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Last modified: 2013-08-17 by ivan sache
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Flag of France - Image by Željko Heimer, 22 September 2001
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Clipperton, aka Île de la Passion, is located 1,280 km from the
nearest continental coast (Acapulco, Mexico), 4,018 km from the nearest French territory (Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia) and 4,930 km from Hawaii.
Clipperton is a coral ring placed on the top of volcanic rocks, which emerge in the south- eastern part of the crown to form a 29-m high spur. The size of the atoll is 3 x 4 km, with 1.7 sq. km of emerged land. There were originally two small passes cutting the ring but they were filled in
in the 19th century, most probably during storms. It is highly
probable, however, that the former south-eastern pass will naturally
open again in the future. Clipperton is therefore one of the 11 fully
closed atolls in Pacific, along with Hull, Malden and Washington
(Kiribati), Lindsay (Midway), Odtia (Marshall Islands), Kita Daito
Jima (Japan), Tukeia, Taiaoro, Puka-Puka, Niau and Vana-Vana (Tuamotu, French Polynesia). Because of the presence of the rocky spur, Clipperton is sometimes called a quasi-atoll.
Ivan Sache, 1 November 2009
Clipperton is a State-owned public domain (domaine public de
l'État), as prescribed by an Interministerial Decree signed on 18
March 1986 and published in the French official gazette on 20 March
1986. Beforehand, Clipperton belonged to the State-owned private
domain; the change in the status was required for a better protection
of the atoll and to avoid its industrial exploitation. Accordingly,
Clipperton is neither an Overseas Territory nor a part of French
Polynesia; bills tabled to incorporate the atoll to French Polynesia
have all been rejected, for the last time on 21 February 1986.
Law No. 2007-224 of 21 February 2007, published in the French official
gazette on 22 February 2007, prescribes that Clipperton should be
managed by the Minister in charge of the Overseas Departments and Territories, who delegates his powers to the Higher Commissioner of French Polynesia; the French continental Law (droit métropolitain) is fully applied in Clipperton, which, however, does not belong to the European Union.
Access to Clipperton is controlled by the rules of "public use",
meaning that there are neither explicit regulations or
prohibitions, and therefore free to French nationals. However, Article
L.28 of the Code of State-owned Domain prescribes that "nobody is
allowed to settle a dependency of the State-owned public domain
without an authorization granted by the competent authority."
Foreigners need an access authorization. Anyway, visiting Clipperton
is discouraged because of the isolation of the atoll and the very
dangerous weather and navigation conditions.
Clipperton is the center of a huge Exclusive Economic Zone, spreading
over 435,612 sq. km. The Zone was created by Decree on 3 February 1978
and extended after the ratification by France (Law No 95-1311, 21
December 1995) of the UN Convention on Maritime Law adopted in Montego
Bay (Jamaica) on 10 December 1982. The Convention allows the states to
increase their Exclusive Zone up to 200 nautic miles (370 km) from
their coasts.
On 25 August 2005, the opening of the Exclusive Economic Zone of
Clipperton to "exploitation" was officially announced by the French
authorities. This was motivated by the crisis of fishing in French
Polynesia and a dramatic increase in illegal fishing by foreign boats
in the zone. Fishing inspection is mostly ran here by the frigate
Prairlal of the French Navy.
Ivan Sache, 1 November 2009
The atoll was discovered on Good Friday 3 April 1711 by the frigates
of the French Navy La Découverte and La Princesse, commanded by Martin de Chassairon and Michel du Bocage, respectively. They
captioned their map of the atoll Isle de la Passion, that is
"Passion Island". The usual name of the atoll refers to the English
freebooter John Clipperton, who is said to have moored at the atoll in
1704 after having seceded from William Dampier's expedition; there is,
however, no written proof of this event.
Nothing significant happened until 1858, when France, interested in
the phosphate resource (guano) of the atolls, officially took
possession of Clipperton; Lieutnant Le Coët de Kerveguen presented a
copy of the document, dated 17 November 1858, to the government of
Hawai. France, however, did not allocate funds to phosphate
exploitation, which was managed, for short periods, by English and
Mexican settlers (1893-1897) commissioned by the Oceanic Phosphate
Company.
In September 1897, the French flagship Duguay-Trouin moored at
Clipperton; the American flag left by the last miners was replaced by
the French flag but no attempt of colonization was made.
On 13 December 1897, the Mexican warship Democrata transported to
the island a military detachment to highlight the Mexican rule over
Clipperton; the sovereignty claim was backed up by traditions saying
that Isla de la Passion had been discovered by Spanish galleons long
before the 1711 French expedition. The Spaniards would have concealed
their discovery, especially on maps, to protect it from enemies and
pirates.
On 11 September 1905, the Korrigan II left on Clipperton Lieutnant
Arnaud, appointed Governor of Clipperton, a sergent, ten soldiers and
their families, and 60 Italian workers hired to extract guano. On 26
June 1914, the Cleveland was commissionned to repatriate the colony
to Mexico because of the First World War, but Arnaud refused and
stayed on the island with some 30 colonists.
The "Clipperton Forgotten" hardly survived without external support
and the colony was decimated by scorbut. Believing they had seen a
ship coming, Arnaud and the last man but the lighthouse keeper
Victoriano Alvarez embarked on a small boat, which was quickly broken
by the waves and caused their death. Remained alone with three women
and several children, Alvarez proclaimed himself King of Clipperton
and ruled by terror on the small colony. In 1917, USS Yorktown,
checking the atoll for a possible German base, found three women, one
teenager and seven children watching the body of Alvarez, killed by
the women with a hammer on the previous day. Back to Mexico, the three
women were acquitted.
In 1931, King of Italy Victor-Emmanuel III, commissioned by the
International Court of Justice in ... 1909, eventually stated that
Clipperton was a French possession. Sovereignty over Clipperton is no
longer an issue between France and Mexico, even if a few Mexican
politicians and activists have attempted to reopen the dispute.
On 26 January 1935, the Jeanne d'Arc reestablished the French
possession of the island, which was incorporated to the "Éacute;tablissements français de l'Océanie" on 12 June 1936 but was visited only a few times by the French Navy.
From 22 December 1944 to 23 October 1945, Clipperton was occupied by
the American Navy, via the "Island X" secrete operation commanded by
Rear Admiral Lowry. The Americans built a weather station, an airfield
and a few buildings (all long disappeared).
On 6 June 1966, the first Bougainville Mission, ordered by General de
Gaulle, landed on Clipperton. From 1966 to 1969, four other missions,
of four-six months each, allowed:
- to settle the atoll, to forbid access to foreign fleets and to
organize scientific missions with foreign researchers (especially
Americans);
- to set up and operate a weather station;
- to write a monography on the atoll, and to evaluate possible sites
for an airfield and hydroplanes.
Clipperton has been recently studied by two international scientific
missions placed under French leadership. In 2001, the Passion 2001
expedition, chaired by Christian Jost, provided updated data on the
geography, environment, water resources and management constraints of
the atoll.
The bigger Expédition Clipperton, chaired by Jean-Louis-Étienne, involving the permanent settlement of a big team from December 2004 to April 2005 and widely popularized in the media, yielded a
comprehensive inventory of the Clipperton ecosystem.
Ivan Sache, 1 November 2009
The French flag is hoisted over the atoll during each visit by the French Navy. See for instance photos taken in 2001 near the stele commemorating the Bougainville Missions during the Passion 2001 expedition.
Ivan Sache, 1 November 2009
![[Flag of C.DX.C]](../images/c/cp}cdxc.gif)
![[Flag of C.DX.C]](../images/c/cp}cdx1.gif)
Flag of C.DX.C - Images by Ivan Sache, 1 November 2009
Clipperton DX Club (C.DX.C) was founded in July 1978 by the French members of the French-Swiss expedition on Clipperton Island, 20-27 March 1978.
The flag of C.DX.C is white with the logo of the club in the middle; it can be seen on photos taken on Clipperton Island, 9-15 March 2008, on the Laccadives Islands, 15-25 January 2007, and in the Canadian Maritime Provinces, 1-23 September 2006.
Another flag use by the club is a French Tricolor flag with the club's logo in the middle, shown on photos taken on Salut Islands, French Guyana, 7-17 March 2005, in Togo and on
Europa Island, Indian Ocean.
This flag is not a "Clipperton flag" of any kind.
The logo of C.DX.C shows the map of the island, with the atoll in dark blue and the lagoon in light blue, charged with "CLIPPERTON / DX CLUB" in black and the coordinates of the island (109º13'W, 10º18'N), in black, too.
Ivan Sache, 1 November 2009
