However, at the outbreak of World War I in 1914, which also corresponded to the
Mexican Revolution, Mexican authorities forgot all about Clipperton Island.
Three years after the last supply ship had come to the island, most of the people
had died from starvation or from scurvy. Captain Arnaud, head of the Mexican
detachment, wanted to leave the island with the healthiest men. When they put a
small boat at sea, it capsized, and the sharks did not miss out on finding them.
Among the sick people left on the island, only one man, a black person, was left
with four women. The man was a soldier and he had taken charge of the situation
by killing the other men and by trying to enslave the women. For two years he
terrorized the women until one day they managed to kill him with an axe. The next
day, the U.S. Navy vessel ‘‘Yorktown’’ made a call to the Island and rescued the
three surviving women. More details on the Island can be found in a book written
by Jean-Louis Etienne (2005).
After the Clipperton cruise, a diving expedition called Geocyatherm (short for
GEOlogy CYAna hydroTHERmalism) followed and it had two Legs. The first Leg
started at Acapulco on January 10, 1982 and ended in Manzanillo (Mexico) on
January 25, 1982. The second Leg left Manzanillo on January 28 and returned to
Acapulco on February 10, 1982.
The beginning of this cruise was difficult because of a conflict with the submersible group and their administration called GENAVIR (GEstion NAVIRe of
IFREMER), concerning the demand of an additional shore-day in port. Usually the
crew and the technical group have the right to a period of 2–3 days off at shore
depending on the length of the cruise during the port calls. The threatened strike
could have postponed our departure and jeopardized the mission, therefore I took
the initiative to shorten our time on the site by one day in order for the crew to
have an extra day at shore. In the end, this decision really paid off because the crew
and the submersible group put in extra time for maintenance and repair, which
helped to save one of our dives during the cruise.
Ship refueling incident and scientific party. Another incident that marked the
cruise took place while we were in the port of Acapulco to refuel the N.O. LE
SUROIT on January 5, 1982. The trucks that were supposed to come to the dock to
refuel the ship did not show up. Apparently there was a problem between the agent
and the port authority. I remember that I spent all day long sitting in the agent’s
office until he finally decided to take care of our business. In the meantime, I had to
call the French embassy in Washington where I knew the scientific attaché, Jean
Jarry, in order to ask them to intervene with the Mexican Oil Energy Ministry’s
office via the French embassy in Mexico City. This was efficiently handled and in a
few hours we had obtained the authorization to refuel. However, another problem
arose with the agent because he was in no hurry and he was taking his time to
react. Probably he was waiting to have an under the table tip, ‘‘bakshish’’. At this
point we had already lost one full day of our cruise time just waiting around. So I
decided to spend another sitting day in the agent’s office until he would finally give
us satisfaction and order the trucks of fuel needed for our ship. At last, the agent
got tired of seeing me complaining in his office. So, an unmarked fuel truck pulled
up along the side of the ship in the late afternoon of January 9 to deliver the fuel.
Clipperton Island
213
Mexican Revolution, Mexican authorities forgot all about Clipperton Island.
Three years after the last supply ship had come to the island, most of the people
had died from starvation or from scurvy. Captain Arnaud, head of the Mexican
detachment, wanted to leave the island with the healthiest men. When they put a
small boat at sea, it capsized, and the sharks did not miss out on finding them.
Among the sick people left on the island, only one man, a black person, was left
with four women. The man was a soldier and he had taken charge of the situation
by killing the other men and by trying to enslave the women. For two years he
terrorized the women until one day they managed to kill him with an axe. The next
day, the U.S. Navy vessel ‘‘Yorktown’’ made a call to the Island and rescued the
three surviving women. More details on the Island can be found in a book written
by Jean-Louis Etienne (2005).
After the Clipperton cruise, a diving expedition called Geocyatherm (short for
GEOlogy CYAna hydroTHERmalism) followed and it had two Legs. The first Leg
started at Acapulco on January 10, 1982 and ended in Manzanillo (Mexico) on
January 25, 1982. The second Leg left Manzanillo on January 28 and returned to
Acapulco on February 10, 1982.
The beginning of this cruise was difficult because of a conflict with the submersible group and their administration called GENAVIR (GEstion NAVIRe of
IFREMER), concerning the demand of an additional shore-day in port. Usually the
crew and the technical group have the right to a period of 2–3 days off at shore
depending on the length of the cruise during the port calls. The threatened strike
could have postponed our departure and jeopardized the mission, therefore I took
the initiative to shorten our time on the site by one day in order for the crew to
have an extra day at shore. In the end, this decision really paid off because the crew
and the submersible group put in extra time for maintenance and repair, which
helped to save one of our dives during the cruise.
Ship refueling incident and scientific party. Another incident that marked the
cruise took place while we were in the port of Acapulco to refuel the N.O. LE
SUROIT on January 5, 1982. The trucks that were supposed to come to the dock to
refuel the ship did not show up. Apparently there was a problem between the agent
and the port authority. I remember that I spent all day long sitting in the agent’s
office until he finally decided to take care of our business. In the meantime, I had to
call the French embassy in Washington where I knew the scientific attaché, Jean
Jarry, in order to ask them to intervene with the Mexican Oil Energy Ministry’s
office via the French embassy in Mexico City. This was efficiently handled and in a
few hours we had obtained the authorization to refuel. However, another problem
arose with the agent because he was in no hurry and he was taking his time to
react. Probably he was waiting to have an under the table tip, ‘‘bakshish’’. At this
point we had already lost one full day of our cruise time just waiting around. So I
decided to spend another sitting day in the agent’s office until he would finally give
us satisfaction and order the trucks of fuel needed for our ship. At last, the agent
got tired of seeing me complaining in his office. So, an unmarked fuel truck pulled
up along the side of the ship in the late afternoon of January 9 to deliver the fuel.
Clipperton Island
213