Clipperton Island

Clipperton Island (French: Île de Clipperton and sometimes Île de la Passion) is a seven-square-kilometer coral atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, south of Mexico and west of Costa Rica, at . It has no permanent inhabitants, only temporary residents in a weather station.

It is an overseas possession of France administered from French Polynesia by its gubernatorial high commissioner of the Republic. Its FIPS 10-4 data code is IP, but ISO 3166 has reserved the code CP for Clipperton Island on request of the ITU.

Natural conditions

Although 115 species of fish have been identified in the territorial waters of Clipperton, the only economic activity is tuna fishing. It has no other natural resources.

It lies about 965 km (600 mi) from Tejupan Point on Mancanilla Bay, Mexico, the nearest mainland. The ring-shaped island has completely enclosed its lagoon for approximately a century and is about 8 km (5 mi) in circumference. The lagoon has acidic water at the bottom and is stagnant. Clipperton Rock, at 21 m (69 ft), is the highest point.

The island has a tropical oceanic climate, with average temperatures of 20–32°C (68–90°F). The rainy season occurs in May–October, and the island is subject to tropical storms. Surrounding ocean waters are warm with a westerly current, which flows directly from the mainland.

Vegetation

Clipperton is now largely covered with scrub vegetation, with a few stands of coconut palms.

The scrub vegetation seems to have disappeared for some time between 1858 and 1917. When Snodgrass and Heller visited the island in 1898, they reported that "no land plant is native to the island." (Snodgrass and Heller 1902). Sachet (1962), however, points out that according to historical accounts from the island in 1711, 1825, and likely in 1839, the island had a low grassy and/or suffrutescent (partially woody) vegetation. It is hypothesized that the vegetation may have been destroyed by a tropical storm, and was then unable to regenerate due to the large population of land crabs. There also is a August 24, 1909 article from the San Francisco Chronicle speculating on the possibility that a group on Clipperton Island was washed over by a tsunami caused by an earthquake.

After the introduction of pigs by guano miners, the flora was able to re-establish itself as the pigs helped to keep the land crabs in check (Sachet 1962). During the period of settlement, the island's flora was multiplied by the introduction of alien species; coconut palms (Cocos nucifera) were introduced in the 1890s.

According to Sachet's visit in 1958, the vegetation is a sparse cover of spiny grass and low thickets, a creeping plant (Ipomoea), and stands of coconut palm. This low-lying herbaceous vegetation appears to be pioneer in nature, and the majority is believed to be composed of recently introduced species. Sachet suspected that the sedges, Heliotropium curassavicum, and possibly Portulaca oleracea are native in origin (Sachet 1962). At the northwest side of the island, at least, the most abundant species are Cenchrus echinatus, Sida rhombifolia, and Corchorus aestuans. These plants compose a shrub cover up to 30 cm in height, and are intermixed with Eclipta, Phyllanthus, and Solanum, as well as a taller plant, Brassica juncea. An interesting feature was observed in that the vegetation is arranged in parallel rows of species; dense rows of taller species alternate with lower, more open vegetation. This was assumed to be a result of the phosphate mining method of digging trenches.

History

Clipperton was originally discovered by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521, but was later named after John Clipperton, an English pirate and privateer who in 1705 fought the Spanish during the early eighteenth century and used the island as a hidden base for his raids on shipping.

In 1708 the French ships 'La Princesse' and 'La Découverte' reached the island, renamed it (Île de la Passion 'Passion island', and annexed it for the crown to France. The first scientific expedition took place in 1725 by the Frenchman M. Bocage, who lived on the island for several months. In 1855 it was formally claimed by France.

The American Guano Mining Company, under the Guano Islands Act of 1856, claimed the island for the United States of America, with earlier claim disputes to island guano by the Oceanic Phosphate Company with Mexico in 1848-49. On 17 November 1858, under Emperor Napoleon III Bonaparte, the French annexed Clipperton as part of their South Sea colony Tahiti. Mexico reasserted its claim over the island, on 13 December 1897 occupying and annexing it, and established a military outpost on the island; it appointed Military governors from 13 December 1897, including Ramón Arnaud (1906 - 191.) and Victoriano Álvarez (acting; d. 1917) (1917 - July 1917). The US again held it briefly during the Spanish American War of 1898.

In 1906, the British Pacific Island Company acquired the rights to Clipperton's guano deposits and, in conjunction with the Mexican government, built a mining settlement. That same year, a lighthouse was erected under the orders of President Porfirio Díaz, and a military garrison under Captain Ramón Arnaud of the Mexican army was sent to the island. By 1914, about 100 people – men, women, and children – were living on the island. Every two months, a ship from Acapulco sailed to the island with provisions. However, with the escalation of fighting in the Mexican Revolution, the atoll was no longer reachable by ship, and the island's inhabitants were left to their own devices.

By 1915, most of the inhabitants had died, and the last settlers wanted to leave on the US Navy warship 'Lexington' which had reached the atoll in late 1915. However, the Mexican military governor declared that evacuation was not necessary.

By 1917, most of the men had died, some in a failed attempt to sail to the mainland and fetch help. The lighthouse keeper, Victoriano Álvarez, found himself the last man on the island, along with 15 women and children. Álvarez promptly proclaimed himself King and began a rampage of rape and murder, before being killed by one of the recipients of his attentions. On 18 July 1917, almost immediately following Álvarez's death, four women and six children, the last survivors, were picked up by the US Navy gunship USS Yorktown.

Ownership of Clipperton was then disputed between France and Mexico. France approached the Vatican for a decision on ownership and, in 1930, the Vatican assigned the arbitration to the King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel, who on 28 January 1931 declared Clipperton a French possession. The French rebuilt the lighthouse and settled a military outpost on the island, which remained for seven years before being abandoned. In 1935 France took possession; it has since been administered by the French colonial High Commissioner for French Polynesia.

In the late 1930s, Clipperton was visited twice by President Franklin D. Roosevelt who wanted it to become a US possession for use as an airbase for Pacific Ocean operations. In 1944, he ordered the USNavy to occupy the island (till 1945) in one of the most secret US operations of World War II. Rear Admiral Byrd undertook several expeditions to the island to assess its potential as an airbase.

In 1962, the independence of Algeria threatened further French nuclear testing at Algerian sites. The French Ministry of Defence considered Clipperton as a possible replacement test site; however, due to the island's hostile climate and remote location, this was eventually ruled out.

During the 1970s the French explored reopening the lagoon and developing a harbour for trade and tourism. An automatic weather installation was completed on April 7 1980. The data collected by this station are transmitted directly by satellite to Brittany.

In 1981, the Academy of Sciences for Overseas Territories recommended that the island should have its own economic infrastructure, with an airstrip and a fishing port in the lagoon. This meant opening up the lagoon by creating a passage in the atoll rim. For this purpose, an agreement whereby the island became State property was signed with the French State, represented by the High Commissioner for French Polynesia. On October 13 1986, a meeting took place regarding the establishment of a permanent base for fishing on or near Clipperton, between the High-Commissioner for the Republic in French Polynesia, representing the State, and the Survey firm for the development and exploitation of the small island Clipperton (SEDEIC). Taking into account the economic constraints, the distance and the small size of the atoll, no plan, apart from studies, was undertaken to carry out this project. In conclusion, plans for development of Clipperton were abandoned.

The island has been abandoned since WW II; since then it has only been visited by sport fishermen, regularly scheduled patrols by the French Navy and Mexican tuna and shark fishermen. There have been infrequent scientific and amateur radio expeditions, and, on one occasion, Jacques-Yves Cousteau visited with his team of divers and a survivor from the 1917 evacuation. In 2003 Lance Milbrand stayed on the island for 41 days on a National Geographic Society expedition, recording his adventure in video, photos and a written diary.

In 2005, Clipperton's ecosystem was extensively studied for four months by a scientific mission organised by Jean-Louis Étienne, which was to make a complete inventory of mineral, plant and animal species found on the atoll, study algae as deep as 100 m beneath sea level, study pollution etc.

Clipperton is often used by the French as a self-deprecating ironic reference to the importance of the French oversea possessions.

Sources and External links

References

Edwin D. Dickinson, The Clipperton Island Case. American Journal of International Law, Vol. 27, No. 1., pp. 130-133.
Allen, G. R. and D. R. Robertson. 1996. An annotated checklist of the fishes of Clipperton Atoll, tropical eastern Pacific. Retrieved (2001) from: .
IFRECOR. 1998. Clipperton. Retrieved (2001) from: .
Pitman, R. L. and Jehl, J. R. 1998. Geographic variation and reassessment of species limits in the "masked" boobies of the eastern Pacific Ocean. Wilson Bulletin 110:155-170.
Sachet, M. H. 1962. Flora and vegetation of Clipperton Island. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences. 4th ser., v.31, no.10. The Academy, San Francisco.
Skaggs, Jimmy. 1989. Clipperton. A History of the Island the World Forgot. Walker and Company. New York.
Snodgrass, R. E. and E. Heller. 1902. The birds of Clipperton and Cocos Islands; Papers from the Hopkins Stanford Galapagos expedition 1898-1899. The Academy, Washington, DC.
UNEP/IUCN. 1988. Coral Reefs of the World. Volume 3: Central and Western Pacific. UNEP Regional Seas Directories and Bibliographies. IUCN/UNEP, Gland, Switzerland, Cambridge, UK, and Nairobi, Kenya.

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Natural conditions

Vegetation

History

See also

Sources and External links

References