Talk:Clipperton Island

1725 Expedition
Mention of a French expedition lead by "M. Bocage" in 1725 is not able to be reliably sourced. It was added to the article with this edit on 21 December 2003, part of a string of edits to expand the article by User:Colinpcarr who's been inactive since 2004. The phrase "The first scientific expedition took place in 1725, under Frenchman M. Bocage, who lived on the island for several months." (or close versions of it) appear frequently online and in a few print sources, but I haven't found any that pre-date 2003 and some of the instances credit Wikipedia for the claim. A source was added with this edit in July 2020 by User:Jsturgeis to clear a citation needed tag added in January 2018, but the source is unreliable, recycling content from the Wikipedia article as part of the Republic of Molossia micronation.

The French wiki version of the article, (fr:Île Clipperton), makes no mention of a 1725 expedition and it's unusual that the named expedition leader, "M. Bocage", is so similar to one of the 1711 French re-discoverers of the island, Michel Dubocage, whose surname is also rendered as "du Bocage". None of the sources as part of Colinpcarr's expansion include mention of a 1725 expedition (and two refer to the 1825 visit by Morrell as the first confirmed landing). Absent any new reliable source for the claim, I will add it to List of hoaxes on Wikipedia; at 19 years, 3 months, and 15 days, it's the longest-lasting false statement in an article found thus far. &mdash;Carter (Tcr25) (talk) 15:11, 5 April 2023 (UTC)

Better media from Clipperton
I've reached out to a ham radio DX-pedition that is planning on going to Clipperton and they've agreed to release a few photos and possibly a short video under a CC license so that'll be a nice new addition to the article. If for whatever reason anyone knows of someone going here please let us know and ask them to take some images for us.  Dr vulpes  (💬 • 📝) 01:37, 29 May 2023 (UTC)

Distance from Acapulco
The lead mentions that Clipperton Island is 1,080 km from Acapulco - but the map (under Geography) shows 1,280 km! According to Google Maps, it's 1,250 km. Prisoner of Zenda (talk) 06:29, 29 June 2023 (UTC)


 * Corrected to align with the map. (I get 1243.68 km from Google Earth, but will go with the published source ...) &mdash;Carter (Tcr25) (talk) 11:47, 29 June 2023 (UTC)

Other distances
The map (under Geography) shows 2,390 km to the Galapagos Islands - but according to Google Maps, it's over 2,400 km to Puerto Ayora on Isla Santa Cruz; however, I can't determine from the map just where the measurement ends. Since the GI span some 250 km, 2,390 km may be correct. The 945 km to Isla Socorro seems reasonable; Google Maps has 961 km. Prisoner of Zenda (talk) 06:46, 29 June 2023 (UTC)
 * The distance to Hawaii is given as 4,940 km - but Google maps shows it is 5,325 to Honolulu, and 5,060 to the centre of the island of Hawai'i, and 4,990 km to the easternmost tip of the island; i.e. 4,940 km is some 50 km short (OK, an error of 1%). Prisoner of Zenda (talk) 06:55, 29 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Agree that the image's distances may be using some rounding or conversion factor that's not quite precise (or maybe it's a calculation error). &mdash;Carter (Tcr25) (talk) 11:49, 29 June 2023 (UTC)

Pointless sentence
Under the heading "geography," "in the 1940s American ships reported active problems in this regard" shoud be deleted since it doesn't add geographical info, is more thoroughly covered under "history," and "active problems" is a nonsensical construction. Citizen127 (talk) 22:32, 30 June 2023 (UTC)
 * OK, go ahead and fix it. Herostratus (talk) 17:25, 2 July 2023 (UTC)