really a pilot, but yeah.
Yeah.
An amazing accomplishmentthough, 1933, flying around the
world and under eight days, Theysaid, I'd like, I need to look
up a picture of him.
They said he was veryrecognizable because he wore an
eye patch over one eye modernday.
Pearl (08:06):
That's fine.
An eye patch over one eye.
And he was a pilot that didn'teven occur to me first.
I'm pretty sure he would not beallowed to fly right now.
AJ (08:16):
That's probably true.
Pearl (08:19):
I mean,
AJ (08:19):
Hey, he made it work
Pearl (08:21):
well.
the funny thing is, is that he,he
AJ (08:24):
then he crashed.
Pearl (08:24):
Well, I mean, did the not saying that it didn't play a
role.
Oh man.
Great story.
this is not at all a politicalpodcast and I'm not going to
politicize it.
But one of the things that I'vebeen thinking about with this
podcast is just the duty thatyou and I have, but more so the
(08:45):
duty that we have collectivelyAs humans to actively educate
ourselves and our children withaccurate history, accurate and
thorough history retellings.
And that's partly, you know, itmade me think of it because
there's just so much happeningin history curriculum in
schools, across the countrywhere they're taking true
(09:08):
stories and real historicalfigures and real events out of
the curriculum.
And it's frustrating to me, youknow, I think Texas is talking
about taking, for example,Martin Luther king out of their
required history curriculum andthe crazy thing about that.
it.
yeah, It's super weird.
The, the crazy thing about thatis it points to a defensive.
(09:31):
On the behalf of ourforefathers, You know, and well,
it just wanting to take outstories that, th that cover
wrongs that America has beencomplicit in in this sense of
defensiveness for the past.
And we don't need to defend thepast.
We need to, We need to openlyexamine the past and identify
(09:55):
the ways that its shapes arepresent.
And there's, there's justnothing to be gained over this
defensiveness over our past, ourpast as individuals, but our
past as Americans and our past,as a country.
AJ (10:12):
Well I think ultimately so much of history is not, not as
clear cut as you would like itto be because it's real life.
Right.
Pearl (10:22):
Not,
AJ (10:23):
It's not old timey movies.
It's not musicals where there'svery clear sides and clear, bad
guy.
Clear, good guy.
Pearl (10:32):
Well, it's just like getting a straight story out of,
out of our kids.
You know, there's, if you askour four kids what happened,
there's going to be fourdifferent stories.
But to only listen to one ofthose stories you know, if we
only listen to violet story,because she's the oldest and
disregarded the boys' stories,that would be a really unfair
(10:53):
perspective on the entiresituation.
AJ (10:56):
A real miscarriage of justice.
Pearl (10:58):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I just feel like there's somuch defensiveness around
American history.
right now.
AJ (11:04):
Yeah.
And I mean, people have peoplehave always been trying to
rewrite history since.
So it's a tricky, it can be atricky subject, but I do think
that it's one of those ones thatyou're, you're only going to
hurt yourself.
If you try to silence pieceshistory, or edit it to make it
(11:30):
more palatable.
All right.
Because again, once you set thatprecedent of it being okay for
you to edit it, when you havethe power to do so down the
road, someone else may edit itin a way that you don't like,
and it's better to just set thestandard of we're going to just
(11:53):
look at history factually andsee both sides rather than
trying to silence one side orthe other, it may work well for
you at one point, but it won'twork well for you at all
Pearl (12:05):
Well sure oppression anywhere is oppression
everywhere.
So I don't want really, I don'treally want to go into that too.
In-depth, it's pretty easy for,you know, if you're interested
in finding out more about thisto just do a quick Google
search, it's kind of all overthe news right now, but
AJ (12:19):
yeah, I mean, we are coming into a period or have been in a
period where information is somuch more readily available that
everyday person can at leaststart to get a better idea of
what's
Pearl (12:30):
Well, yeah, except, except that I feel like it just
kind of points, to our, our ownresponsibility to recognize that
if your child is in school,they're probably not getting a
very, accurate education or anaccurate historical retelling.
If you grew up in the eighties,like we did, you definitely
didn't get an accuratehistorical retelling.
(12:50):
I don't think anyone at anypoint in American history.
has had A truly accurateretelling, but taking out more
of what we've, what has been acommonly accepted part of
curriculum is just, it makes youknow, it, it makes our worldview
even smaller and more shallow.
So anyways we're not going totalk about, that anymore.
(13:10):
you can Google And figure outyour own politics.
That's your job, not mine.
So today we're going to talkabout, so this is kind of a
funny story.
I was looking up, I was lookingup stories for the pod and I
came across this one and just todo a quick YouTube search Cause
you know, lots of times when youfind an interesting story, you
(13:33):
can kind of, find interestingstuff to back it up or
additional information onYouTube.
And the story is about.
Six Tongan teenage boys and fromthe country, from the island of
Tonga.
In 1965,
AJ (13:49):
can you give any point of reference for where Tonga is?
Pearl (13:53):
Yeah.
So I think it's like a littletriangle point from like New
Zealand, Fiji Tonga.
I think the three of them arekind of like in a triangle.
So you know, Australia all theway down.
there.
AJ (14:06):
Yeah.
Way out there
Pearl (14:07):
Basically net right next to the island where Mulana was
filmed.
AJ (14:11):
Oh, no, I know.
I mean, not really, but sure.
Okay.
Pearl (14:16):
so, so these, these six boys they are in a Catholic.
School, they go to a Catholic, Idon't know if it was a boarding
school because they were stillwith their family.
I don't think it was, yeah, itwasn't a boarding school.
So sick, these six boys aregoing to a Catholic school.
And
AJ (14:34):
what are their general ages?
Pearl (14:35):
Their ages, I believe range from like 13 to 16.
someone there.
And they were just cantankerousteenage boys and they just, kind
AJ (14:45):
as they all are
Pearl (14:46):
just wanted some adventure and they were just
bored out of their minds andthey just wanted to do something
fun.
AJ (14:54):
And they're on a little tiny island
Pearl (14:56):
doing school.
So, they had this idea and theythought, Hey, let's let's go see
the world.
discover the world.
And they knew that Fiji wasclosest to them.
So.
We'll go to Fiji.
We could go to New Zealand if wewanted to.
I mean, the world's, our oyster,all we need to do is just travel
there on a boat.
(15:17):
So,
AJ (15:18):
once we have a boat, we're good to go.
They
Pearl (15:20):
got together all their supplies and they had the boat
picked out the boat that theywere going to steal was actually
going to steal a boat.
It was, it actually belonged toa man that the boys didn't like,
I think it was one of the boys,uncles or something.
Th They didn't like him.
And so they was going to still,his boat is kind of like a act
of petty revenge whatever theirhistory was with
AJ (15:40):
Plus they get a boat.
So
Pearl (15:41):
Plus they get a boat and one of the boys, his father had
the same boat, so he knew how tooperate it.
So they got they got all theirsupplies together, but then some
family member got wind of it andthere was off, they couldn't do
it.
And so shortly after that, andthey still really, really wanted
to do this.
Now, now they had a real.
(16:02):
Now that they had the thoughtand the plan in motion, it was
just too tempting.
So the six boys and, and I thinkthat the way that I've heard
this story as a firsthandaccount from one of the, one of
the boys who's obviously now aman.
His name was Mano Totau and heone of one of his friends came
(16:22):
up to him and said, Hey, we'regood.
travel, on a boat.
You want to come with us?
he was like, sure.
yeah, let's, let's do this.
It sounds like fun
AJ (16:30):
beats
Pearl (16:30):
can kind of, kind of The, the level of processing that
most teenage boys.
AJ (16:35):
Yeah.
Pearl (16:35):
You know, me.
So they, they realized that theonly way they could do this trip
is if they just did it without.
preparing because they weregoing to get caught, like if
they went home and got all thesupplies and did all this stuff
a hundred percent.
they're going to get caught.
AJ (16:50):
Yeah.
Pearl (16:51):
So one
AJ (16:52):
I mean, there's, there's a bit of logic
Pearl (16:54):
Yeah.
So shortly afterwards theywaited, they went out to the
beach and they watched the guypull the boat up to the normal
spot that he did.
And they waited until the beachcleared out a little bit.
Nobody was watching and the sixjust got onto the boat and made
their way out of the Harbor andthey, they just keep going.
(17:17):
They think on the boat, theyhave no water, obviously you a
very small amount of food
AJ (17:23):
there on the ocean.
What do they need water
Pearl (17:24):
Yeah.
They're going to Fiji.
They'll Get water Fiji.
Very small amount of food in avery small gas burning stove,
you know, like those little campstove.
kind of things.
AJ (17:34):
Is this like a sailboat?
Pearl (17:36):
I think so.
I think It uses this.
I don't, I don't know if therewas a motor.
kind of don't think so.
AJ (17:44):
thinking maybe it's a sailboat, so they don't have to
worry about
Pearl (17:46):
I think it's a sale.
Yeah.
AJ (17:48):
And I'm sorry, what time period?
Pearl (17:50):
Oh, this is 1965 or actually this is 1960.
This might actually be 1960.
Three of this happens.
I think this must be 1963.
So, so they S they say out ofthe Harbor.
The lights begin to fade fromthe island that they're leaving,
and then the wind picks up andit turns into an actual storm.
(18:15):
And they're they're obviouslythey are obviously not
experienced sailors, so theydon't know how to react to a
storm and they don't take thesailing.
And so the sale rep.
Oh, yeah, it was a sailboat.
Oh, like, as I'm saying this,I'm thinking
AJ (18:34):
wasn't going to say anything, but
Pearl (18:36):
oh yeah, Sail must be a sailboat, The sale shreds, the
wind.
Just tears it up.
AJ (18:42):
Yeah.
I mean, I'd have,
Pearl (18:43):
and it, it, And it also broke off the rudder.
I mean, we're talking like anextreme storm.
So
AJ (18:49):
now you're in trouble.
Pearl (18:50):
The boat now has no rudder and it's an insane storm
and the sails ripped and then ahuge wave comes out and it
knocks a Mano Totau off theboat, into the water and the
boys try setting anchor so thathe can get back to the boat.
because, you know, if you're inan ocean in the open ocean in a
(19:13):
bad storm, there's like amountain of water.
And then the mountain goes downand you're on the mountain of
water.
I mean, it's just.
It's nothing I've personallyexperienced.
Cause I would never do that, but
AJ (19:24):
real bad
Pearl (19:24):
Sounds real bad.
It sounds Awful.
And so he, you know, he sweptoff the boat and the other boys
on the boat are doing everythingthey can and it takes him three
or four hours to get back to theboat.
And By the time he finallytouches the boat and they drag
him on, he is just too exhaustedto move.
So the storm dies down.
AJ (19:43):
He's lucky survived.
Pearl (19:44):
The boys can't see the shore anymore.
The lights are gone.
It's there, they're out at sea.
They have no rudder, no sail andno drinking water.
So, and they have no idea wherethey are.
They think they must be thereway out there.
And so they end up
AJ (20:02):
guessing at
Pearl (20:03):
pure guessing.
They end up drifting for eightdays.
And while they're drifting, theonly water that they have is
water that they're boiling onthe stove using the stove to
boil the condensation, to getwater which was a little stroke
of genius there.
I don't think that's why theybrought the stove.
(20:23):
But yeah, that's the only waterthey had.
They had no food or whatever,small amount of food they
brought with them.
And
AJ (20:31):
eight days is a
Pearl (20:32):
eight days is so long so long.
Yeah.
AJ (20:36):
Is like extremely high.
Pearl (20:38):
So somewhere on the eighth day, they spot this
little volcanic island off inthe distance.
And I don't know if they knewthe story of the island when
they saw it.
The island it was a Volcanicisland.
It rises.
I think I want to say more thana thousand feet out of the
ocean, it's basically just likestraight up crazy volcanic
(21:00):
cliffs.
And at the very top is wooded.
So the island is called theisland of ATA.
And I think at that time it wasconsidered uninhabitable.
So they float up to the arts,you know, still considered
uninhabitable.
They float up to the island.
They finally get to the islandshore at when it's dark and mano
(21:23):
gets off, gets out of the boatand he swims to shore because
obviously there's a bunch ofrocks up against the shore.
They can't bring the boat in allthe way.
AJ (21:30):
Okay.
Pearl (21:31):
He gets up to the shore and when he finally stands on
solid ground the island is justspinning and dipping every which
way, because this is his firsttime standing on solid ground
in, eight days.
And he's also incrediblydehydrated and starving.
So, the other boys she'sspinning and dipping.
(21:53):
Yeah.
He realized that.
so the other boys jumped off theboat and they swim in and then
they all just lay on the beach,crying and praying and thanking
God for there
AJ (22:07):
to be on solid
Pearl (22:08):
to be on solid ground and be alive.
So, oh, and one of the thingsthat happened on the boat is, in
all this boiling water, one ofthe boys the wave was hit by the
boat was hit by a wave.
And one of the boys got reallysevere.
burnt.
on his leg and he's got likethird degree burns all over his
(22:28):
thigh or something.
So they get, they get on thisisland.
They have no food, no water.
And so they're, they're prettydesperate.
And the next morning, the firstthing they hear is seabirds.
And there was a bunch ofseabirds making nests in the
cliffs around the island.
And so the boys start catchingseabirds off the nest.
Cause you know, the birds are ontheir nest, guarding them.
(22:50):
So they're a little bit easierto catch
AJ (22:52):
really nice.
Pearl (22:53):
they're just yeah, catching the birds and actually
using their blood to hydraterehydrate themselves because
that was the only fluid thatthey had access to at this point
eating the birds rock cause theyhave no fire and eating the
eggs.
Okay.
So, So I've, I've read andlistened to several different
accounts of how their stay was.
(23:13):
But from what I can gather, theythey arrive on the island.
They're just surviving off ofraw fish and seabirds and pretty
quickly they make it up to thetop of the.
island.
And at the top of the island isa volcanic basin and it's
basically just like a lushparadise.
AJ (23:30):
Oh
Pearl (23:31):
So there's coconuts up there and there's also there's
trees up there.
And one of the, some of theboys, you know, having growing
up in Tonga with Tonkingrandparents knew some life
saving techniques for gettingwater out of trees and also ways
to catch rainwater and whererainwater would go.
So they, they found a way tohydrate themselves.
(23:53):
They're eating the coconuts andthen they also noticed that all
over the island are chickens,just like regular, regular
chickens, just all over theplace.
And so at first they wereexcited because they were like,
oh, well there must be peoplehere.
if there's chickens on thisisland.
AJ (24:11):
so?
Pearl (24:11):
But as it turns out in 1863, so just over, well,
probably exactly a hundred yearsbefore there had been an
Australian whaling that had comepast the island and the ship put
a banker and went on the islandand they captured all of the
(24:32):
people living on the island, allthe Tongans, living on the
island, they would have beenconsidered Tongans because it
was a Tongan they captured themall and sent them off and sold
them off into slavery.
So, the only ones who would havebeen left would have been the
very old, you know, people thatwould have survived, a sea
crossing.
AJ (24:51):
Right.
Pearl (24:52):
So the boys, you know, put these pieces together bit by
bit.
They find Pottery leftover bits.
I think they find a knife blade.
Obviously the chickens, and thenthey find the bones of an old
man.
And they, they realized whatmust've happened, yet being one
of the last inhabitants of theisland or the last inhabitant of
(25:13):
the island.
And so they, also have found theisland graveyard at this point.
And so they take him to thegraveyard and buried his bones.
So they there's, they're supersad.
They miss their families.
Some of them have girlfriendsback home.
They just they're reallydespondent about their
situation, but they're preparingfor a long-term stay.
(25:37):
So, they do make at least oneattempt to leave the island and
they craft a boat.
But without.
Having the right tools.
And the right knowledge,
AJ (25:51):
Did they just abandon their boat that
Pearl (25:52):
No, I think they used it, parts of it for other things,
AJ (25:54):
Oh yeah probably
Pearl (25:55):
Without having the right tool And it, was pretty broken
up by the time, you know,without having the right tools
and knowledge, the boat thatthey did make was like a fruit
floating raft ended up justkinda like they couldn't get it
to leave the island.
Yeah.
you know, the waves are justkeep pushing it back.
So I think after a month or soof that, they just,
AJ (26:11):
oh, I I've seen Tom Hanks struggle
Pearl (26:13):
Yeah.
Yeah.
We, we know, we know all aboutCastaway.
They, They unfortunately didn'twell, fortunately they didn't
did not need a volleyballbecause they had each other,
AJ (26:23):
well, that's
Pearl (26:24):
you know, there was, There was no Wilson in this
story.
There was a Steve, one of theboys named So, yeah, they're
just, they're just reallyindustrious they're all
Christians Going to a Catholicschool, you know?
And so they quickly set up aroutine and a schedule and a way
to mark the days on a calendarthey end with the evening
(26:45):
prayers or start with morningprayers and end with evenings
singing around the fire.
It takes them about three monthsto figure out how to get a
Firestone.
AJ (26:54):
Ooh,
Pearl (26:54):
it's a really long time.
AJ (26:56):
a long
Pearl (26:56):
a long time to only eat a long time.
to only run off food.
AJ (27:00):
Luckily it's probably pretty warm there.
They're not
Pearl (27:03):
right, right, right, right, right.
They finally get the firestarted and they do not let that
fire go out until they leave theisland.
So there was someone onFirewatch 24 7 so they can,
AJ (27:12):
lumber
Pearl (27:14):
yeah.
Yeah.
So they get the fire, you know,they get a fire started there up
there.
They've got chickens, so theystart catching the wild
chickens.
At night, they figured out that,you know, the best way to catch
the wild chickens was to waituntil nightfall and then just
chase them around.
If you've ever chased chickensat night, it's hilarious.
It's truly a once in a lifetimeexperience because
AJ (27:34):
We actually have
Pearl (27:35):
oh, so many times they they don't see really well in
the dark, but they can see justbarely, but definitely worse
than we can.
So you're just chasing themaround.
They're just bobbing theirheads, like a dinosaur it's,
hilarious.
So the boys catch the chickens,they make pens for the chickens
so that they can have access tothem for food and for aches they
(27:56):
start, they find a bunch ofpreviously cultivated crops, on
the island and start torecultivate them, They grow wild
or they grow beans.
I think they've got cava or Yucafor, you know, for the tubers.
Yeah.
And yeah, I mean, they're,they're not there.
(28:18):
There's thriving.
They're not doing poorly.
on the island.
One boy actually breaks a leg.
But because they were still soplugged into Tongan culture, one
of the boys had heard, you know,about this old method for
healing legs involving a bananaleaf splint.
So they splinted his leg upreally well and it healed
(28:38):
perfectly, Which is kind ofimpressive.
AJ (28:42):
Yeah.
Pearl (28:43):
To have you know, leg break and heal really well.
But yeah, they just kind ofcredited their faith in God and
their their faith in God andtheir dedication to community.
And of course their Tonganupbringing to their survival.
You know, they, they had a rulethat there was no fighting was
(29:04):
allowed on the island.
AJ (29:05):
I was wondering about that just
Pearl (29:07):
if, if, if it got to, yeah, I forgot to tents.
There was just an mandatorytimeout and they would both just
walk off in opposite directionsand take a breather.
And then
AJ (29:18):
and I'm sure 99% of the time they realized it wasn't worth
fighting over.
So
Pearl (29:22):
Probably, I mean, yeah.
AJ (29:24):
probably that's
Pearl (29:25):
Yeah.
They, you know, they did reallywell.
And so this has been going onfor we're now at 15 months,
they've been doing this for 15months.
AJ (29:36):
15 months
Pearl (29:37):
months.
They've been, they've beenraising chickens.
They built a house, obviously.
They each have a bed and they'vegot a fire in the middle of the
house and they are eating plentyof food.
Getting plenty of water.
They actually made themselves alittle homemade gym so that they
could stay fit homemade gym andalso kind of like a, a game of
(29:58):
shuttlecock.
So they could just like aBatman.
Badminton
AJ (30:03):
That's fun.
Pearl (30:04):
Yeah.
AJ (30:05):
I mean, yeah.
You'd have to do
Pearl (30:07):
two things to keep yourselves sane.
One of the boys Went down to theship and got back.
I think there was some wire onthe ship for part of the ship, I
dunno, whatever, whatever shipsuse wire for.
And he built a little, he made alittle ukulele out of it.
AJ (30:22):
Oh, that's fun.
Pearl (30:23):
They would play it at night to sing their songs that
they would go to bed with.
So somewhere about this 15 monthmark, they have, you know, they,
one person is always on shipwatch.
One person is always at thehighest point of the island
watching for ships And they seeseveral cruise ships come into
(30:45):
view and they're just freakingout because these massive ships,
this is so exciting.
They go up to the top.
He starts screaming.
Everyone comes running and theylight a big fire and they're
just yelling and waving.
And there's a fire.
And,
AJ (31:05):
but how in the world are you
Pearl (31:06):
the boat, The boat stops and starts to come closer to the
island, the cruise ship, Andthey're just ecstatic.
But then after a short while theboat continues, to the ship
continues on its way anddisappears off into the sunset.
And They don't say anything.
No one says anything.
They just walk away go back tothe, go back to their camp.
(31:31):
And when they left, they leftthe fire.
burning.
And so the fire actually burntout, a decent portion and
patches of the shrubbery on thehillside.
And so it's leaving these big,black
AJ (31:46):
oh, the big, the fire, they lit as a signal
Pearl (31:50):
the signal fire.
Leaves a big burnt-out sectionon the hillside.
And the very next day, a lobsterfishermen is passing by the
island, looking for new placesto find lobsters.
And he sees all this burnt outall these burnt out patches on
this island, which is really oddbecause fires don't typically
(32:14):
start in uninhabited islands inthe south Pacific, too wet.
And You you know what I mean?
So he thinks it's reallypeculiar and he comes closer to
get a look, Get a good look.
And when he comes closer, thecrew starts telling him that
they're hearing the voices ofhumans and of course the island
(32:37):
is covered in seabirds.
So now it's just birds, So nothumans.
And then he looks, they look upto the top and they see they see
some naked, long-haired boysjumping up and down and
screaming and
AJ (32:54):
boys had spotted them.
Pearl (32:55):
The boys have spotted them.
The boys quickly get down.
And they're not sure as arethese guys cannibals, you know,
they're naked long haired menscreaming our boys screaming on
an island and they they make itto the boat.
So the first boy finally reachesthe boat.
He swim swims out to the boatand they're not sure what's
(33:17):
going on here.
I think There's like, four guyson this boat waiting for him and
he swims up and he says inperfect English.
My name is, Steven.
Hey, my name is Steven.
AJ (33:30):
Steve.
Pearl (33:31):
There's six of us.
We reckon we've been here for 15months.
And so you'll let some on theboat
AJ (33:37):
they're like, okay,
Pearl (33:40):
He wants some on the boat.
AJ (33:41):
better not be a trick.
You're trying to eat our
Pearl (33:44):
But cannibals don't speak perfect English.
I'm So confused.
So he lets them on the boat.
and They radio back to Tonga orthey, guess, okay.
I guess they would be redoing.
I don't know.
I don't know what technologythey had.
So
AJ (33:57):
well, it wasn't signal fires,
Pearl (33:59):
wasn't signal fires and the radio back and they asked
someone to, you know, check thestory and So they use a two-way
radio to you know, alertauthorities in the T the tongue
island that the boys had comefrom.
And about 20 minutes later, theyget someone killed.
Someone comes on the radio andthey're like, or they say you
(34:20):
found them?
These boys have been given upfor dead funerals have been
held.
If it's them, this is a miracle.
And so of course, you know, theboys are elated.
This long, this long wait isover.
AJ (34:33):
I mean, no matter how well they were doing on the island,
you'd
Pearl (34:36):
right.
They were S they were so, sohappy.
AJ (34:39):
Eat something other than eggs,
Pearl (34:41):
But as soon as they sort of, you know, the guy, and they
have no idea where they are.
They think we were, we were outthere for eight days, who knows
how far away from home we are,It turns out they were just
going in circles for eight days.
So they were pretty close toTonga.
So, the lobster boat takes themback to Tonga.
And unfortunately, as soon asthey get to Tonga, the police
(35:03):
come on the boat and arrest themfor stealing They initial boat
because the man who had the boatstolen was very angry and wanted
to press charges for the stolenboat.
AJ (35:13):
Welcome home.
Pearl (35:14):
But I think the, the man who saved them paid the bail,
they just had to admit it.
I don't know.
they, they admitted to and thebail was paid.
And then there was three days ofmassive celebration.
First they had like familycelebrations and then they had a
church celebration and then theyhad a country celebration.
(35:36):
The king of Tonga actuallyawarded the lobster fishermen,
the rights to get lobster out ofthe Tonkin waters.
And
AJ (35:44):
Oh, that's cool.
Pearl (35:45):
it was just it was kind of a fun story So, so what
happened if I'm piecing these,these, this together correctly,
the lobster men sold the rightsto the story.
And the, you know, there's alittle bit of debate there.
Like it wasn't his story tosell.
But I don't think there was anyhard feelings between him and
the boys.
But he.
(36:06):
He sold the rights to the story.
And so shortly afterwards in1960 silly erectus rescued in
1965 and in 1966 a documentarycrew, oh, this is what it was in
order for the boys to not haveto, to be able to get out of
jail.
They had to agree to do thisdocumentary and then he would
pay for it.
AJ (36:27):
Oh
Pearl (36:29):
yeah.
So uh, the boys did thisdocumentary and it's like a 20
minute documentary on YouTube.
It's called the castaways andthey it shows them on the
island.
It shows the the houses, thehouse that they made and just
the different things that theydid, what they had to do to
(36:49):
survive.
out on the island.
And
AJ (36:52):
interesting to see.
Pearl (36:53):
Yeah.
I mean, full disclosure, thereis a teensy bit of nakedness.
in this Unexpected nudity.
Let's put it that way.
So, definitely I woulddefinitely recommend watching
this with children, but there isa point when they're and it's
pretty obvious they're going outto the boat just fast forward
through that part.
Once, once they give
AJ (37:12):
watch it before you watch it
Pearl (37:14):
me free, watch it, it's, it's a great, it's a great show.
Because it's just so it's themreenacting their experience.
and how they survive for 15months.
And, And I think that itactually has real footage of
them returning home.
So you see relatives and familymembers meeting the boys again
and you know, these boys weredead for 15 months.
(37:36):
And just how incredible thoseyeah, just how incredible all of
those moments were.
AJ (37:41):
Do you think that it was exploitative of the boys'
experience having to do thisforced into doing this
documentary?
Almost?
Pearl (37:51):
I don't know.
I think, I think it's possible.
I think definitely Tongan.
I feel like the story was toldthrough a colonial lens
AJ (38:01):
Yeah,
Pearl (38:02):
and not through a native lens and the story is about
Tongans.
So it would be really cool to,you know, the only book that's
been written about has beenwritten by a white man.
And then the only film has beendone by, you know, I think
Australian filmmakers it wouldbe neat to see this redone by
Tongans for Tongans and forPacific Islanders.
(38:24):
But I think fortunately for allof us, we have this, you know,
hidden gem of history, that weget to reference this
incredible, true story ofsurvival and friendship against
all the odds.
And just
AJ (38:40):
ranks up there with some of the incredible stories of
survival.
I
Pearl (38:44):
Yeah.
yeah, just the boys leaningheavily into just.
Little tidbits.
They'd picked up from theirculture here and they're like,
oh, my grandpa said, these treeswill hold water for us.
Or I learned how to weave Palmleaves so I can make us a hut
or, you know, someone knowinghow to start a fire.
(39:07):
and,
AJ (39:08):
Or at least eventually figuring it out.
Pearl (39:10):
figuring it out.
Yeah.
I mean, they were also reallyweak when they first got on the
island.
So
AJ (39:16):
eight days
Pearl (39:17):
it took a while for them to bounce back to the point
where they could actually startto thrive on the island, but
yeah.
It's an incredible story.
And yeah, the boys weremesmerized.
They thought it was fantastic.
are
AJ (39:32):
were.
Yeah,
Pearl (39:33):
yeah.
So, yeah, that's, that's thestory for the week.
Six boys from Tonga and How theywere shipwrecked survived the
shipwreck.
AJ (39:45):
Well, thanks.
That was a fun story.
Pearl (39:47):
Thanks.
Well, we are off to the rest ofher day the rest of our week.
We're going to go pay a visit tosome relatives in the good
country of Maryland thisweekend.
I'm just going to call it Maryland.
AJ (40:01):
land Welcome to Mary land.
Pearl (40:04):
Yeah.
don't forget to send us yourstories.
We've got some Pretty greatstories, submissions last time,
last season.
So I'm looking forward tohearing some more of those
stories.
AJ (40:14):
We definitely need more stories.
Where should they submit astory?
Pearl (40:18):
You can submit a story commenting on, you can send it
straight through our Facebookpage.
The stories we forgot onFacebook or our website, the
stories you forgot.com.
I mean, basically any platformyou can find us comment, send a
message, whatever you want todo, and you don't even need to
tell us the story, even if youjust want to send us a link to
(40:38):
it.
And we'll look it up ourselves.
AJ (40:40):
We can Google.
Pearl (40:41):
Have a great week, feel free to if you like the podcast,
go ahead and follow or subscribeon whatever platform you
normally listen.
And we'll see you back here nextweek,
AJ (40:56):
and don't forget to share it with your mom.
Pearl (40:58):
Bye.
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