Macclesfield Bank

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Macclesfield Bank

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Macclesfield Bank

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /ˈmækəlzfiːld ˈbæŋk/

Macclesfield Bank or the Macclesfield Bank

1. An elongated sunken atoll of underwater shoals in the South China Sea.
   • 1773, Robert Bishop, The East India Navigator's Daily Assistant‎, →OCLC, page 61:

     Being in the latitude 15° 48' N. and longitude 5° E. from Sapata, we having a greater ſea that common, we brought to, and ſounded, and had ground 123 fathom, whole and broken ſhells with pieces of coral; we then judged ourſelves on the Weſtermoſt part of Macclesfield Bank, and we afterwards ſounded in ſeventy five fathom, the ſame bottom. And in latitude 16° 04ʹ N. had forty-five fathom.

   • 1784, James King, A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean. Undertaken, by the Command of His Majesty, for Making Discoveries in the Northern Hemisphere. , volume III, London: W and A. Strahan; for G Nicol, ; and T Cadell, , →OCLC, pages 448–449:

     We now ſteered South half Eaſt, with a freſh breeze from the Eaſt North Eaſt, without any occurrence worth remarking, till noon of the 15th ; when, being in latitude 18° 57', and longitude 114°13', the wind veering to the North, we directed our courſe half a point more to the Eaſtward, in order to ſtrike ſoundings over the Maccleſfield Bank. This we effected at eight in the evening of the 16th, and found the depth of water to be fifty fathoms, over a bottom of white ſand and ſhells. This part of the Macclesfied Shoals we placed in latitude 15° 51', and longitude 114° 20'; which agrees very exactly with the poſition given in Mr. Dalrymple's map, whoſe general accuracy, if it ſtood in need of any ſupport, was confirmed, in this inſtance, by a great number of lunar obſervations, which we had an opportunity of making every day ſince we left the Typa.

   • 1795, George Robertson, Memoir of a Chart of the China Sea‎, 2nd, corrected edition, →OCLC, page 4:

     In leaving the Grand Ladrone, ſhips always endeavour to ſtrike ſoundings on the Macclesfield Bank : ſometimes they are diſappointed ; and when that has been the caſe, all the journals I have ſeen ſhew them to have paſſed to the eaſtward of it.

   • 1890 November, P. W. Bassett-Smith, “Report on the Corals from the Tizard and Macclesfield Banks, China Sea”, in The Annals and Magazine of Natural History‎, number 35, →OCLC, page 356:

     In section C the slope of the plateau continues gradual to a depth of 30 fathoms, and in this respect is similar to the Macclesfield Bank.
     The Macclesfield Bank (Pl. XIV.) is situated 300 miles to the north of the Tizard ; it is 76 miles in length and 36 broad. — This bank is entirely submerged; the shallowest portion of the rim is 9 fathoms beneath the surface, and inside the bank the depth is from 40 to 50 fathoms.[...]
     It will be seen from the subjoined tabular list that 129 species of Madrepore corals (Hydrocorallines and Alcyonarians are not here included) have been determined from the Tizard and Macclesfield Banks; of this number 99 species are from the Tizard and 26 from the Macclesfield Bank, whilst 4 only are common to both.

   • 1912 October 16, “THE LAST TYPHOON.”, in The China Mail‎, number 15,485, →OCLC, page 5, column 3:

     The Captain was extremely anxious, as the Typhoon struck him when his ship was between the Paracels and Macclesfield Bank. After the weather cleared he found himself in soundings about 20 miles South of Lincoln Island.

   • 2014 June, Clarence J. Bouchat, The Paracel Islands and U.S. Interests and Approaches in the South China Sea‎, Carlisle, PA: United States Army War College Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 162:

     Although Vietnam, the PRC, and the ROC all claim the Paracel and Spratly Islands in their entirety (along with Malaysia, the Philippines, and Brunei, which claim parts or all of the Spratleys), Vietnam does not claim Macclesfield Bank or Scarborough Shoal, which lie further to the east or north of those island groups. The Philippines, however, does dispute both of these geologic features with China.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Macclesfield Bank.
2. (loosely) Synonym of Zhongsha.
   • 1956, Theodore Shabad, “The Kwangtung-Kwangsi Hills”, in China's Changing Map: A Political and Economic Geography of the Chinese People's Republic‎, New York: Frederick A. Praeger, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 169:

     The Chungsha group, also known as Macclesfield Bank, just southeast of the Sisha, consists merely of a group of underwater reefs and sandbanks.

   • 1974, United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, “Fact Sheet from Embassy of the Republic of Viet-Nam Information Office, Washington D.C., January 28, 1974, Entitled "The Sovereignty of the Republic of Viet-Nam Over the Archipelago of Hoang Sa (Paracels)"”, in Oil and Asian Rivals‎, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, →OCLC, pages 428, 458:

     The ownership of the Pratas Reef and the Macclesfield Bank, both situated closer to China than either Vietnam or the Philippines and smaller than the other two groups, has not been contested; they are Chinese, although with respect to the Macclesfield Bank, it is questionable how to own what lies underwater.[...]The Macclesfield Bank (Chungsha ch’ün-tao) consists of 24 shoals, 3 reefs and 2 banks, all of which are under water.

   • 1987, A. James Gregor, “U.S. China Policy and Asian Security”, in Arming the Dragon: U.S. Security Ties With the People's Republic of China‎, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 110:

     Moscow’s growing relationship with India and its military occupation of Afghanistan proceeded as though Communist China did not exist. The USSR has settled into military bases in Southeast Asia, and its navy uses the Macclesfield Bank as a mid-sea anchorage, despite Communist China’s complaints.

   • 2016 May 24, Michael Gau [高聖惕], “Why Does China Ignore South China Sea Arbitration Brought By the Philippines?”, in Kuomintang Official Website‎, sourced from United Daily News, archived from the original on April 30, 2024, General News‎:

     In addition, the Philippines claimed that it had sovereignty over the Scarborough Shoal in the Chungsha Islands (Macclesfield Bank), and demanded that China respect its rights and freedom of navigation in the region and abide by the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, COLREG). […]
     The Philippines has argued that it has sovereignty over the Scarborough Shoal in the Chungsha Islands (Macclesfield Bank).

   • 2022 January 18, Muzliza Mustafa, “Malaysian FM sees shift in China’s justification of sweeping South China Sea claims”, in Radio Free Asia‎, archived from the original on 18 January 2022:

     The Zhongsha Qundao, or Macclesfield Bank area, is actually entirely underwater, and not an archipelago, experts say.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Macclesfield Bank.

• The natural feature Macclesfield Bank does not extend to to all the areas of Zhongsha / Chungsha; however, Zhongsha / Chungsha is often explicitly or impliedly equated with Macclesfield Bank.

• Leon E. Seltzer, editor (1952), “Macclesfield Bank”, in The Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer of the World‎, Morningside Heights, NY: Columbia University Press, →OCLC, page 1106, column 1
• Macclesfield Bank at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.
• Saul B. Cohen, editor (1998), “Zhongsha Islands”, in The Columbia Gazetteer of the World‎, volume 3, New York: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 3565, column 2: “Also called Macclesfield Bank.”