Clipperton Island, France
| 11,-110 | 11,-109 | 11,-108 |
| 10,-110 | Clipperton Island | 10,-108 |
| 9,-110 | 9,-109 | 9,-108 |
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Today's location: not yet announced | ||
This graticule is located at 10,-109. The only landmass is an uninhabited 9 km² coral atoll. Its name comes from John Clipperton, a pirate who fought the Spanish during the early 18th century. There is no fresh water on the island, and millions of poisonous land crabs destroyed all vegetation but a few hundred coconut palms. Additional charm: The atoll's ring completely encloses a stagnant lagoon with extremely high concentrations of sulphuric acid.
A guano mining settlement was built in the early 20th century and 100 men, women, and children moved to Clipperton Island. When the Mexican Revolution started, the island's inhabitants were cut off provisions.
From Wikipedia:
By 1917, all but one of the males on the island 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 Clipperton 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, the widow of garrison commander Captain Ramón Arnaud. On July 18, 1917, almost immediately following Álvarez's death, four women and seven children, the last survivors, were picked up by the US Navy gunship USS Yorktown.
