on Clipperton
pp. 33-34 · Read in the full issue
Yacht haven planned on Clipperton
Clipperton Island, a tiny atoll 600 nautical miles east of Aca pulco, will be fitted out as a stopover and shelter for the tunaboats and sailboats navigating through that part of the ocean, according to an announcement from the French Government. The idea was first mooted by Dr Andre Rossfel der, president of Geomarex,
the exploration company based in La Jolla, California.
The work to be done, say the French, will consist of reopen ing an old pass on the north east side of the atoll, dredging a berthing area in the lagoon, building a pier, and cleaning up an old World War II American airstrip.
Before this development be
gins an exploration program will be conducted by the Mining Syndicate of Clipperton, in which Geomarex has a 25 per cent interest because of its discovery in 1975 of prospec tive phosphate resources and precious metals in Clipperton’s sulfurous lagoon.
Clipperton is small, uninha bited, inhospitable, and the only atoll in that part of the ocean. But, to Californian fishermen and yachtsmen heading for the south-eastern Pacific it is a welcome landfall, a rocky outcropping in the shape of a ruined castle which allows them to check their navigation but, at present, anyway, does not invite them to call.
The island was formally claimed by France in 1858, but was assumed at the time by many to have been already a US possession under the 1856 Guano Act.
Mexico counter-claimed it in 1897, but an arbitration by the King of Italy finally validated the French claim in 1931.
Despite its remoteness and barren aspect, Clipperton has a rich history intertwined with the history of California, from the
voyages of Drake and Dampier, to the adventures of the 19th century guano-seekers of San Francisco, on to the presence of the US military during World War 11.
One of the most intriguing tales of all concerns a visit by the American battleship USS Yorktown in 1917. The shore party found a group of Mexican women and children, survivors of a long-forgotten Mexican army garrison. And in one of the pitiful huts they had for shelter they found the still warm, murdered body of the last soldier. How it happened, and why, remains a mystery which Andre Rossfelder exam ined some years ago in his book Clipperton. He Tragique which won the French Goncourt Award for an historical novel.
The establishment of a boat shelter and an airstrip on Clip perton will also, of course, allow France to show its physical presence in the region and strengthen its claim on the surrounding 200-mile zone which is reported to be rich in manganese nodules and polymetallic sulfides.
Clipperton Island ... this exposed volcanic rock, 20m high, is in marked contrast to the flat coral surface of the rest of the island - British Naval Intelligence Photo.