Peter Warner, Sailor Who Rescued Shipwrecked Tongan Teens, Dies After He's Swept Overboard at Sea

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Peter Warner, an Australian sailor best known for rescuing six shipwrecked Tongan teens back in 1966, has reportedly died. He was 90.

Warner died on April 13 in Ballina, New South Wales, and his death was confirmed by his daughter, Janet Warner, according to The New York Times.

Janet told the outlet that her father was sailing near the mouth of the Richmond River when he was swept overboard by a wave. Another traveler on the boat, who was similarly knocked into the water, was able to bring Warner to shore, but was unable to revive him.

In addition to Janet, Warner is survived by his wife Justine, his daughter Carolyn, his son Peter and seven grandchildren.

RELATED: Inside the Lord of the Flies Survival of 6 Tongan Boys 54 Years Ago: 'The Story We Need Now'

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Warner's famous rescue of the teens, whose story is often referred to as a real-life Lord of the Flies, began back in 1966 while he was on a fishing trip in the sea off of the Polynesian country of Tonga.

Noticing smoke from a fire on the island of 'Ata, Warner and his fellow travelers decided to inspect what they had previously thought was an uninhabited spot.

"I thought, 'That's strange that a fire should start in the tropics on an uninhabited island,'" Warner said in a 2020 interview. "So we decided to investigate further."

As the crew approached the shore of the island, Warner said a young man, who he later learned was Tevita Fatai Latu, began swimming alongside them.

"[He] said in perfect English, 'I am one of six castaways. We think we have been here for one and a half years,'" Warner recalled.

It was later discovered that the young men, who ranged in age from 13 to 18, had "borrowed" a boat to leave behind their boarding school life for New Zealand, only to find themselves shipwrecked following a storm their first night at sea.

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They survived eight days at sea before washing up on the deserted island of 'Ata, where Warner eventually found them 15 months later.

Speaking with PEOPLE last year, Warner opened up about the experience faced by the then-teenagers, noting, "They created a mini-civilization. For people so young, the wisdom was amazing."

Recently, one of the men who was stranded on the island, Sione 'Ulufonua Fataua, joined a Zoom call with Warner, Dutch historian Rutger Bregman and the only two other castaways still living, Tevita Siola'a and Mano Totau, to give Hollywood studio New Regency the movie rights to their story.

Sione told PEOPLE at the time he waited 54 years for that story to become famous — and 2020 turned out to be the perfect time amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

"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," he said.

The Times reported that Warner and his family moved to Tonga after he discovered the shipwrecked boys, and lived there for 30 years before returning to Australia.

He also hired all six of the castaways as crew members — and in 1974, they reportedly helped rescue yet another group of four sailors who'd been stranded for 46 days on a small island about 300 miles east of Australia.