Clipperton Island Scrapbook (DRAFT)

Introduction

One of the most isolated lands on Earth, without any surrounding archipelago (Wikipedia)

Looking at the Pacific ocean as a whole, Clipperton appears to be close to the Americas; not so; it lies 1,280 km from the Mexican coast, that is 3 to 4 days of navigation from Acapulco.

This web page is more a scrapbook than anything else, trying to gather what is not in official references. Any contribution is welcome.

References

The Internet provides some starting points, with a history well worth reading:
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%8Ele_de_Clipperton (French Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipperton_Island (English Wikipedia)

A couple of web sites really stand out by their thoroughness (in French only, but nice pictures):
http://clipperton.fr/ by Christian Jost
http://www.jeanlouisetienne.com/clipperton/ by Jean-Louis Étienne

And more and more pictures appear as well:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/va7dx/sets/72157604221433086/ flickr.com 2008
http://3d-photography.com/Clipperton_Island/ Clipperton in 3-D, by Chris Grossman
[your link here!]

Geography

Map from 1711 (bizarrely upside down) with its original name (Ile de la Passion)

A very unique feature of Clipperton is its "rocher" of basaltic rock, 3.7 million years old. The island is the remnant of a volcano, rising more than 3000 m (10,000 feet) from the ocean floor, from the edge of what is now called the Clipperton Fault. The Clipperton rock has been a training target for the guns of Navy ships....

Large scale seafloor map (Andris Jersovs)

radar view (Andris Jersovs)

Life forms

• Coconut trees

  On the French nautical map of 1937, there are a few legends saying "Cocotier remarquable", that is one or a cluster of coconut trees that may be used for navigation around that dangerously low atoll.

  Lots of trees around "Le Rocher", not that long ago. Soldier looks like a French Marine of the 1930s (Archives TPM)

  In 2010, as can be seen from pictures further down, the coconut trees exist only in small clusters. Vegetation is losing ground.

• Birds

  All observers from offshore are struck by the number of birds. Most birds nest directly on the ground, and can even be spotted on high-resolution satellite pictures. Just the population of Fous masqués (Masked Boobies) was estimated to be 110,000 in 2001, from 4,200 in 1968. This is a reminder that Clipperton was a source of guano in the 1890s, exploited on an industrial scale.

  Masked Booby (Pete Leary), definitely not on the Endangered List

  Because of the number of birds in flight at any time, someone standing on the island is exposed to between 1 and 2 hits per day. It is recommended to walk on the island with a broad-rimmed hat....

• Crabs

  There are 11 million red crabs (Gecarcinus planatus) on the island. These crabs are terrestrial (and actually drown after 10 minutes in the water), so they average 6.47 crabs/m2. They eat 98.7% of all new coconut tree growth. Only a handful of islets in the lagoon are beyond their reach, and those are the only ones that show any form of ground vegetation. The crabs are bold and start attacking your shoes if standing still more than two minutes. It is not difficult to imagine their nuisance on any type of human settlement.

  The red curse of Clipperton (Sahure, via odado.pl/crabs4people.com/forum)

  Envisioning the crabs as some renewable source of food is mistaken; their meat is toxic for humans.

• Underwater

  Clipperton has only 3 main species of coral, unlike other tropical islands that have dozens. With reduced biodiversity, some infection or toxic compound is more likely to have a catastrophic impact.

  There were thousands of lobsters on the periphery od the island in the 1960s; in 2010 they were practically all gone.

  The island was encircled by hundreds of hammerhead sharks even in the time of Cousteau; they have vanished.

  Because of rain, the top layer of the lagoon (closed since the 1850s) is essentially fresh water (< 4 g/l NaCl), and progressively reaches 35 g/l in the "trou sans fond", that is more than the 31 g/l of the open sea around. Fresh does not mean drinkable, though, because of the presence of H2S (more from microbiology than volcanic emanations) and other decay material.

• Hominids

  History

  King of Clipperton Clippedon [here]

  Man activity can be good Pigs introduced 1897bmuch more vegetation last wild pig killed 1960s pretty desertic since pigs eat crabs and ground-nesting birds

  illegal fishing and relay point for drug trafficking

  Stamps

  Clipperton had its own complete set of stamps, an achievement for such a tiny land.

  Sample collected by Dr. Benedict Termini

  Download a PDF Postal Gazette article from Wolfgang Baldus.

Access

• by boat

  • Successful

    Reaching Clipperton by boat has always been difficult and risky, even in good weather, because of breaking waves (that circle the island by refraction). There are several stories of boats rolled over in the waves and passengers thrown on the coral and then attacked by sharks (but there are no more sharks anymore, only nasty coral cuts)

    The neoprene suit makes sense. (Christian Jost?)

    In the guano days there was a wharf and narrow-gauge rail tracks (Christian Jost)

  • Wrecks

    • Kinkora (1897)

      http://www.mightyseas.co.uk/marhist/maryport/kinkora.htm

      Kinkora (South Australia State Library)

    • LST-563 (1944)

      LST-563 (Naval Historical Center)

    • Sichem Osprey (2010)

      The pictures of this cargo ship definitely provide a measuring scale; it is 580' (177m) long; Clipperton is smaller than you think.

      SW (Maksim Andronov)
      W (Andris Jersovs)
      NW (Marine Nationale)

• by airplane

  It appears there is a good landing area on the West side [google earth here]

  The landing strip is opposite of the "Rocher". (Christian Jost)

  The runway is occupied by birds; hope they fly away in time. (Christian Jost)

  In 1972 some entrepreneurial spirits bought a Douglas DC-7 for $65,000 with the intent of landing at Clipperton, collecting lobsters, and flying them back to Los Angeles for $3.50 / pound. The first time they tried, they did not find the island, so they installed a radio beacon on it for the following flights (Al Press via R. Leeuw).

  DC-7B, converted to freighter, N756Z (airliners.net)

  These flights must have been successful, together with all the ship-based illegal fishing, since there are no lobsters anymore.

• by seaplane

  Catalina / Australia / hurricane story here

  Catalina moored in Clipperton lagoon (Taylor)

Decrepitude and bleak future

ref
Cybergeo : Revue européenne de géographie, N° 314, 01 juillet 2005
Risques environnementaux et enjeux à Clipperton (Pacifique français)
Environment hazards on Clipperton Island (French Pacific): what is at stake?
Christian JOST

Back to Jan Cocatre-Zilgien's Homepage