Captain Arnaud and four more men were drowned onboard a precarious raft trying to reach a ship that will rescue them. In 1917, there was only one man (the keeper), eight women and seven children on the island.

The last ship had visited the island three years ago, and their supplies had given out six months after that. Since that time they had survived on fish, fowl, and eggs. Scurvy and starvation killed much of the population; others died at sea while attempting to escape in a whaleboat.

Clipperton Island is governed by France and is technically part of the European Union, however, all non-French citizens need a permit to visit the island. It can be obtained from the French High Commission in French Polynesia. There is no airport, airstrip or otherwise on the island, and no conventional tourist trips.

It’s named for English pirate John Clipperton, who’s said to have used it as a hideout in the early 18th century. Later, the island proved to be inhospitable during attempts to establish guano mining operations and small settlements there, and it remains uninhabited today.

Overseas France
Clipperton is part of “Overseas France” (France d’outre-mer), and is held as state private property under the direct authority of the French government. This isolated island was named after John Clipperton, a British pirate. It is claimed that he made it his hideout early in the 18th century to attack passing shipping.

Oceania
Relations

Bring your own food or be prepared for a diet of fish and the occasional coconut. Avoid the crabs, since they are poisonous to eat.

Clipperton Island (Île de Clipperton) is an uninhabited 6 km2 coral atoll in the eastern Pacific Ocean off the coast of Central America….Clipperton Island (Phokland)

Greenland (840,000 square miles [2,175,000 square km]), the largest island, is composed of the same materials as the adjacent North American continent, from which it is separated by a shallow and narrow sea….island.

It is located in the Pacific Ocean, some 1,000 kilometres southwest of Mexico. The island is currently administered by French Polynesia, itself since 2004 a French pays d’outre–mer with limited self-government (Overseas Territories, Australia, France, Netherlands, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States of America).

A French lieutenant on board a commercial vessel cruising past the uninhabited island declared it to be French territory. The lieutenant notified the French consulate, which informed the Government of Hawaii and published the declaration of French sovereignty in the local journal.

The island is currently administered by French Polynesia, itself since 2004 a French pays d’outre–mer with limited self-government (Overseas Territories, Australia, France, Netherlands, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States of America). The island is uninhabitable for all practical purposes.

Although it could never be mistaken for flourishing in any conventional sense of the word, by 1914 there were about 100 people living on Clipperton Island, and they had built houses, barracks, and even a little railway for their budding town.