Macclesfield Bank


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 the Pratas Islands and north of the Spratly Islands. Its length exceeds southwest-northeast, with a maximal width of more than. With an ocean area of within the outer rim of the reef, although completely submerged without any emergent cays or islets, it is one of the largest atolls of the world. 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.

History

Macclesfield banks were named after the British naval ship, HMS Macclesfield, which ran aground in the vicinity of these shoals in 1804.

Geography

The broken coral reef rim of Macclesfield Bank, with a width of up to, has depths of at Pygmy Shoal on the northeast end of the bank and depths of 11.6 to elsewhere. Within the lagoon, Walker Shoal marks the least known depth of. In general, the central lagoon is very deep, with depths up to.
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		Coordinatesleast
depth
Pigmy ShoalBiwei Ansha比微暗沙7
Engeria BankYinji Tan隱磯灘10
Howard ShoalWuyong Ansha武勇暗沙10
Learmonth ShoalJimeng Ansha濟猛暗沙9
Plover ShoalHaijiu Ansha海鳩暗沙10
Addington PatchAnding Lianjiao安定連礁10
Smith ShoalMeixi Ansha美溪暗沙9
Bassett ShoalBude Ansha布德暗沙9
Balfour ShoalBofu Ansha波洑暗沙 or 伏洑暗沙8
Parry ShoalPaibo Ansha排波暗沙8
Cawston ShoalGuodian Ansha果淀暗沙10
Penguin BankPaihong Tan排洪灘9
Tancred ShoalTaojing Ansha濤靜暗沙10
Combe ShoalKongpai Ansha控湃暗沙7
Cathy ShoalHuaxia Ansha華夏暗沙7
Siamese ShoalSimen Ansha西門暗沙9
Bankok ShoalBengu Ansha本固暗沙7
Magpie ShoalMeibin Ansha美濱暗沙8
Carpenter ShoalLuban Ansha魯班暗沙8
Oliver ShoalZhongbei Ansha中北暗沙7
Hardy Patches1Shitang Lianjiao石塘連礁8
Hand Shoal1Zhizhang Ansha指掌暗沙9
Margesson Shoal1Nanfei Ansha南扉暗沙8
Walker Shoal1Manbu Ansha漫步暗沙5
Phillip's Shoal1Lexi Ansha樂西暗沙9
Payne Shoal1Pingnan Ansha屏南暗沙8

1 inside lagoon

Territorial claims

Macclesfield Bank is claimed, in whole or in part, by China and Taiwan.
Some sources state that the Philippines claims this underwater feature. However, Jose Zaide, a Filipino diplomat of ambassadorial rank, has written that the Philippines does not claim the Macclesfield Bank. Moreover, Macclesfield Bank is not within UNCLOS 200 or Philippines EEZ.
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. However, the Philippines filed claim for another underwater feature, the Benham Plateau, in 2008 in compliance with the requirements of UNCLOS and UN officially approved the claim in April 2012.