This is Clipperton Island. It's just a small, barren ring of coral in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. In the late 19th century, countries fought for ownership of it for a rare resource the island possessed.
To stake their own claim, Mexico sent several families to colonize it, and supplies were regularly sent to keep them alive. Horrifyingly, at some point, these crucial supplies stopped coming, and once it was clear they'd been abandoned, one of these inhabitants revealed himself as a true monster. And this didn't have to do with the lack of food.
This is their horrifying story. [intro music] In the eastern Pacific Ocean, a small, unremarkable island sits barren and inhospitable, betraying very little of the atrocities that once took place on it. It's believed to have first been found by Spanish explorer, Ferdinand Magellan in 1521, but the confirmed discovery of the island in 1711 is seen as the official one.
That year, an English privateer named John Clipperton was sailing the Pacific attacking Spanish ships, when he came across the tiny spot of land now known as Clipperton Island. At almost 3. 5 square miles, or almost 9 square kilometers, this small landmass is made almost completely of coral in the shape of a ring, technically making it more of an atoll than an island.
In the center of this ring is a stagnant freshwater lagoon of eutrophic water, meaning it contains an enriched mixture of minerals and nutrients. There aren't any fish or other sea life in this lagoon, however, because the only life it supports is algae. The water around the island is abundant with fish, but these are mostly some distance from the shore and the reefs surrounding it.
There are also hardly any plants there, because only coconut trees and a few creeping plants seem to be hard enough to survive being rooted in coral. Poisonous crabs also infest the island. It's home to over a dozen species of seabirds, which use the island as a toilet more than anything, giving it a nauseating stench of ammonia.
Then, beyond just how barren it is, Clipperton Island is about as remote as a place as there is, sitting almost 621 miles from the nearest land, which is the Mexican coast. It apparently once went by the name the Island of Passion, but has more often been described as a scab of an island. And considering what went on to take place there, there's no question which is more fitting.
To understand Clipperton Island's most notable story and how it came to be, it's important to understand what led to it. For more than a hundred years, the island was in contention between France, Mexico, Britain, and the United States. At points throughout its history, the four countries claimed ownership of it from one another to claim the island's most precious resource, which was surprisingly guano.
Guano is the waste product of bats and seabirds, and was extremely valuable at the time, and Clipperton Island was covered in it. The reason guano was so valuable was that in 1804, while visiting Peru, a German geographer saw locals using it as a fertilizer for crops. Then, taking note of the excellent produce available there, the geographer sent a sample of guano back to Europe.
And the result of this study was bigger and more bountiful harvests of fruits and vegetables, which sparked worldwide interest. The only problem was that there were so few places with an abundance of guano, and they all seemed to be small specks of land in the Pacific Ocean, making it rare and valuable. In fact, guano became so important that in 1856, the U.
S. Congress passed a bill called the Guano Islands Act, allowing businesses to seek out those places and claim them. As this was going on, and for more than 30 years to that point, Clipperton Island was considered Mexican territory.
However, seeing the lucrative opportunity the island presented, the French Emperor Napoleon III ordered a naval unit to the island in 1858. Their instructions were to make landfall and read a proclamation to the few Mexican soldiers guarding it. And to the French, that's all it took to claim ownership of it, but strangely, and maybe partially due to the remoteness, they didn't really do anything with it.
30 years later, in the 1890s, a US company arrived under the authority granted by the Guano Islands Act to begin mining for it, which they did for several years. Then in 1897, Mexico returned to Clipperton Island to reclaim it from the French and remove the American workers who were living there. Then, two years after that, the British also arrived with their own navy, which was considered the very best in the world at the time.
Since Mexico owned it again, and the country knew it couldn't defeat the British, Mexican officials negotiated a deal that would grant England permission to mine and export the precious guano. Several years later, in 1906, a 33-year-old Mexican military officer named Ramon Arnaud and 13 soldiers and their families, arrived on the island. Their job was to set up a small colony on the island to prevent it from continuing to switch hands between countries.
For Ramon, however, this wasn't a choice; he was sent to Clipperton Island as part of a punishment for deserting his post just a few months after enlisting in the military. He had already spent five months in jail for this, but in 1906, due to his skillset, was sent to Clipperton Island as the island's prisoner and official governor. This was how he would finish out his sentence.
Later that same year, the Mexican president ordered a lighthouse be built on the island. Then, upon its completion, a man named Victoriano Alvarez was sent there to become its keeper. At the same time, the British were also doing their part to colonize the island.
They built homes and figured out how to grow vegetables in the coral. Then, before long, the island was populated by around 100 men, women, and children from Mexico and Britain. This was unfortunately short-lived because the guano market then collapsed, causing the British company mining it to go bankrupt.
By then, the secret is out to the world about guano, and the market was flooded with competition which drove prices down. All of the British residents of Clipperton Island then returned home with the exception of one family that was ordered to stay behind to keep an eye on things. Meanwhile, France and Mexico, who were still at odds over who the rightful owner was, agreed to place the islands in arbitration, which is a procedure for settling disputes by bringing in a neutral third-party to make a binding decision.
The King of Italy was chosen to serve as the arbitrator, but then while he was going over the details to make an informed decision, the Mexican revolution began in 1910. This meant the country's future was extremely uncertain, and resources were diverted elsewhere. The inhabitants of the island had gotten used to a ship arriving with a fresh load of supplies every month or so, but in 1911, that ship suddenly stopped showing up.
Unbeknownst to the residents of Clipperton Island, it was attacked and sunk by the Mexican resistance, and afterward, it seemed that a new one just never got sent. Thankfully, by then, with the British gone, the population of Clipperton Island was down to just 26 people, so there weren't nearly as many mouths to feed anymore. This allowed them to stretch their provisions further, but either way, it became clear at some point that they were on their own.
And with no one from the outside world coming to the island anymore, they had no idea why the ships stopped coming or that the fate of their country was in jeopardy. After that, it wouldn't be all the way until three years later in 1914, that anyone would return to Clipperton. That year, by chance, an American ship wrecked nearby, and its crew came ashore.
A rescue vessel then arrived to pick them up and officials on board met with Ramon. They let him know about the Mexican Revolution, which was by then four years in, and that World War I had recently begun. Because his country had its hands full with the revolution and supply ships were clearly not a high priority for what remained of the government, the captain of the American ship tried to convince Ramon and the others to join them.
On the way back to America, it could drop them off in Mexico. This offer was a tempting one, and Ramon would have taken it if not for one thing. The reason he was on Clipperton Island at all was because he deserted his post.
This meant he was faced with the potential consequences of doing it a second time. Being sent to Clipperton Island in the first place was bad enough, so after some thought, Ramon declined the offer, but he did at least send the one last British family back on the rescue ship. The Americans then left Ramon some much needed supplies and reluctantly returned to the ship and left the island.
Ramon had no way of knowing it at the time, but this decision to remain behind would have terrifying consequences that far surpassed any punishment he might have faced from the Mexican military. After the Americans left, the supplies were quickly used up, and the vegetable garden the British had maintained died after no longer being cared for. This meant all the inhabitants had left was what the island could offer them, and that wasn't a whole lot.
They were seabird eggs to eat, and sometimes they'd get lucky enough to snag one of the birds for a more filling meal, but their only consistent source of nourishment were the few coconuts the island produced, and surprisingly enough, pigs. At some point during its colonization, pigs were introduced to the island, and they seemed to flourish. Although the crabs on the island were toxic to humans because of the algae they ate, the pigs seemed to thrive on these crabs.
However, even though they had enough calories, it didn't take long without much food diversity to reach a dangerous level of malnourishment, which quickly led to scurvy. I think most people are vaguely aware that it's caused by too little vitamin C, but I think it's worth rehashing just how awful the symptoms are. The first sign is usually bleeding gums, and then sores form all over the body, open up, and don't heal.
If the disease progresses enough, those afflicted literally bleed out and die, and that's exactly what was happening in the colony. But horrifyingly, four years of malnourishment and struggle just to stay alive was nothing compared to what was about to come. By 1915, the remaining colonists were few and feeble.
The lack of nutrients had taken a terrific toll on the population and the surviving inhabitants. They were gaunt and ill-looking, even if they hadn't come down with scurvy. The survivors also seemed to be suffering from hallucinations and delusions as a result of their lack of nourishment, which may have been what sparked the first devastating turn of events.
As Ramon looked over the horizon one day, he spotted a ship, and it was the first any of them had seen since the previous year. Unfortunately, it wasn't close to the island or heading in its direction, but Ramon saw it as their best opportunity to be saved. He then ran to grab the other three remaining soldiers from the initial 13, and after some convincing, they pulled a small boat they had into the water and got in.
It did have a motor, but not nearly enough fuel to reach the ship, meaning they'd have to somehow catch up to a large vessel with a propeller bigger than the boat they'd be rowing in. This was obviously a fool's errand from the beginning, but Ramon was adamant. Now, there are two different accounts of what happened next, and it's unknown which, if either is accurate.
In the first scenario, the men paddled the boat out well beyond the island, only to discover there was no ship, meaning Ramon was possibly hallucinating. This was the last straw for the three men with Ramon, and they attacked him and tried to take his gun to shoot him, but in the scuffle, all four men fell overboard and drowned. The second account was that the men, in their weakened state, couldn't get past the abnormally strong tides and waves around the island, and their boat eventually capsized.
In either scenario, the men's wives helplessly watched from the shore as the Pacific Ocean consumed each of them. Then, before they even had a chance to grieve, a massive storm that had been developing began to head for them. They didn't know it at the time, but this ended up being a full-blown hurricane.
Ramon's wife, Alicia, told the remaining women and children to run to her house where they could take shelter in the basement. Alicia, who was nine months pregnant, trailed behind them and thankfully made it to safety. But the stress of the moment was enough to send her into labor.
So in the basement, in the middle of a hurricane, on the day she watched her husband drown in the ocean, Alicia gave birth to a baby boy without any painkillers or a doctor. When the storm finally passed, they emerged from the basement and saw the buildings of their colony in ruins. Homes were destroyed, and the few coconut-bearing trees had been knocked down by the wind.
Then, as they surveyed the damage, they spotted Victoriano, the lighthouse keeper, walking toward them. For almost 10 years, he remained reclusive, spending his time either in the lighthouse or his hut nearby, which was separate from the rest of the colony. The settlers rarely saw him up to that point, but he was now the very last man on the island.
Before he made his way over to them, Victoriana went through all the remains of each house, with the exception of the governor's, to gather up all the guns. When he was sure he had them all, he took them to the coastline and tossed all but one of them into the ocean. Then when he reached them, they could barely believe their ears as he proclaimed himself the "King of Clipperton Island", and then proceeded to announce that each of the women was now his personal property.
From that day forward, Victoriano spent almost three years mistreating and tormenting the women, truly treating them like his possessions. In addition to regular beatings, disobeying the king in any way would be subject to his depraved imagination. He also took turns choosing one of the women to live with him in his hut where he could assault and torment her until he got bored.
Then he'd choose another of the women. And this cycle went on the entire time, and it was always clear who he had his eye on next. Anytime he felt like it, he would approach the women, ensuring they were all together, and order one of them to his hut.
On one occasion, he even went up to the gathered women and ordered a 15-year-old girl to live with him, which he had never done before. Horrifyingly, everyone knew what that meant. The girl refused, and her mother jumped in front of her to protect her, but it was no use.
Right there, in front of the rest of the women, Victoriano killed both the mother and her daughter. This very real threat of punishment, both witnessed and experienced by the women, kept them from challenging him at all for the most part, with the exception of one woman. A 20-year-old named Tirza was outspoken in her hatred for Victoriano and openly defiant of his wishes, even if this came with severe consequences.
When it was just her and the other women, she'd even go on about how Victoriano needed to die in order for them to be safe again. On July 17th, 1917, Tirza had been staying in Victoriano's hut for several days because unfortunately, no amount of defiance was enough to prevent that from happening when it was her turn. Later, while she was sitting with the other women, Tirza saw Victoriano walking up toward them in the distance near the lighthouse.
She knew that this meant her time as his favorite was over, and she was about to be replaced by one of the others. In the years since Ramon's death, Victoriano never once targeted Alicia. It's unknown why he spared her up until then, but it seems he had grown tired of the other women.
So when he approached them, he looked right at Alicia and ordered her to be at his hut early the next morning. The group was stunned, and it was the final straw for Tirza. Even though she was slightly older than the rest, Alicia had been like a mother figure to the others, and Tirza wasn't about to let Victoriano lay a finger on her.
After she watched him return to the lighthouse, she told the others that they had to form a plan. They had talked about killing Victoriano for so long but were too afraid to make an attempt because if they failed, the consequences could be a brutal end, possibly for all of them. However, after hearing that Alicia was next, all their fear turned to vengeance, and they came up with a plan they hoped would bring this long, awful nightmare to an end.
The next morning, Victoriano spotted Alicia walking toward his hut like he ordered. That morning, he managed to catch a bird and was cooking it outside, and he seemed to be in a good mood, which was sickeningly for what was about to come. But that changed the moment he saw Tirza with Alicia.
Before they even reached him, he started shouting at the women, scolding Alicia for not showing up alone. When they got near him, he continued shouting at Alicia, and the two began arguing. Tirza then slipped into the lighthouse and returned with a hammer in hand.
Then she looked right at Alicia's eyes, and Alicia gave her a slight nod. Victoriano noticed this side glance and began to turn around, but as he did, Tirza lifted the hammer over her head, and with both hands grasping the handle, struck Victoriano as hard as she could. Before he even knew what was happening, she lifted it again and did this a second time.
As this was happening, Alicia's son, Ramon Jr. , had been hiding on the other side of the hut. She then shouted at him to grab Victoriano's rifle from inside.
Meanwhile, Victoriano somehow managed to get back to his feet, and as he tried to collect himself, scrambled for an axe laying on the ground. He then lunged at Alicia, but before he could reach her, Tirza delivered in a final blow to Victoriano. He then fell to the ground just as Ramon Jr.
came out of the lighthouse with the rifle. Victoriano cried out in pain as he lay wounded on the coral. Tirza then went into Victoriano's hut and returned with a knife.
Then she straddled the so-called king and went into a frenzy until Victoriano was unrecognizable. Tirza then dropped the knife, and the women fell into each other's arms from exhaustion and relief as they both burst into tears. When they've built up the strength to return back to the colony, the rest of the women saw that Tirza and Alicia were covered in blood.
Immediately, without anyone saying a word, they all knew it was over. Victoriano was dead. Then, just as Tirza and Alicia had, the group cried and embraced at the realization.
Then, even more incredibly, as they continued their celebration, Ramon Jr. shouted to his mother and pointed out toward the ocean. Coming right for the island was a U.
S. Navy gunboat named the Yorktown. The ship was in that part of the ocean looking for German submarines, and they had gotten word that the Germans were establishing a submarine headquarters somewhere in the east Pacific.
And the Yorktown believed Clipperton Island could be where it was located. When they got closer to the island, they were surprised and confused to see a handful of women and children waving their arms at them. Unfortunately, like other ships that attempted to visit Clipperton Island, they struggled to get close enough to it without running aground.
It then circled the island, but couldn't find an inlet to safely make it the rest of the way. So instead, a small boat was loaded into the water, and a few sailors hopped in, hoping to reach the women, but it just wasn't happening. The tide was too strong, and the coral was too close to the surface.
The small boat then returned to the Yorktown and suddenly, it too turned around and disappeared, apparently giving up on getting to the island. By then, the women had already been through enough that day already. They'd managed to liberate themselves from a vicious, self-proclaimed king, and were so close to being rescued, but the island itself was now not allowing it.
Thankfully, as they sat there in a stunned silence, the Yorktown reappeared and closed the distance to the island. This time, it found a route through the coral and then right close to the shore. Alicia then stood up and ran frantically to the crew and explained everything all at once.
Still in shock of even finding people there, the crew listened in absolute horror as Alicia communicated the atrocities that took place there. The crewmen then managed to calm Alicia and the rest of the women down, and asked what they needed to get from the colony before leaving. Then, several of the men accompanied them to the still-damaged houses.
Others went to find Victoriano's body, and after hearing about what he did, they simply left his body where it was for the crabs to eat. Not long after, the Yorktown and the 11 survivors of Clipperton Island set off towards Salina Cruz, Mexico. Each of the women had relatives there who could take them in and help them get accustomed to a very different life than the one they'd lived in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
The Yorktown also sent a wireless message back to Salina Cruz to inform the city of the situation, and asked them if they'd reach out to those family members so they could be there when the ship pulled in. As they sailed, it was remarkable to the crewmen just how big a physical toll the island had taken on the women. Prior to learning her age, the captain believed Alicia was in her mid to late 40s, but she was just 29.
And the rest of the women looked similar despite being younger than her. Even the children were gone, and one of them had rickets so bad he couldn't walk. But, despite this, and even with some of the women suffering from seasickness on the ride home, there was nothing that could spoil their relief.
The crew of the ship even spent the trip entertaining and playing with these seven children, so that the four women could finally get some solid rest for the first time in years. Apparently, over those three days, the crew and the children had such a good time, that before arriving in Mexico, the crew got together and pooled together the money they had on board. They then presented it to the women to help them start a brand-new life.
The Yorktown finally pulled into Selina Cruz on July 22nd, 1917 to a large gathering of people-many of whom had been waiting for the women for years. Among them was Alicia's father who spent the previous 7 years badgering the Mexican authorities every chance he got about where his daughter was and what happened to her. Apparently, in every conversation he had with officials, they brushed him aside and told him all the colonists were dead.
However, incredibly, when Alicia stepped off the ship and saw her father, she was also able to introduce him to his four grandchildren. After the rescue, the city threw a huge party for the Yorktown crew to show their appreciation for their kindness and heroism. In the months afterward, an official report would be written and turned into the U.
S. Navy for review. And to protect the women, the report omitted any mention of Victoriano for fear that including it could have negative consequences for Alicia and Tirza.
For more than 17 years, not a single soul in the Yorktown uttered a word of the murder to anyone to keep the two women protected. It was only after they were sure there would be no repercussions that any of the crew or any of the women talked about Victoriano, his unspeakable cruelty, and his eventual killing. As for Clipperton Island, the king of Italy made a ruling on the ownership claims of France and Mexico in 1931-more than 20 years after it was signed into arbitration.
In his decision, he awarded ownership to France, and Mexico didn't appeal the decision. Even still, Clipperton Island managed to keep itself in the headlines through much of the 20th century. In 1947, five American fishermen were rescued from the island- six weeks after their ship sank.
Then in 1962, the sinking of a tuna clipper left nine crewmen stranded for 23 days. And obviously, both groups of men got just a taste of what the Clipperton Island colonists survived and barely escaped with their lives. Since then, there has never been any further attempt by any country to colonize the island.
If you made it this far, thanks for tuning in. If you have a story suggestion, feel free to submit it to the form found in the description, and hopefully, I will see you in the next one.
