Macclesfield Bank

"Zhongsha" redirects here. For other uses, see Zhongsha (disambiguation).

Macclesfield Bank is an elongated sunken atoll of underwater reefs and shoals in the South China Sea. It lies east of the Paracel Islands, southwest of Pratas Island and north of the Spratly Islands. It is about 130 km (81 mi) long from southwest to northeast, and about 70 km (43 mi) wide at its broadest part. ^[3] With an ocean area of 6,448 km² (2,490 sq mi) it is one of the largest atolls in the world.^[4] The Macclesfield Bank is part of what China calls the Zhongsha Islands, which includes a number of geographically separate submarine features, and also refers to a county-level administrative division.

Macclesfield Bank

Disputed reefs and shoals
Macclesfield Bank
Other names	Middle Sand Islands[1]
Geography
Location	South China Sea
Coordinates	16°00′N 114°30′E
Total islands	0
Major islands	None
Area	6,448 km2 (2,490 sq mi) total, 0 km2 land surface/islets
Length	130 km (81 mi)
Width	70 km (43 mi)
Highest elevation	−9.2 m (-30.2 ft)
Highest point	Unnamed point below sea level
Administration
People's Republic of China
Prefecture-level city Province	Sansha[2] Hainan
Claimed by
Republic of China (Taiwan)
Municipality	Kaohsiung
Demographics
Population	None

A 1920 American nautical chart, based on British surveys - depths in fathoms

History

Macclesfield banks reportedly were named after British ship named Macclesfield,^[5][6] though there is some ambiguity which vessel this was. By one account, the vessel was the British East India Company East Indiaman Macclesfield, which mapped and recorded the shoals in early 1701 on her way back to England from China.^[7] An alternative origin story attributes the name to an HMS Macclesfield that reportedly ran aground in the vicinity of these shoals in 1804.^{[8][9][lower-alpha 1]}

In April 1888 HMS Rambler, under the command of William Usborne Moore, with Percy Bassett-Smith as Surgeon-Naturalist, mapped the banks. They found a depth of 40 to 50 fathoms (73 to 91 m) inside the bank, with the rim rising to within 9 fathoms (16 m) of the surface. Dredging found live corals, showing that although entirely submerged, the bank was an actively growing reef.^[15]

Geography

The broken coral reef rim of Macclesfield Bank, with a width of up to 8 km (5 mi), has depths of 11.8 m (39 ft) at Pygmy Shoal on the northeast end of the bank and depths of 11.6 to 18 m (59 ft) elsewhere. Within the lagoon, Walker Shoal marks the least known depth of 9.2 metres (30 ft). In general, the central lagoon is very deep, with depths up to 100 metres (330 ft). While the bank is everywhere submerged, with no drying shoals, it is usually visible due to the turbulence it causes, the seas becoming "high and confused" in heavy weather.^[3]

The elongated atoll consists of the following shoals, clockwise starting in the northeast, and at the end the six named shoals in the lagoon:

English Name	Romanized Name	Chinese Name	Coordinates	least depth (fathoms)
Pigmy (Pygmy) Shoal	Biwei Ansha	比微暗沙	16°13′N 114°44′E	7
Engeria (Egeria) Bank	Yinji Tan	隱磯灘	16°03′N 114°56′E	10
Howard Shoal	Wuyong Ansha	武勇暗沙	15°52′N 114°47′E	10
Learmonth Shoal	Jimeng Ansha	濟猛暗沙	15°42′N 114°41′E	9
Plover Shoal	Haijiu Ansha	海鳩暗沙	15°36′N 114°28′E	10
Addington Patch	Anding Lianjiao	安定連礁	15°37′N 114°24′E	10
Smith Shoal	Meixi Ansha	美溪暗沙	15°27′N 114°12′E	9
Bassett Shoal	Bude Ansha	布德暗沙	15°27′N 114°10′E	9
Balfour Shoal	Bofu Ansha	波洑暗沙 or 波伏暗沙	15°27′N 114°00′E	8
Parry Shoal	Paibo Ansha	排波暗沙	15°29′N 113°51′E	8
Cawston Shoal	Guodian Ansha	果淀暗沙	15°32′N 113°46′E	10
Penguin Bank	Paihong Tan	排洪灘	15°38′N 113°43′E	9
Tancred Shoal	Taojing Ansha	濤靜暗沙	15°41′N 113°54′E	10
Combe Shoal	Kongpai Ansha	控湃暗沙	15°48′N 113°54′E	7
Cathy (Cathay) Shoal	Huaxia Ansha	華夏暗沙	15°54′N 113°58′E	7
Siamese Shoal	Simen Ansha	西門暗沙	15°58′N 114°03′E	9
Bankok Shoal	Bengu Ansha	本固暗沙	16°00′N 114°06′E	7
Magpie Shoal	Meibin Ansha	美濱暗沙	16°03′N 114°13′E	8
Carpenter Shoal	Luban Ansha	魯班暗沙	16°04′N 114°18′E	8
Oliver Shoal	Zhongbei Ansha	中北暗沙	16°07′N 114°24′E	7
Hardy Patches1	Shitang Lianjiao	石塘連礁	16°02′N 114°46′E	8
Hand Shoal1	Zhizhang Ansha	指掌暗沙	16°00′N 114°39′E	9
Margesson Shoal1	Nanfei Ansha	南扉暗沙	15°55′N 114°38′E	8
Walker Shoal1	Manbu Ansha	漫步暗沙	15°55′N 114°29′E	5
Phillip's Shoal1	Lexi Ansha	樂西暗沙	15°52′N 114°25′E	9
Payne Shoal1	Pingnan Ansha	屏南暗沙	15°52′N 114°34′E	8

¹ inside lagoon

Territorial claims

South China Sea

Macclesfield Bank is claimed, in whole or in part, by China^[16] and Taiwan (Republic of China).^[17][18]

Jose Zaide, a Filipino diplomat of ambassadorial rank, has written that the Philippines does not claim the Macclesfield Bank.^[19] Moreover, Macclesfield Bank is not within UNCLOS 200 or Philippines EEZ.^[20]

As the bank is entirely underwater, some scholars have raised questions regarding the legality of territorial claims upon it with regards to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).^{[21][22][23][24]} However, the Philippines filed claim for another underwater feature, the Benham Rise, in 2008 in compliance with the requirements of UNCLOS and UN officially approved the claim in April 2012.^{[25][26][27][28]}

Notes

1. One problem with this attribution is that there is no record of any Royal Navy vessel named HMS Macclesfield.^[10][11] Furthermore, there is no record of an East Indiaman named Macclesfield in 1804.^[12] Nor is there any record of a Bombay country ship,^[13] or a Calcutta country ship,^[14] named Macclesfield.

References

1. Jones, Gareth Wyn (2002). "Provinces". In Boland-Crewe, Tara; Lea, David (eds.). The Territories of the People's Republic of China. London: Europa Publications. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-203-40311-2.
2. Ministry of Civil Affairs of the People's Republic of China (21 June 2012). 民政部关于国务院批准设立地级三沙市的公告 [Ministry of Civil Affairs Announcement about the State Council Approval of the Establishment of the Prefecture-level City of Sansha] (in Chinese (China)). Archived from the original on 25 June 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
3. Sailing Directions (Enroute), Pub. 161: South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand (PDF). Sailing Directions. United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. 2020. p. 6.
4. Tordesillas, Ellen (2014-09-08). "Justice Carpio: China's 9-dashed line- grand theft of Global Commons". VERA Files. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
5. Chemillier-Gendreau, Monique (2000). Sovereignty Over the Paracel and Spratly Islands. Kluwer Law International. ISBN 9041113819.
6. China Sea pilot, Volume 1 (8th ed.). Taunton: UKHO - United Kingdom Hydrographic Office. 2010. Archived from the original on 2014-03-21. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
7. Horsburgh, James (1852). India Directory, Or Directions for Sailing to and from the East Indies, China, Australia, and the Interjacent Ports of Africa and South America. Vol. 2. William H. Allen & Company. p. 349.
8. "Timeline". History of the Spratlys. www.spratlys.org. Archived from the original on 6 January 2008. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
9. "HMS Macclesfield (+1804)". wrecksite.eu. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
10. Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
11. • Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates (2nd ed.). Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.
12. • Hackman, Rowan (2001). Ships of the East India Company. Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-96-7.
13. Bulley, Anne (2000). The Bombay Country Ships, 1790–1833. Routledge. ISBN 978-0700712366.
14. Phipps, John (1840). A Collection of Papers Relative to Ship Building in India ...: Also a Register Comprehending All the Ships ... Built in India to the Present Time ... Scott.
15. Bassett-Smith, P.W. (1890). "Report on the corals from the Tizard and Macclesfield Banks, China Sea". Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 6: 353–374, 485–500. doi:10.1080/00222939008694050.
16. "Vietnam Law on Contested Islands Draws China's Ire". The New York Times. June 21, 2012. Archived from the original on June 23, 2012. Retrieved June 28, 2012.
17. "Taiwan renews sovereignty claim over South China Sea islands". Focus Taiwan. May 5, 2012. Archived from the original on May 7, 2012. Retrieved June 28, 2012.
18. "Limits in the Seas - No. 127 Taiwan's Maritime Claims" (PDF). United States Department of State. November 15, 2005. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 1, 2020. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
19. Zaide, Jose (July 10, 2012). "Saan Siya?". Manila Bulletin. Archived from the original on January 13, 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
20. "Allocation of South China Sea features". southchinasea.org. Archived from the original on 2015-12-17. Retrieved 2016-01-16.
21. Poling, Gregory (2012-07-05). "Time to End Strategic Ambiguity in the South China Sea". Center for Strategic and International Studies. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2012-07-21.
22. Seoung-Yong Hong; Jon M. Van Dyke (2009). Maritime Boundary Disputes, Settlement Processes, and the Law of the Sea (Publications on Ocean Development). Brill. p. 149.
23. Chi-kin Lo (1989). China's Policy Towards Territorial Disputes: The Case of the South China Sea Islands. Routledge. p. 25.
24. Clive Ralph Symmons (1995). Some Problems Relating to the Definition of "insular Formations" in International Law: Islands and Low-tide Elevations. International Boundaries Research Unit. p. 12. ISBN 9781897643105.
25. "UN approves PH territorial claim to Benham Rise". 28 April 2012. Archived from the original on April 30, 2012. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
26. UN to decide on Phl claim on 13-M hectare Benham Rise Archived 2016-08-16 at the Wayback Machine, August 16, 2011, Philippine Star.
27. UN approves PH territorial claim to Benham Rise Archived 2016-04-22 at the Wayback Machine, April 28, 2012, Philippine Daily Inquirer.
28. "DOE to assess resource potential of Benham Rise". The Philippine Star. June 9, 2014. Archived from the original on August 17, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2016.

See also

• Sansha
• Scarborough Shoal
• South China Sea

External links

• Nautical Information
• ROC's home page
• Taiwanese List