Talk:ʻAta

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Names of the Tongan castaways

Bregman gives two names (Stephen and David) without surnames that are not present in the contemporary (Lavin, 1966) account of the rescue. I am trying to tie the names to the 1966 names based on clues present in the two sources. Mliu92 (talk) 15:46, 11 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]


Source	Sione	Stephen	Kolo	David	Luke	Mano
Bregman (2020)	(joked about leg)	(broken leg)	(guitar)			Mano Totau
Bregman (2019)	(Sione Fataua, the oldest; burned leg on gas stove aboard stolen whaler)	(swam to Warner's ship, perfect English)		(the youngest, knew how to drive a boat)
Lavin (1966)	Sione Fataua, 17	Tevita Fatai, 18?	Kolo Fekitoa, 18	Tevita Fefita Siolaʻa, 16?	Luke Veikoso, 18	Sione Filipe Totau, 17

Could it be worth reaching out to Bregman about this to see if we can get a clarification? Sam Walton (talk) 15:54, 11 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Samwalton9: Thanks! I found a 2019 article (linked above) in Dutch which gives more details about the boys than the English-language article Bregman wrote/excerpted for The Guardian. It makes it clear that David was "the youngest" - based on the ages provided in Lavin (1966), that makes him Tevita Fefita Siolaʻa, and so the only unknown is Tevita Fatai, who must be Stephen. However, the 2019 Bregman article also states that Sione Fataua was "the oldest" so the ages in Lavin may be suspect. Cheers, Mliu92 (talk) 16:52, 12 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV or King George Tupou V?

@Mliu92:, you reverted my edit saying the source does not support that it was Tupou IV who struck up a friendship with Peter Warner. With all due respect, I think the source was pretty clear that it was Tupou IV and not Tupou V.

The subsequent rescue of the castaways began a friendship with the King of Tonga who in gratitude granted Peter the rights to fish Tonga's territorial waters...A lifelong friendship began between the King of Tonga, Peter and the Warner family...Peter said his advice to his friend the King, if he were alive today...

Quotes above make it apparent that Warner's friendship is with Tupou IV, not Tupou V. So I'm restoring my edit. Quidquidlatetadparebit (talk) 16:23, 12 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Quidquidlatetadparebit: Interesting, because the first paragraph explicitly states Tupou V; nowhere in the source does it talk about Tupou IV. It is true that Tupou IV would have been reigning at the time of the royal grant and would have been the one to actually execute it, but Tupou V was the Crown Prince (starting in May 1966). It is probable that Warner was also friends with Tupou IV, but it is an inference (WP:OR) not supported by the source. I'm not going to edit war over it, though. Cheers, Mliu92 (talk) 16:33, 12 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

"Pottsville resident Peter Warner recently published a book with the title Oceans of Light, that chronicles 30-years of his life in Tonga and the close friendship he developed with the King of Tonga, George Tupou V (1948-2012)."

@Mliu92:, my bad, I totally missed that paragraph. Could it be that the local news writer mixed up the monarchs? Because in Bregman's account, it was Tupou IV who granted the fishing rights. Also, I thought the source was written in 2006. Apparently it was written in 2016, so both Tupou IV and Tupou V were already dead by that time. I can't get hold of Warner's book but I think it would be resolved from that source, or another source that could confirm. For now, will be using common sense and attribute the friendship with Tupou IV. Cheers to you too. Quidquidlatetadparebit (talk) 16:56, 12 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I believe Warner's book is available on Kindle, so it might become a belated birthday present to myself. The other source that might have something on it is the Willey book (1970), but it is long out of print and somewhat scarce. Cheers, Mliu92 (talk) 17:01, 12 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Current location of Sione Fataua

The article mentions that Sione Fataua lives in Salt Lake City, but I ran across another source saying he had since moved to Oakland CA. I haven't looked into this in detail. Stay (talk) 23:12, 15 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Stay: Indeed, it could be possible. There is an apocryphal bill of lading that shows a Rev. Sione Fataua in Oakland received a package from Nukuʻalofa. The Church of Tonga in Oakland is near 17th & 23rd (the stated address of receipt), and the Matangi article (now paywalled but used as the citation in the article) stated that Mr Fataua was active in the church, but did not state which church or when. Cheers, Mliu92 (talk) 18:43, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Some news stories about the Church of Tonga - housed in a historical church building, both from East Bay Times/Oakland Tribune:

Cheers, Mliu92 (talk) 18:46, 18 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]